Let's not Rush to Judgement

Philadelphia police investigating a triple shooting pull over three suspects on Monday. According to an undercover investigator, they were responsible for a nearby shooting. The situation in Philadelphia has been tense because of another recent shooting that killed a police officer.

Philly police arrive with a vengeance. About six officers hold the men down while other officers kicked, punched and used their batons on the men in the shadow of night in an urban neighborhood. But, a news helicopter camera was focused on them while they focused on making human punching bags out their suspects on the streets of Philadelphia and deprived them of the constitutional rights they pledged to protect.

"Let's not rush to judgement" was the theme of the talking points first stated by Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey and later echoed by Mayor Michael Nutter. Surely, they are lobbying for greater due process given to the officers than what they themselves provided under law. "It doesn't look pretty" was probably the greatest understatement as the politician tried to balance public anger with his political future in Philadelphia.

As these politicians weigh out the best strategy for themselves, I personally wonder when our country is going to say that enough is enough with police brutality. When are we going to hold them accountable to normal American standards? Does a beating have to come with an arrest or police encounter?

I too, won't rush to judgement. Apparently, these criminals were resisting arrest. These fine officers were clearly within law and reason as they carried out their duties that evening. There's nothing unethical on that video. That baseball-sized knot on that boy's head and those other bruises were already there when they arrived at the police station. I don't fall for stuff like this.

Equal Justice Under the Law?

Studies have shown that our government's infamous War on Drugs has been a total failure in its attempt to reduce drug consumption in America. Not only has it been terribly expensive ($45B for 2005 alone) and has allowed many opportunities for police corruption and brutality against blacks and lower-income whites. This is marks another failed attempt by the federal government to legislate individual behavior by prohibition.

Prohibition never works. It only moves the activity to the shadows and enriches the people who distribute the contraband while punishing the users. Even Russia tried the prohibition of alchohol. Looks like that worked out well.

A recent study also confirms that is has led to insanely disproportionate arrests and sentencing. 4 in 5 of the arrests have not been for dealing, trafficing or manufacturing, but for simple possession. 40% of all drug arrests are for marijuana possession. The supply side of the problem is basically ignored while the emphasis is placed on individual consumption.

Obviously, this leads to more users in prisons instead of dealers. It does nothing to slow or stop the flow of drugs throughout our communities as it was presented by Richard Nixon and then echoed and expanded by Ronald Reagan.

Although usage rates are almost identical, black men have been arrested by more than 12x the rate of white men. Black women have been arrested by more than 4x the rate of white women. Poor whites are arrested in much higher proportion than middle-class whites. Low level drugs are punished heavily while hi-end drug usage is pardoned quickly if prosecuted at all. Punishments are very different for rock cocaine vs. powder cocaine possession. The drugs are basically the same. The greatest difference is the people who use them.

"In Seattle, for example, a sophisticated assessment of black drug arrests controlling for drug use, type of drug, and role in the drug trade, concluded that while whites comprised the majority of persons who sell serious drugs, nearly two-thirds of persons arrested by police were African-American. And in New York City, an analysis of 175,000 "stop and frisk" encounters during a 15-month period by the state Office of the Attorney General concluded that African-Americans and Hispanics were significantly more likely to be stopped by the police, a disparity that could not be explained by legal factors such as differential patterns of cirminal offending. Moreover, fewer than a third of all police encounters resulted from a person meeting the description of a criminal suspect, suggesting that these were proactive practices of the police rather than responses to crime reports"

As a liberty driven American, I couldn't honestly care less about what free Americans do in the privacy of their homes; just don't ask taxpayers to fund your rehab or treatment.

Listen, if we want to continue the War on Drugs, let's make is equally punitive for all illegal drugs instead of isolating the ones abused by minorities and low income whites. I think that this will be the only way to bring the idiocy of this very evasive and expensive program to its knees.

Let's make the standard sentencing for powder cocaine identical to equal amounts of rock cocaine and target valium abuse with the same vigor as we do other drugs. I think that legislators will change their tune very quickly if they began to lose their sons, daughters and wives to the prisons; if they don't get swept up themselves.