�The Kane Mutiny�
A friend of mine in Colorado recently sent me an article titled, �The Kane Mutiny.� (You can find it at Westword.com) It�s about a Federal Judge in Colorado that has been speaking out against the �Drug War�, or as some have been saying, �the War on some
Drugs.� He�s also a member of the Drug Policy Foundation. If you haven�t read the �Interview with Milton Friedman,� which is on this site, you should read it also. Milton Friedman is a Noble Peace Prize winner, and advocate of drug law reform.
Judge John Kane says what many judges and politicians are afraid to say publicly. He says the mandatory minimum sentences judges are now required to impose in drug cases smack of McCarthyism. Instead of the Red Menace, the new fear is being seen as �soft on crime.� His response is to just say no to such pressure. He sees our national drug policy as an outrageous abuse of power that has wasted billions of dollars and destroyed thousands of lives. He says there is only one fool proof way to avoid doing time on drug charges, that is to be related to a prominent politician. He cites examples in his article. �From the 80�s onward, we abandoned in the law the notion that the primary objective of the criminal justice system was rehabilitation,� says Kane. Now it�s about warehousing bodies.
Kane says many of his colleagues on the federal bench have told him they find drug laws insulting. �It turns sentencing into a bureaucratic function,� says the judge. It shifted law enforcements function from one of investigation to one that�s based on informants. The people who get rewarded are the snitches. He said that when sentencing a snitch, the first thought that would occur to him was: �What sort of qualities of character do I have to deal with that would help rehabilitate this person? Obviously, Loyalty is out; concern for others is out. The chances of doing rehabilitation with someone like that are seriously diminished.�
Under mandatory minimums, many drug offenders� wind up serving longer prison terms than people convicted of violent acts. For every guy they send to prison for drug dealing, they have two more who are happy to take over. That�s a significant social shift. He says, �They�re making laws nobody pays attention to.� He thinks that the war on drugs would be over with already if the arrest rate for drug crimes was as high in the suburbs as it is in the inner city. There�s not enough sense of outrage by the silent majority of Americans.
�We need to stop this nonsense of the black market and fueling organized crime,� he says. �There�s no great incentive for kids to sell drugs if there�s no money in it. There�s no incentive to bring drugs into this country if there�s no money in it because you can get them legitimately.�
Drug law reformers are hoping that the spread of state initiatives will pressure Congress to change Federal Laws as well. Ballot initiatives have forced Lawmakers to bend to the will of the people in several states where Legislators refused to reform drug laws. The Legislature is more conservative than the people are in most states and fear being perceived as �soft on crime.� When its time to vote, show�em they were wrong.
Rusty HAMC-BHC December 09, 2001 |
