Drug Charge Reform Efforts Opposed by Mass AG
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley opposes Governor Patrick’s proposal to reform mandatory minimum penalties for non-violent drug offenses, particularly school zone charges. She suggested that district attorney’s already assess whether someone was targeting or selling to school kids before deciding to charge and prosecute a drug possession in a school zone offense.
But most defense attorneys will tell you that this just isn’t the case. The law states that a drug arrest for activity within 1000 feet of a school, or 100 feet of a park, and these laws are often used whenever possible.
Drug Possession in School Zone Laws
When most people imagine someone facing charges for drugs in a school zone, they picture a shady drug pusher trying to lure kids to try drugs during recess, or walking home from school. Everyone agrees that is bad, and deserves harsher penalties. But that is not how current law is often applied.
Defendants can be charged with drug possession in school zone from a 3rd floor apartment, if their building happens to be next to a school. People are charged with this all the time, sometimes having no idea they are near a school.
And in cases like this, a person can face 2 years in prison as a mandatory minimum, just for having drugs in their own home.
If the AG says that these charges are only used in cases of kids being targeted, then why not make this part of the law? Why not write it directly into the statute that school zone laws only apply if kids are involved?
The fact is that prosecution use these laws unfairly all the time. They use them as leverage, either to get a defendant to agree to a guilty plea for a lesser possession charge, even of the evidence may not be that strong to convict, or to force someone to testify against another person. It is an abuse of power that shouldn’t be allowed.
I certainly understand why prosecutors want this flexibility. Power is handy! Especially in cases where you know the defendant is a bad guy. Decent prosecutors want whatever power then can have to put serious criminals behind bars.
But that’s not how the systems works. We can’t trust that this authority will always be used for good. Abuse of government power is a serious concern here. We don’t give the government the power to impose whatever charges and penalties they feel are appropriate, the law has to be fair.
Why not then let prosecutors charge attempted manslaughter in drug cases? After all, drugs can kill people!
There was another interesting case in Ohio recently, where prosecutors wanted the ability to charge kids who were sexting with felony sex offenses, just because of the leverage value.
We are a nation of laws, and we don’t impose penalties based on one person’s judgement. In a nation of laws, the law has to be applied in ways that make sense, to protect everyone from abuse of governmental authority.
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