Pubdate: Sat, 06 May 2006
Source: Charlotte Observer (NC)
Copyright: 2006 The Charlotte Observer
Contact:  http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/78
Author: Fred Kelly

WEARING A WARNING ON SNITCHES

Community Backlash Blamed; Police Outraged

In malls across the Carolinas, young shoppers pay $15 to $30 for 
T-shirts with a controversial message: "Stop snitching."

It's a plea urging crime witnesses not to cooperate with police. 
"That's our No. 1 seller," said Karim Kara, president of a local 
store, who sees the shirts as a fashion trend popularized by rap 
music. Police, prosecutors and some black community leaders worry 
that an anti-police street movement is moving into the mainstream. 
Across the country, stop-snitching shirts and DVDs have sparked 
debate about witness intimidation, free speech and relations between 
police and African Americans. In Charlotte, law enforcement officials 
say they have used informers appropriately in most cases by using 
their tips and corroborating it with other evidence.

"You won't make many arrests unless you can get people to talk," said 
Mecklenburg Deputy District Attorney Bart Menser.

"It's a necessary and valid part of police work." But the shirts 
reflect the attitude in some neighborhoods, said William Anderson, 
21, as he left a court hearing where he says a larceny charge against 
him was dismissed.

"If it ain't your business, you stay out of it." Snitch stigma There 
has long been a stigma attached to people who give information to 
police, and it's become more prominent in recent years with the 
T-shirts and Internet sites.In Massachusetts, a judge banned the 
shirts from state courtrooms, saying they intimidated witnesses.

In Charlotte, the reaction has been more subdued, but 
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Darrell Stephens said he is 
concerned because the shirts "send the wrong message."

At Eastland and Concord Mills, shirts carry different sayings: 
"Snitches Get Stitches" and "Ditches Are For Snitches."

Merchants said they sell anywhere from two to 10 shirts a day to 
teens and men in their 20s, though sales have tapered off from a peak 
last fall. Items are also sold on Web sites.

Drug enforcement The stop-snitching shirts, legal experts say, are 
part of a backlash among some people against the war on drugs. Since 
the 1980s, law enforcement has made record numbers of arrests and 
increasingly turned defendants into informers. The U.S. Sentencing 
Commission, which set sentencing standards for federal court, reports 
that one in three drug prosecutions involve "substantial assistance" 
from informants. Providing information makes defendants eligible to 
receive more lenient sentences.

Defense attorneys say they are alarmed because informer testimony is 
now a leading cause of wrongful convictions.

In North Carolina, at least eight people since the 1970s have been 
wrongly convicted and sentenced to death based on testimony from 
informants, according to data from a Northwestern University study 
and the Death Penalty Litigation Center in Durham. There was at least 
one case in South Carolina. The mistakes add to perceptions, 
particularly among blacks, that the criminal justice system is 
unfair, said Norman Butler, a Charlotte defense attorney. "When 
people have bad experiences with law enforcement their thinking is 
that its just better to let (police) find out things on their own," 
Butler said. Community response Charlotte Police Capt. Eddie Levins 
said he doesn't anticipate the shirts making it any harder for police 
to convince citizens to come forward. But the use of informants has 
set off a counter movement in the African American community, where 
one in four black men between ages 20 and 29 is behind bars or on 
parole or probation largely due to drug arrests, said Alexandra 
Natapoff, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. In 
neighborhoods she studied with the highest crime rates, she says, one 
in 12 black men is an informer.

Many black citizens are unhappy because the informants often commit 
new crimes after receiving leniency from prosecutors, Natapoff said. 
The stop-snitching movement "is a way the community is showing that 
law enforcement is failing," she said. "So many feel like they can't 
trust the police." In Charlotte, opinion is divided over 
stop-snitching shirts and other items. Some like, Judy Williams, are 
afraid the shirts will make witnesses more reluctant. "It's 
terrible," said Williams, head of Mothers Of Murdered Offspring, 
which helps families of homicide victims. "You are making people feel 
bad about doing the right thing."

Levins said he is offended by stores that sell them. "It despicable," 
Levins said. "You are supporting a lifestyle that is wrong." The 
no-snitching shirts have existed for a few years, but didn't gain 
popularity here until late last year, merchants said. Young shoppers 
said their peers wear the shirts because they have no respect for 
police informants. Others said it is a harmless fashion trend. 
Diamond Davis, who was recently shopping at Eastland Mall, said he 
would not buy a stop-snitching shirt because the saying is so common, 
it's cliche. But he explained why someone would: "It's the unwritten 
code of the street."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman