Much has been written about the “wrongfully convicted” in
the past several months. There is no
question that being locked up for a crime you did not commit is a grave injustice,
especially if facilitated by law-enforcement or by prosecutorial
misconduct. And while we would all like
to envision our politicians as having our best interests at heart and our
judiciary as wise and impartial; meting out uniform justice to all comers, the
truth is that “wrongful convictions” are often facilitated (or “aided and
abetted,” if you will) by an indifferent judiciary and a Congress that is more
concerned about reelection than serious social issues. Of course, the “over-convicted” or (over-sentenced)
suffer from the same precipitating causes and are no less tragic, demoralizing
or dehumanizing.
Because of
the sheer disparity in numbers between the two groups, the impact on society of
the “over-sentenced” is a thousand-times greater. In the past quarter-century, 1,314 Americans
wrongfully incarcerated have been set free, according to the University of
Michigan Law School. On the other hand,
an argument can be made that, of the 219,000 federal prisoners now serving time,
almost all (or at least a majority), have been “over-sentenced.”
It should
never have come to this. Perhaps,
Congress felt that, in the 1980’s, when federal parole was abolished for the
newly-convicted, and crime rates were climbing, that creating harsher
sentencing guidelines was the right thing to do. But, then, unfortunately, bureaucratic
inertia took over. The imprisoned can’t
vote, and politicians only wanted their constituents to see them as “tough on
crime.” Prisoner counts increased geometrically, and correctional budgets along
with them. Now, we are seeing a
backlash; with taxpayers objecting to having to pay the astronomical costs of
incarceration.
It seems
that drug defendants have suffered the most from over-sentencing – often having “ghost dope” or co-conspirators’
(who they sometimes don’t even know) drugs attributed to them; their sentences often
getting blown up like a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day balloon by a Judge following a
well-meaning (but misguided) probation officer’s PSI recommendations. But, even white-collar defendants have been
hammered by inflated “loss” amounts calculated by “government arithmetic” and
the accompanying inflated sentences for the larger (often fictitious) amounts
they are held responsible for stealing.
However,
there is a cure for “over-conviction.”
It is not an easy process, and success cannot be guaranteed, but where
arguments for relief can be credibly made, they should be. Where law enforcement has not “played by the
rules,” they must be “called” on it. Make no mistake – many prosecutors believe
that those who are arrested deserve to be punished – for something. So they move forward, based on the word of “the
ends justify the means” arresting agencies – when the cops may be bending the
facts and the rules to get a conviction. Let’s do our part to motivate the
courts, the Congress, and the public, to do the right thing by the accused, the
convicted and the incarcerated -- by using all legal means available to
us. Let’s also insist that the ill, the
infirm, and rehabilitated long-term prisoner be released, forthwith; and stop
demanding that they keep paying a debt to society that: 1. they may no longer
owe, and: 2. that a compassionate society should no longer want to collect.
But we must
bang on the door if we want anyone to open it!
