A couple of recent drug war items deserve Grits readers' attention.
- At Texas Monthly, Bill Martin bring us up to speed on the disappointing lack of progress at the Texas Legislature by bills to address low-level drug sentencing that the House leadership refused to release for a floor vote, see "The Policy and Politics of Drug Sentencing." This is the second time in recent years that legislation to reduce penalties for small-time pot possession passed out of the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee but never received a floor vote. (The last time was in 2005.)
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1 comment:
The Gomez article is excellent and very disturbing. How can the public force the Supreme Court to protect our constitutional rights, instead of diminishing them?
I am also struck by the similarities to the war against sex offenders. I think the lawmakers realize they have lost the "war on drugs" and the sex offenders are their new target. The prison industry must be supported. And legislators must have a platform to keep getting votes from an uninformed public. Many of the "Offenses" that make one a sex offender have no victim but the public is not aware of that. And those who profit from the prison industry lobby extensively. They have much to lose if the Supreme Court starts to protect citizens instead of private interests.
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