RE QUESTIONNAIRES OF MAY 12

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1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN PROBATION OFFICE RAYMOND FRANK JR 33 FEDERAL BUILDING CHIEF PROBATION OFFICER Jul 1986 P.O BOX 649 U.S COURT HOUSE BAY CITY DETROIT FEDERAL BLDG 1ST FLOOR 600 CHURCH St FEDERAL BUILDING FLINT MI P.O BOX ANN ARBOR MI EXT FTS FTS REPLYTO DETROIT Mr William Wilkins Jr Chairman United States Sentencing Commission 1331 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W Suite 1400 Washington D.C RE QUESTIONNAIRES OF MAY AND JUNE Dear Mr Wilkins apologize for not responding to the May 12th questionnaire in timely manner The press of work here along with my participation as presenter in our recent regional probation officers training program really took my time The presence of Probation Officer Rusty Burress at our training seminar was indeed motivating as well as enlightening Thank you for freeing him up to be present The May letter focused on Organizational Sanctions My experience in handling presentences for this type offender is limited As result my answer will be more generalized To the extent that organizations have great impact on our society through their financial position to control outcomes of various activities it is imperative that they also are held accountable Unless specific corporate officer is included on the indictment the only way an organization could suffer punitively is in financial manner Thus sizeable fines donations of work for instance printing company in our area was required to produce $ worth of printed material within one year for nonprofit organization are effective.-

2 Page Two Shareholders may suffer economically when fines are imposed but it seems reasonable that they have anticipated that potential when they acquired stock On the other hand if the fine were so substantial as to cause the company to collapse with large number of people losing their jobs then it would seem that the overall good to the community would dictate lesser fine and/or longer time to pay it Placing an organization on probation in my mind serves little good Barring them from participation in specific activities can be effective if the firm can be monitored realistically to ascertain that the prohibition is carried out Crimes committed by organizations should have an increased scale of severity What mean is there should be the basic ranking for individuals applied to organizations but the addition of certain point average which would raise it above the individual Now on to the letter dated June regarding sentencing options for individuals Probation Intensified supervision should be required of the following individuals individuals convicted of crimes defined in the Organized Crime Act of 1970 major figures in sophisticated crimes individuals associated with national security cases such as individuals who have threatened public officials international gun runners or large scale explosives dealers members of certain radical groups such as Ku Klux Klan Rastafarians etc Supervision of these people may serve as further deterrent to their activities Control of freedom to travel should be utilized and association with others of the type described should be rigidly enforced The role of the Commission court and probation officer in determining what offenders receive intensive supervision should be defined There should be classification of individuals who would automatically incur intensive supervision as condition of probation There should also be method open to probation officers whereby they can submit to the

3 Page Three court petition to ADD the requirement on if the situation justifies it To preclude abuse system similar to what is presently used when one modifies parole conditions copy to the person and chance to respond affirmatively or not prior to implementation of the new condition should be part of the process On the other hand if the Commission will allow for any type of rehabilitative work under supervision believe those individuals who at sentencing had recognized substance abuse problem really need some supervision which would include participation in drug treatment and urine testing This participation should be closely monitored by the officer to the extent that urine test results and the keeping or failure to keep counseling appointments should be documented the officer by With regard to conditions set forth in 18 USC 365 3b 19 believe there should be mandate to the court that on the record the judge and/or magistrate must state his acceptance or rejection of additional conditions beyond simply not commiting new crime 18 USC 3563a1 for those convicted of misdemeanor There are number of misdemeanor offenses which should require supervision obligations on the part of the offender Fines There are certain crimes where fine should be the preferred sanction such as some crimes on federal reservations where there was minor theft or destruction and some environmental offenses Some offender categories would include first offenders of isolated low misdemeanor type offenses as well as individuals where the penalty of the offense less than year would be entirely absorbed by the fact that they are already incarcerated in state/county or local jail for another matter As to amounts of fines there should be defined amounts for each offense The victims loss should be calculated for restitution purposes and not be an issue in the calculation of fine

4 Page Four The offenders ability to pay should be realistically calculated by review of their financial condition up to this time For instance if the person is an unskilled individual who has subsisted on government subsidies the potential of them paying fine is not realistic Even if they through unusual circumstances suddenly have lucrative job the catching up process that individual goes through to try to get his life on better level would seriously impede him and impair his motivation to change Failure to pay fines in some cases where unforeseen circumstances have wiped out the persons ability to pay should result in the obligation being excused Organizations should not be allowed to list this debt on any bankruptcy proceedings Restitution Restitution should be ordered where there is definable victim whose documented loss can be paid in some manner by the offender However if the offenders recognized documented financial structure precludes it it is an unrealistic burden on the officer to try to get the offender to pay It is unfair to the offender too if the only source of income they have happens to be government subsidy check and they must strain their budget to make restitution payment Community Service An effective community service program should be structured in such manner as to be monitored and basically controlled through one chosen to coordiante such services in each probation office The coordinators obligations would include finding places for individuals to perform this work making sure that legal liabilities and other pertinent matters are settled and obtaining necessary documentation to validate the hours offenders actually work Offenders who lack either money or means of transportaion to get to the locations should not have to perform community service unless they can be provided with costs of transportaion Since the likelihood of the government financing this is remote these persons should be excused

5 Page Five House Arrest House arrest can be viable alternative to incarceration provided it can be monitored via electronic methods It can save costs to the government for housing of the offender allow the offender to continue support of his family so the government doesnt have to take on this expense too and could also represent the method wherein the offender would be able to more readily pay restitution and/or fine House arrest should be used for minor offenders only some Although this is submitted late hope it will offer help Sincerely Medl U.S Probation Officer