Pubdate: Mon, 14 Feb 2000
Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL)
Copyright: 2000 St. Petersburg Times
Contact:  http://www.sptimes.com/
Forum: http://www.sptimes.com/Interact.html
Author: Rex Curry

OUR NATION HAS PUT TOO MANY PEOPLE IN PRISON

To the editor:

One of the first significant American events of the new millennium
will take place on Tuesday. According to the Justice Policy Institute,
the prison and jail population in this country will reach 2-million
for the first time in our history. More than half of those imprisoned
are nonviolent offenders. The largest category of prisoners, by a wide
margin, is the drug law violators.

No other nation on Earth, nor any nation in history has ever
incarcerated so large a percentage of its citizens. Not only is the
raw number growing, but the rate of increase is growing as well.

The so-called war on drugs is reviving interest among jurors in the
Libertarian idea of jury nullification, every juror's right to ignore
criminal laws (such as drug laws and their draconian sentences) and to
declare "not guilty" any defendant. Many jurors are fed up with the
war on drugs and the number of people in prison.

The real crime is being committed by those who put into violent
prisons all the non-violent adults who engage in non-violent behavior
with other adults. It is not a war on drugs. It is a war on the Bill
of Rights and upon all citizens. Two-million is too many!

REX CURRY
Tampa
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