Pubdate: Tue, 21 Nov 2000
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2000 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111
Fax: (206) 382-6760
Website: http://www.seattletimes.com/

TRULY DISENFRANCHISED

The most disenfranchised adults in the United States are not, in fact, from 
Palm Beach County. They include the 2 million people in America's jails and 
prisons, and the millions more whose criminal records bar them from ever 
casting a vote.

Many of them deserve it. But hundreds of thousands face years of 
incarceration and a lifetime of punishment for drug violations and other 
non-violent felonies. The social and economic costs are incalculable. Here 
in Washington, African Americans - and more recently, women - are bearing 
the brunt of the prison boom.

The passage of Initiative 200 suggests that Washington citizens want 
everyone treated equally regardless of race. Though equal opportunity is 
the goal, the state's imprisonment rates suggest lingering unequal access 
to education, jobs and legal help.

Nationwide, African-American men go to state prison for drug charges at 13 
times the rate of white men.

The United States has five times more white drug users than black, but 
African Americans are questioned, apprehended, charged and convicted at a 
far higher rate. Today, one in 20 African-American men over the age of 18 
is in prison.

And today, the fastest-growing prison population is women, most of whom 
have children or teenagers. These depressing statistics don't all come from 
Texas and California. Washington state matches the national trends. In 
fact, more than one-fifth of African-American men in this state are unable 
to vote because of a felony conviction. Only nine other states - including 
Texas - can match that.

The economy is still good and crime is down. Writing off everyone behind 
bars is easy. But state legislators are feeling the pinch of 
mandatory-sentencing laws, which lead to more prisons, more state workers 
and more health costs.

The pinch should be moral, as well as economic. It is immoral for a minor 
drug offense to carry a longer sentence than rape or manslaughter. It is 
immoral for unwitting accomplices - often girlfriends or relatives - to get 
a longer sentence than the plea-bargaining suspect. Washington is due to 
re-examine its system of imprisonment. Punishment for many nonviolent 
offenses does not fit the crime and falls hardest on minorities. The loss 
of freedom and privileges lasts a lifetime. This is unacceptable in a state 
that voted to be colorblind and fair.
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