EXECUTIVE
CLEMENCY AND
THE
SHORTNESS OF MEMORY
NYPD OFFICERS
STAND GUARD IN FRONT OF THE FEDERAL COURT BUILDING FOR
THE SOUTHERN
DISTRICT OF NEW YORK LOCATED AT 500-PEARL STREET
TAGS:
OBAMA COMMUTES FEDERAL INMATES SENTENCES,
THE
“WAR YEARS”, DRUG WARS 1980’S & 1990’S, FEDERAL COURTS, DEA, FBI,
LEC,
NYPD, CLEMENCY INSULT TO LEC
(Monday August 8, 2016 500 -
Pearl St., NYC) Perhaps you had to have lived through those brutal years on the
streets of our inner cities. The 1980’s
and early 1990’s were the “War Years” as the illicit drug trade in all its
violent manifestations infected neighborhoods from coast to coast. In New York
City by 1985 the “crack epidemic” was at full throttle as the highly addictive
“rock” form of cocaine hit the streets at a fraction of the coast of the powder
form of cocaine. With this epidemic came
waves of violence as drug traffickers fought endless turf battles that had
blood running in the gutters and local residents held captive in fear of their
own streets. The Law Enforcement
Community (LEC) was in some ways ill-prepared for the carnage and raw violence
that the crack trade was becoming notorious for. From the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency
(DEA) to local Police Departments it often felt like a losing battle. Drug traffickers and their armies of street
dealers had brought the weapons of war to our streets in the form of high-powered
firearms, assault-style weapons, “Cop Killer bullets”, and a “take no
prisoners” approach to their particular brand of urban warfare.
As the body counts rose and
more and more innocent bystanders found their deaths at the hands of those foot
soldiers occupying our streets, the Criminal Justice system was being derided
as ineffective and simply not up to the challenges of this modern drug
war. In turn the State and Federal
Courts began to prosecute very aggressively as Law Enforcement began concerted
efforts to regain control block by block, corner by corner, one neighborhood at
a time. These times required new tools
to be made available for those in Law Enforcement as well as on the
prosecutorial side of the fight. It was
slow going but eventually the corner began to be turned as the Police
interdicted more effectively and the Federal Courts enacted tougher sentencing
guidelines including “mandatory minimums” for some of the most egregious
perpetrators.
THE NATURE OF THE BEAST
Last Wednesday, August 3rd,
President Obama commuted the sentences of 214 federal inmates including 67 who
had been serving life sentences. It was
the largest number of commutations ever made by a President in a single day and
brings his total to a whopping 562 commutations, more than the last nine
President’s combined. He claimed that the majority of those offenders whose
sentences he shortened had been convicted of “nonviolent drug offenses” and
that many were the “victims” of harsh, “draconian” sentencing guidelines. That
is quite a statement from a man who is a Constitutional lawyer whose adopted
hometown of Chicago has been awash in unprecedented violence in recent months
much of which is connected to the drug trade.
The term “nonviolent drug
offenders” is in many ways an oxymoron.
The drug trade by its very nature is a violence filled enterprise. Yes,
there are some among those serving Federal time who were caught up in the
tough-minded sentencing of the 1980’s and 1990’s. However, those tactics did not evolve in
isolation; they were the direct response to the reality of the day.
Not many drug offenders wind
up in a Federal penitentiary by accident.
No, not at all. Most of those
prosecuted under Federal statutes were “high level” traffickers who dealt in
high volume distribution of an illegal product.
While any such “kingpin” may or may not have murdered a rival, a
disloyal soldier, or a delinquent payer it is beyond doubt to believe they were
not responsible for such violence. Many
of these offenders were prosecuted under the famed RICO predicates, the mechanism
by which the Federal Courts can indict and prosecute individuals as part of a
“criminal conspiracy”, a highly effective legal tool that has been an effective
means to the ends of shutting down large and small drug rings. What are now being classified by some and
certainly by this President as “unusually harsh sentences” were clearly not
seen in that light at the time they were imposed. Yes, there is an apparent shortness of memory
among those now clamoring for sweeping reforms to the Courts and in the
prisons. Those seeking such reforms are
engaged in a dangerous brand of activism.
Obviously they did not live through the War Years.
AN EXECUTIVE KICK IN THE GROIN
The “Drug Wars” of the
eighties and nineties were fought on many different fronts. The DEA fought the smugglers on their own
turf, often in highly covert paramilitary operations while Law Enforcement
Agencies (LEA) coast to coast played rough games of cat and mouse often having no
choice but to meet brutal force with brutal force. Many Federal cases took
years of dogged investigation often at great risk to the Agents and Officers
involved. The Department of Justice and the FBI recognized the scale and scope
of the drug wars and had to adapt as they went.
It seemed as if the smugglers and dealers, the distributors and henchmen
were always one step ahead of Law Enforcement.
In some ways they were. Due to
our body of laws, the rules of engagement, limited investigative powers in
tools such as wiretaps, utilizing “confidential informers”, and the “burden of
proof”, the LEC was often forced to fight these battle severely restricted by
domestic laws and Constitutionally assured rights of the offenders. But this is our system and despite the
difficulties over imposed on the LEC, progress was able to be made.
The Courts were the true
bludgeon available to make a concerted effort not simply to stem the flow of
drugs on our streets but to punish those most responsible. These cases were
meticulously assembled and presented by seasoned Federal prosecutors. Now many of their efforts are being reversed
in a casual way that seems to disconnect the crimes and criminals granted
commutation of their sentences. These were the people guilty of the deaths of
unknown users, addicts, rival gang members and innocent people trying to carry
out their lives in virtual combat zones.
There are no “nonviolent” members of a drug enterprise even if they
themselves haven’t pulled a trigger. As
a member of a legally proven criminal drug conspiracy, guilt is equitable
shared among all members except for those who flip and rat on their former
“brothers in arms”. There is no honor
among thieves and many a guilty party turns to testify as part of a plea
bargain or for the promise of immunity.
The cost in blood and death to
members of the forces who valiantly fought the drug wars on behalf of the law,
all the DEA agents, Police Officers and other members of the LEC injured or
killed in the line of duty during those dirty years have suddenly received a
big, swift kick in the balls from our President. All the countless efforts made, all the
take-downs, buy and busts, undercover operations, investigations, arrests and
prosecutions of those in the drug trade have been in a way completely negated
by this atrocious maneuver to grant clemency by President Obama. What are the Officers involved in the arrest
of these guilty parties who will soon be released to think? How demoralizing is it that years after the
fact an activist President frees an individual you had a part in having
convicted? There are more than a few
demoralized, disgusted veteran LEA wondering aloud today about these commuted
sentences.
SECOND CHANCES
Those on the side of jail and
prison “reform”, inmate’s rights, vocal opponents of much of our Criminal Justice
system, as well as President Obama assert that “this is a country of second
chances”. Everybody deserves a second
chance”. Even the most cursory review of
those granted clemency last week reveals that each and every one of them had at
least a second, third and fourth chance.
Some among these offenders were arrested in the possession of a firearm
which automatically enhances whatever other criminal charges levied on
them. These are repeat offenders some
with criminal records that stand as proof of lifetimes of criminal
activity. Not many offenders make it to
the federal courts and very, very few end up in federal custody by virtue of
wrongful prosecution or some alleged nefarious activity on the part of the
Courts.
In the last few years the
political Left has latched on to the concept of jail and prison reform as a “cause”. Yes, our jails and prisons are overcrowded,
underfunded, understaffed, and ill-equipped to deal with some of the
pre-existing mental health issue many inmates suffer from. The introduction and successes of the “for
profit prison industry” has had a double-edged sword effect on incarceration
and the management of correctional facilities.
But that is also a product of the past, that past when the drug wars
raged and blood ran in our streets. All
of this hand-wringing and second guessing merely undermines the efforts of the
entire LEC even at a time when violence across America is on the rise,
premeditated attacks on LEO are becoming dangerously commonplace, and some of
our larger cities are seeing levels of gunfire and gang-related death
reminiscent of the eighties and nineties.
If anything these times call for more aggressive prosecution on every
level of the criminal justice system.
Clearly this is not the time to have our Federal government sending
mixed signals to the criminal class.
We’ll have to watch and wait
to see which of these newly freed convicts kills someone upon their
release. It is not a proposition of “if”,
it is a fact of “when”.
Copyright The Brooding Cynyx 2016 © All Rights Reserved
Copyright Brooding Cynyc 2016 © All Rights Reserved
