The Stars Align for Local Democrats
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Page 2 Wednesday, October 12, 2016 Wednesday, October 12, 2016 Page 15 Daily Court Review Daily Court Review Talking Points Talking Points A weekly section to spur conversation MAJOR RIGHTS GROUPS: DECRIMINALIZE USE OF ALL ILLICIT DRUGS By David Crary Associated Press As Americans debate the expanding campaign to legalize marijuana, two Texas, Florida and New York, 64 of them in custody. of the nation’s most prominent human rights organizations are urging Among them was Corey Ladd, who — because he had two prior drug a far bolder step — the decriminalization of possession and personal use arrests — is serving a 17-year sentence in Louisiana for possessing a half- of all illicit drugs. ounce of marijuana. He has a 4-year-old daughter who has never seen DAILY COURT REVIEW Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union jointly him outside prison; she’s being raised by her grandmother. Talking Points available at: issued the call Wednesday in a detailed report contending that enforce- “The sheer harshness of the sentence shocks the conscience,” Loui- Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a Rice University rally at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, Mon- ment of drug laws has unjustifiably ruined lives, torn families apart and siana’s appeals court wrote in April, when it asked that Ladd be resen- day, Oct. 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Copyright fueled racial discrimination while failing to curtail rampant drug abuse tenced to a lesser term. But prosecutors held firm and appealed that 6100 Main Street 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. in the U.S. ruling; Ladd’s case is now headed to the state Supreme Court. Houston, Texas 77005 “Every 25 seconds someone is funneled into the criminal justice Ladd’s public defender, Kenneth Hardin, said Louisiana’s highest-in- 713-348-0000 system, accused of nothing more than possessing drugs for personal the-nation incarceration rate stems directly from its hardline approach use,” said Tess Borden, the report’s author. “These wide-scale arrests to drug abusers. South Texas College of Law have destroyed countless lives while doing nothing to help people who “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and 1303 San Jacinto Street struggle with dependence.” expecting a different result,” he said. “We’ve been throwing these drug Houston, Texas 77002 THE STARS ALIGN FOR Borden acknowledged that broad decriminalization of drug use, users in jail. Has that made the streets feel safer? Has that changed the 713-659-8040 whether by Congress or state-by-state, is unlikely in the near future. She crime rate?” hopes the report will spur action at the state and federal level to invest Mario Moreno, spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Texas Southern Universtiy more funds in treatment programs and to reclassify drug use and posses- Policy, said the Obama administration favors a balanced approach that 3100 Cleburne Street LOCAL DEMOCRATS sion as misdemeanors rather than felonies. would divert non-violent drug offenders into treatment programs rather Houston, Texas 77004 IN HARRIS COUNTY, IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK LIKE A DEMOCRATIC WAVE ELECTION Though four states have legalized recreational marijuana use, and than prisons. 713-313-7011 By David Rosen Special to the Daily Court Review five more will vote on that step next month, no state has decriminalized “We cannot arrest our way out of the drug problem,” he said in an personal use of other common illicit drugs such as cocaine and heroin. email. University of Houston In a county where nearly 70% of the voters in the last three elections have cast straight- Annise Parker and former Congressman Chris Bell, who have both hosted fundraisers Possession of them is often classified as a felony. One such diversion program is being launched in Baton Rouge, 4800 Calhoun Road ticket ballots, it’s clear which way the wind is blowing this year. For Democrats, it’s for Rose at their homes. Rose is running against Republican incumbent Sarah Davis for According to the new report, state law enforcement agencies make Louisiana, by Rob Reardon, a former director of corrections in nearby Houston, Texas 77004 increasingly likely that Christmas is going to come early. a seat once held by Democrat Ellen Cohen. more than 1.25 million drug possession arrests per year — one of every Lafayette Parish. 832-531-6300 Democratic insiders were overflowing with optimism on Saturday at the party’s House District 134 started this cycle as a stretch goal for local Democrats. The district nine arrests nationwide. Regarding racial disparities, the report said “If we’re able to engage with these people before entanglement with annual Johnson-Rayburn-Richards dinner. After a series of stumbles by Republican has been redrawn since it was held by Cohen to make it more winnable for Republicans. black adults use drugs at similar or even lower rates than white adults, yet the criminal justice system, everybody’s a winner,” he said. “Some people University of Houston - Downtown Presidential nominee Donald Trump, local candidates in Harris County are feeling the In 2012, Democratic nominee Ann Johnson ran a well-funded campaign and still lost to are more than twice as likely to be arrested for possession. have to go to jail because they are dangerous — but the vast majority are One Main Street wind at their backs. Davis by nearly ten points. The fact that Parker and Bell have stuck out their necks for The report argues that the decades-long “war on drugs” has failed, there because they’re poor decision-makers.” Houston, Texas 77002 The JRR dinner is normally half pep-rally, half fundraiser. This year was different Rose is a sign that local Democrats are taking this race very seriously. with rates of drug abuse still high. It says criminalization of drugs tends In Western Europe, many countries have adopted approaches to drug 713-221-8000 because of the palpable cheerfulness in the air, the Donald Trump-shaped piñatas up The only Harris County-specific poll that has been made public, a survey released on to drive people who use them underground, making it less likely they abuse that are less punitive than in America. Portugal has gone the fur- for silent auction and because Judge Joe Jennings, a three-term jurist on the 1st Court September 22 by the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs, shows will get treatment and more likely they will be at risk of disease and thest, deciding in 2001 to decriminalize the acquisition, use and posses- University of Houston Law Center of Appeals, took the stage and announced he was switching parties. Jennings’s party Hillary Clinton leading Trump by 11 points. Clinton has likely extended her local lead overdoses. sion of illicit drugs in quantities up to a 10-day supply. Rather than facing 100 Law Center switch was largely ignored by the mainstream media, but it’s still very significant because in the past two weeks after decisive wins in the first two televised Presidential debates However, Michael Ramos, district attorney of San Bernardino County prosecution, drug abusers are likely to be referred to treatment programs. Houston, Texas 77204 it makes him the only Democrat on the nine-member court. and an embarrassing video was leaked showing Trump speaking derogatorily towards in California, said decriminalization would pose “huge dangers.” According to various evaluations, including a United Nations study, 713-743-2100 It’s not clear if Jennings will run for re-election in 2018, but if he did, he would women. He predicted that property crime would increase as drug users carried the policy has been a success, lowering the number of overdose fatalities, provide some needed credibility to the local Democratic slate of judicial candidates If Clinton were to beat Trump in Harris County by a double-digit margin, the down- out thefts to maintain their habits. He also said rehabilitation programs encouraging more people to seek treatment, and reducing the financial University of St. Thomas for appellate courts. Houston is served by the 1st and 14th Courts of Appeals, both of ballot results for local Republicans would be catastrophic. In 2008, Barack Obama won would wither if drug abusers no longer had the threat of incarceration as toll of drug abuse. 3800 Montrose Boulevard which are made up of nine judges who are elected from a district made up of ten coun- Harris County by about one and a half percentage points, and local Democrats swept an incentive to participate. However, Steven Belenko a professor of criminal justice at Temple Houston, TX 77006 ties, including Harris County. nearly every single countywide office. In 2012, Obama won Harris County by about “Once you legalize all drugs, there’s no motive for those people to get University, noted that the U.S. differs dramatically from Portugal, where 713-522-7911 Before Jennings’s switch, all 18 appellate judges on the 1st and 14th Courts were one-tenth of one percent, and local Democrats won about half the countywide offices help,” he said. there was a consensus in favor of decriminalization that spanned much Republicans. These two courts have been dominated by the GOP for the past couple up for election that year. However, Ramos acknowledged that most state prisons and jails of the political spectrum and extended to law enforcement agencies. Talking Points decades, except for the election of Democrat Jim Sharp in 2008 to the 1st Court of *** should be doing a far better job of providing effective rehabilitation “We don’t have a consensus,” said Belenko, though he suggested that Art Director: Zack Zwicky Appeals.