Love, a current student who loves the professors you tried to make fun of and am glad they’re still here, making up one of the best faculties around.

The real pernicious thing about possession beefs are that they give people records and then quickly turn into multiples, and then because of our dumbass “get tough on crime” culture, that turns into serious time and then lives are ruined and people become unemployable or are indoctrinated into a criminal lifestyle while in prison.

We’re getting far afield here now, but yeah, I think we agree on the nature of the drug war. I just don’t think that there has been a serious effort to do much to stop it via political means yet, and I’d be loathe to advocate using the jury system to do it because of the damage you can do to the jury system in the process.

I’m going to believe you on this one, as you’ve no doubt forgotten more about it yada yada yada, but I’ve heard of several instances of people (second hand all, friends of friends kinds of things) going to prison for years at a time for simple possession. Again, I’m going to assume you’re right and that a) those are the exception and b) they had criminal records beforehand.

Finally, I’m pretty sure Simon only advocated nullifying specifically non-violent cases, so I always assumed that if robbery, assault, and worse were involved, he would (and would expect others to) withdraw their support for such an action.

I am all for changing this radically, be it via legalization of some drugs or, at the very least, decriminalization of the offenses related there to. Precious little has been done on these fronts, however. To the extent the process has been utilized, however, there has been some success and public opinion is changing in small but increasingly significant ways.

When we get to talking about jury trials, however, we are typically talking about crimes that, while they may have drugs at the center, are more serious. Robbery. Assault.Worse. These are not the sorts of crimes I’m comfortable ignoring in the name of social justice.

What sort of evidence would you require in order to convince you that, with regard to the criminal law’s treatment of drugs and drug use, the political process is “broken”? What would have to be the case before you reached that conclusion? Serious question. I think arguments about whether or not politics “works” here or there break down because nobody bothers to define “working” and “not working” in any rigorous way.

I get where he’s coming from. And I understand that he has lost faith in the process. But that doesn’t mean everyone else should.

I’m not a lawyer, but I thoroughly enjoy reading the Bonds posts (and your other law-related posts in general). I’d say they’re among my favorite things to read on this blog. Keep ‘em coming.

Not to bring him up twice in the same thread, but David Simon has written that he thinks this exact thing should be done in all cases involving non-violent drug offenders.

Danger.

Gates, Isn’t that the point of a legal defense? I mean usually there’s a guilty party, and for the guilty to be set free there must be some sort of “obstruction” or misleading of the court and jury. Or all guilty parties would be found guilty.

Sorry, that’s not the America I live in.

I like this take, I just wonder how an appeals court can deal with it.

Our final exam included a question asking us to read an excerpt from David Simon’s “The Corner,” and write about how the interrogation techniques of the police made us feel. I got one of the better grades in the class because I used the word “sh*t” during an in-class discussion and peppered my final exam with a smattering of f-bombs. He said he could really feel my passion.

Then he got fired immediately after that semester, and no one has any idea why.

Are there grounds for appeal regarding Jusge Illston’s instructions as it relates to the obstruction of justice interpretation?

Craig, as a side note, I heard your interview with the morning guys on WIP. Some good stuff. Roy Owsalt’s bulldozer love and Blanton’s “Cranky” arm.

Also giving the Phillies some props. I commend you.