Article Review

I chose to do a review on an article from the Standard Examiner, titled, Utah's

new sentencing system criticized for going soft on drug dealers. This article talks a lot

about the new way that Utah is handling crime. It is called the JRI or Justice Reform

Initiative. The article focuses almost entirely on the negatives of the JRI and specifically

the problems with how it is treating drug dealers. Like the title says many believe that

the JRI is just too soft on drug dealers.

One case that perfectly shows this fault is the case of Gale Owen Stapely.

Stapely was arrested in March of 2015 and was charged with second-degree felony

possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute (drug dealing). He was

placed on probation and sentenced to 90 days in jail on Nov. 24 and was released early

for good behavior on Jan. 23, 2016. After being released he was arrested again three

weeks later but this time it wasnt just drugs. Along with illegal drugs he was also found

with an illegally obtained AR-15 assault rifle and three loaded magazines. Chris Shaw

Weber county prosecutor said, The point is that mollycoddling dealers is a disservice to

those struggling with addiction. Enabling dealers to skirt punishment only harms the

addicts they sell to. Currently 7 of the 10 most common crimes that lead to prison are

non-violent and drug possesion and drug dealing leads all crimes. So why are we

reducing the punishments on the most common crimes? It just doesnt make any sense.

If anything youd think the state would make the punishment worse. Because of the JRI

most non-violent drug offenders spend 3 months or less in prison and then spend a
some time in a rehabilitation center if they are addicted. All this has done is make the

drug problem worse.

I really liked this article because it went into great detail about the JRI and what

changes came with it and it really helped show the negatives of the JRI relating to drug

crimes. I think that most people who were to read this article or learn the facts some

other way would be disappointed in the JRI and would want the state to make a change

in our prison system to reduce not just drug crime but all crime and to keep our state

safe.