w8in4u
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Joined: 12/26/2004
Msg: 1 | |
| Legal System - advice please
Posted: 12/30/2004 6:15:57 PM | OK, I've been asked to write a letter by a friend of mine concerning her son who is currently incarcerated. In brief, he is a 35yo single male drug addict. His drug of choice is crack. Now for a little history; he has been an addict for 20 years, in 2004 alone he has had 5 arrests with 12 charges all pertaining to drugs, driving without a license, and shoplifting. In the last 5 years he's had 2-4 arrests each year with the same charges. Since 1999 he has had 14 failures to appear, 3 grand theft auto (which his mother dropped the charges on), 4 thefts, 2 dealing in stolen property, 2 possession of cocaine, 2 possession of paraphanelia and 1 stalking. About 6 felonies and the rest misdemeanors. Each time he goes to jail he serves approximately 30 days and then is free again. He was sentenced to drug rehab twice for 60 days each time.
I'm trying to write this letter, but I have lost sight as to why. If I say what I feel, I'm encouraging the system to lock him up for a long time. If I try to minimize his actions, I'm only hurting him.
See, the problem comes in in that she, as his mother, fails to see reality. She wants him to get better, to stop doing the things he does, she wants to help him. She wants ultimately for my letter to request that he be sentenced to the Drug Farm for a year.
I view it differently, I feel that he should have to face his faults, serve his time and be punished accordinglly. Yes, I agree that drug treatment would benefit him, but don't agree that because he is an addict it should excuse his behavior.
What I'm asking for is some input and suggestions. The legal system has habitual offenders going in and out of jail as if though it were a trip to the mall. He is used to being in jail. It's not a big deal considering the amount of time that he spends there.
What can be done to have the legal system enforce it's laws to greater degree? How do I go about exposing that what is currently being done is not working? With the costs being so high, I realize that there may be no funds availalbe to keep petty criminals in jail however, these same petty criminals expand their trade and become bigger criminals costing far more over a lifetime in damage to the ones closest to them and to the community.
Any suggestions?
Thanks. | |
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| Legal System - advice please
Posted: 12/30/2004 7:03:08 PM | I dont think Philippines drug laws have much to do with US laws.
Is the court he is being sentenced at a local court? Or has he been charged and sentenced by different courts? In the same state?
If its local court who keeps giving him a light sentence you should write to the prosecuting attorneys office and ask that a harsher sentence be done for the good of the public. Believe it or not it does help.
Sounds like he has a drug issue that is the cause of the other violations. the longer he stays in they longer he is clean and the longer he is clean the greater his chances are to stay clean. Yes some go in and come out worse but not all. A drug farm deals with just that drug offences and they know what they are looking for and how to help better than a jail or prison would.
If its a state court, same thing write to the prosecutor, as for harsher laws, lobby your state politicians they do listen. get signatures from people who feel they same way. Ill bet there is already a community in your state trying to deal with harsher criminal laws. Its going to take some foot work from you but dealing with your local politicians office is a great way to start. They can even point the resources out for you. Believe it or not government offices are a wealth of knowledge. Dont be discouraged if you dont get the help or answers your looking for, keep asking, keep pushing. If you dont like the answer ask someone else until you get the answer your looking for.
Good Luck | |
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| Legal System - advice please
Posted: 12/30/2004 7:12:51 PM | w8... sounds like you've got the basic makings of a letter in your posting. with a little clean up/editing... you could have an awesome letter with all that you've already written.
my brother's choice of pain is crystal meth... he was in and out of jail for a coulpe of years and they never gave him drug treatment. my mom enables him every step of they way. he's 31, still lives with her, hasn't held down a steady job since he returned home from the navy when he was 21. he's not as bad as he was a few years ago at this point as far as his habit goes... but doing even a little bit really messes him up. it's like watching a twisted version of dr. jekyl & mr. hyde. and he doesn't see it. my mom is blind to the change that takes over him when he's been using and i honestly don't think he'll live much longer. and if he does... he won't live a long life. not after all the abuse he's caused to his body to go through using for so long.
i suggested drug treatment as well... it fell on deaf ears. so i really don't know what advice to give you other than to say i think you're on the right track in writing your letter. i personally realized i had to stay out of it and just let my brother do what he was going to do. he knows how much we all love him and want him around for a long time & he knows i feel like he's gonna die young. none of that matters to him... he's an addict that does not want any help. i don't think he even realizes he needs help to be honest with you. we've tried soft love, tough love... he's gotta want to get clean on his own before it will happen.
wishing you the best of luck. ;) | |
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| Legal System - advice please
Posted: 12/30/2004 8:30:04 PM | | Problem is that you just can't help people who don't want it. It is too bad that so many families are destroyed in the process. | |
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| Legal System - advice please
Posted: 12/30/2004 8:51:20 PM | | sounds like your struggling with the philosophical divide between ethics of care and ethics of law. post three had lots of great input for you, but i can see it being hard to include those actions in this letter. maybe it would be best in the long term if you called it how you saw it, without letting the feelings of the mother be dominant. I feel in the long term, she wants her son back and if he doesn't get real help, she may never get him back. | |
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yna6
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Joined: 5/2/2004
Msg: 7 | |
| Legal System - advice please
Posted: 12/31/2004 9:11:50 AM | In a great many prisons it is easier to obtain drugs than out in the street! Jail time is NOT an answer. Drug farm? Maybe...but ONLY for a year??? Try two or three maybe. Sure....ask the prosecuting attorney to ask for that instead...cause even longer sentances are NOT going to help.
People DO have choices....andoften we make the wrong ones. Druggies included. Druggies won't accept rehab cause they are looking to avoid the pains of life which we all face. Drugs can make you feel good....that is NOT the trap...it is the idea of not wanting to feel bad that IS the trap...slight, but definitly there difference. When folks realize they have to take the bad with the good...then there is a chance for them to accept rehab and get their lives straightened out! | |
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| Legal System - advice please
Posted: 12/31/2004 11:05:37 AM | having personally gone through this one myself....
don't be an enabler .... the worse thing you can do would be to sugarcoat the situation. these are hardcore drug addicts who will do pretty much anything to feed their addiction. the addict will not change until he is ready to change.
as for the legal system, it stinks for the addicted and mentally ill ones, but it's all we got. there is little that we can do, as common citizen, to change it. hopefully, the "system" will realize and make effort to change the fact that they are set up as a turnstill for addicts and mentally ill criminals. there needs to be some other alternative as any forced rehab has little long term effect.
write your letter and be honest.......... | |
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| Legal System - advice please
Posted: 12/31/2004 11:42:38 AM | | I don't think someone is abel to change untill they are ready or they have learned a harsh lesson from the realitity of their decisions, first of all how much longer can a mother have the will to be protecting her THIRTY FIVE YR. OLD son thats just getting redicilious. To deal with the punishment that he should be reciving for his crimes that depends on where you live, how the judge is feeling that day, and what the state attorney thinks is a suting punishment for the crime. ex: I was arrested last year with a bag of pot all done and over with I spent a year on probation, nine months house arrest, and 2 1/2 months in jail, that seems insane for a bag of pot, but know what I learned a lesson and I dont smoke pot right now. anyway all the mother has to do is write the judge a letter explaning how she feels,and what she thinks will be best for her son ( be brutally honest ) dont stick up for the guy, he is a grown man and it is time to face the music. Untill he learns not to fu*k up any more he is going to keep walking the same path for the rest of his life. hopefully this helped a little . ps .fellons are not petty criminals, in the letter to the judge tell him that you feel that his drug habbit will end his life that might get a little attention, just don't hold back the true feelings in the letter it might be the only thing that can help. best of luck | |
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