Bringing down families

This wasn't supposed to happen here

[Reprinted from Issues & Views July 15, 2002]

It is disappointing to learn how little has changed since I&V's first reports on the unconstitutional practice of "mandatory minimum" prison sentences (12/15/00) and (8/27/01).

These sentences are imposed regardless of a person's role in the crime or other mitigating factors. In this bizarre legal world, prosecutors, not judges decide which charges to bring and determine the final sentence. Many judges are on record for their opposition to mandatory minimum sentencing, especially in cases of the young and/or naive who are seduced by clever drug dealers to act as couriers.

The consequences of these immoral sentencing laws are horrendous--mothers of young children incarcerated for periods that span their children's youth; siblings separated from one another, never to be reunited in a family setting; families torn apart, often for good. All because a parent committed an act that is made foolish only because the laws are foolish. They are victims of zealous "drug warriors," who have succeeded in ratcheting up into felony crimes actions that once were misdemeanors.

In almost every state of the union, some sort of reform efforts are being initiated by concerned citizens. In Michigan, two paths to reform are underway. A proposed amendment to the state constitution would reserve mandatory sentences only for major drug traffickers. And a bill introduced to the legislature would give judges the same discretion to sentence drug offenders as they now have in sentencing other criminals.

In Massachusetts, a bill to establish new sentencing guidelines has passed in the House of Representatives and is waiting to be taken up in the Senate. Washington state has adopted legislation that will treat, rather than incarcerate defendants convicted of non-violent drug crimes.

In Colorado, the governor is poised to sign a bill that would reduce sentences for low-level drug possession. The bill also would lower penalties for all drug classes, including the lowest class, which, in turn, could produce more plea bargains that reduce felonies to misdemeanors.

In New York state, in March, thousands of citizens descended on Albany to lobby the legislature to put an end to the draconian Rockefeller drug laws, that, for 30 years, have filled the prisons with minor drug offenders. In July, however, these reform efforts ended in defeat when the state assembly failed to pass necessary legislation.

And in Iowa, the director of corrections, W.L. "Kip" Kautzky was quoted at length in a Des Moines Register article (4/10/02) arguing for changes in the state's criminal sentencing laws. "Sixty percent of Iowa inmates are in prison for nonviolent offenses," he claimed, at a time when legislators "are having trouble finding money for education, health care and other programs."

Kautzky says that he wants to see a reformed system where distinctions are made between violent and non-violent crimes, and where judges are given discretion to review cases of inmates, in order to determine who might serve less prison time, while remaining in community corrections programs.

For information about organizations that are challenging unjust sentencing laws, contact: Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM), 1612 K Street, N.W., Washington, DC 2006; (202) 822-6700.

Also see the websites of Media Awareness Project, and in New York State, see Drop the Rock, a campaign against the Rockefeller drug laws, and

Religious Leaders For a More Just and Compassionate Drug Policy, members of clergy who have joined the movement for drug reform; P.O. Box 282471, Nashville, TN 37228; (615) 327-9775.

A now defunct group of churches and religious leaders, the Coalition for Jubilee Clemency, was active during the 1990s. You can still view their letter of appeal to the Clinton administration here.

And now we have the case of the son who has been so well brainwashed by the state, that he brings about the break-up of his family and the destruction of his father.

Consider 17-year-old Trever Palmer, who, viewing himself as a hero, called the police to inform them that his father Aaron, a computer programmer, had marijuana plants growing in the garage. According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Reporter (7/8/02), the father, who had custody of his three children after a divorce, and provided a normal home life for them, had a hidden room in which he grew the plants for himself and occasionally shared them with friends.

Son Trever, admittedly influenced by propaganda delivered in his ROTC classes and undoubtedly stirred by the general anti-drug media hype, is quoted as saying, "I thought: no guts, no glory." Perhaps that's the sort of sentiment that ran through the minds of the youths in those 20th century totalitarian societies, where the state provided incentives and rewards to children to inform on parents who engaged in "erroneous" thoughts or activities.

At any rate, Trever, who was greatly praised by the police, is puzzled about why he has met with so much hostility from relatives and schoolmates. Could it be due to the consequences of his act, that are still reverberating on the other members of his family and will continue to do so for years to come? Not yet shunted off to foster care, his 7-year-old brother, who doesn't understand why his home has been undone, and his 15-year-old sister are residing with a cousin.

Trever himself is temporarily living with his paternal grandparents (who appear to be suppressing their anger at him), and he will move in with a school friend until his high school graduation. The children's mother, who was contacted and offered custody, claims that she has "no room" for them. Not even for a 7-year-old?

Aaron Palmer, now out on $5,000 bail, but forbidden to bring his children home, faces five years in prison. But, hey, who's counting?

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