Friday thought experiment thread:
Close your eyes and imagine a young black man. Physically strong, stubborn, and seemingly devoid of empathy. Joins the military but leaves because he can’t stand authority and doesn’t want anyone to tell him what to do.
Close your eyes and imagine a young black man. Physically strong, stubborn, and seemingly devoid of empathy. Joins the military but leaves because he can’t stand authority and doesn’t want anyone to tell him what to do.
Especially women. He doesn’t like women who don’t do what he wants. He beats up his girlfriend, even kidnaps her so that she can’t get away from him. Imagine this remorseless young black man being hauled into the police station for assaulting and kidnapping his girlfriend.
And imagine he flees the station when the police aren’t looking and tries to carjack some innocent stranger so he can flee. When the car owner resists, the young black man shoots the stranger in the head. Luckily, the bullet just grazes the stranger and doesn’t kill him.
Imagine the young black man is sent to state prison for several years for his crimes and, shortly after getting out, starts selling crack cocaine for profit. He’s not an addict. He just wants to make money as a drug dealer.
And he does until he is finally caught and busted for trafficking crack cocaine. The federal judge who sentences him looks at this young black man with a history of violence and now drug dealing, and takes note of his troubled background and anti-social nature.
The judge recognizes that even a stint in state prison did nothing to change this bad guy’s attitude or respect for the law. As required by law, the judge sentences this young black man not simply for his crack dealing, but for his entire record. 35 years in prison, no parole.
Open your eyes. Would anyone care? After all, even President Obama said about reforming mandatory minimums only for drug offenders, “I tend not to have a lot of sympathy when it comes to violent crime.” I know a lot of people who share Obama’s view and make that distinction.
What’s been interesting is that a lot of those same people are loudly and proudly supporting clemency for Matthew Charles. They see pictures of this kind-looking grandfather with a big smile, hear about his faith and rehabilitation,
They read that Charles was accidentally released – and they are outraged at the idea of him going back to prison. Why in the world would we send this man in his 50s back to prison when he presents no risk to public safety?
Yet the story of the young black man above is Matthew Charles’s story. At least it is the story his prosecutors and court documents would tell. Matthew Charles was that rudderless, abusive young black man. He will admit as much.
So, now, let’s consider: If he hadn’t been released by a well-intentioned but mistaken judge, would tens of thousands of people be outraged, signing petitions, and demanding that the president of the United States intervene?
That’s a rhetorical question. We all know the answer. We can by cynical about that, or we can see this as an opportunity to teach what many experts and advocates already know: people can change; people age out of crime, especially violent crime);
The distinction between violent and nonviolent crime is not always meaningful; our federal sentencing laws are punitive, especially in a system without parole; “career offender” is a scary term that doesn’t always fit; and on and on.
If people can fully appreciate and be moved by Matthew Charles’ full, messy, and ultimately amazing story, then just maybe we will be able to address our overreliance on incarceration and lengthy prison terms. #FreeMatthewCharles #Butdontstopthere
