Leaving Prison at 72

[rayiner]

It’s a little sad that so many people only get interested in these problems for the drug angle: https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/human_rights/2019/05/revis...

Geneva Cooley was sentenced to mandatory life without parole based on the drug conviction. However, even if that hadn’t been the case, she could’ve gotten a life sentence based on two prior felony convictions for forgery, and a felony conviction for failing to get tax stamps for the drugs she sold. The drug laws in Alabama have been amended, but the habitual offender laws have been much harder to change.

There is a ton of focus on the injustice of drug convictions, maybe because it’s something middle class people can identify with. But that’s just scratching the surface of what’s wrong.

[curryst]

I do think you're right that it's something that middle class people can identify with. Largely because the opioid crisis has started to impact a lot of middle class households, which has helped to humanize the problems with drug addiction.

It's also to some degree perceived as less severe because selling drugs is generally something addicts do to other addicts; it's not victimless, but it's not something that victimizes those that aren't drug addicts (beyond helping to continue the cycle of addiction, and stopping that by prosecuting drug dealers hasn't proved effective).

Forgery, on the other hand, is much harder to humanize for the middle class because it's generally a crime that victimizes the middle class. Many people are less likely to reduce the sentencing for things like that or burglary because it's a crime that might be inflicted on them, and they want their pound of flesh if it is.

[WalterBright]

It's terrible that non-violent crimes should get you a life sentence.

[mindslight]

The drug convictions draw the most attention because they're the most absurd - an entire sector of criminality created by moral crusaders pushing sadistic fundamentalism for what amounts to a public health problem.

The forgeries presumably wronged someone, and so it's easy to see it deserves some kind of punishment. Even if the magnitude of the sentence is draconian, subjectivity means this isn't as clear-cut of an argument.

[wyldfire]

Much more upbeat story than "Brooks was Here".

[jedilance]

Login bypassed: http://archive.is/HMVDp

[known]

I think convicted senior citizens should be house arrested, not jailed;

[crispyporkbites]

I’m confused, according to the article this woman, at the age of 55, as a heroin addict, got life without parole for carrying heroin in a sock across town.

What a waste of taxpayers money and a complete shambles.

[mcbuilder]

Maybe you are too young to remember the war on drugs, but it was (and continues to be) a sad period in American history.

[clarkmoody]

With two simple rules you could clear up so much absurdity in the criminal justice system and in the public perception of the law:

- No victim, no crime

- Legal != moral

[ahbyb]

"carrying heroin in a sock" vs. acting as a courier of heroin and hydromorphone pills, after having been convicted before of forgery for having used fraudulent checks and stolen credit cards.

[overcast]

On a positive note, it probably saved her life.