March 30, 2006
War On Drugs Department
Justice for the Young and Attractive
The story of Julia Diaco is bouncing around the legal blogosphere. She's an attractive young white college girl who was caught dealing drugs on the NYU campus. She could have been sentenced to as much as 25 years, but instead received a slap-on-the-wrist sentence of 5-years probation.
A New York Post story, "Pot Hottie Breathes Freedom" (really), contrasts that sentence with another case:
News of the deal frustrated Anthony Papa, 51, who, like Diaco, was once a first-time, non-violent offender. Instead of probation, he was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for delivering four ounces of cocaine for a police informant to an undercover cop for a $500 fee.
The owner of a struggling auto repair business in The Bronx, Papa was desperate for cash and couldn't afford a pricey lawyer.
"I get angry with a case like this because the laws are not applied equally. Because she had money and the right lawyers, she didn't go to jail. Others should have that same opportunity," he said. "All people should be treated like this woman - with compassion."
Virginia prosecutor Tom McKenna responds in his blog:
[Anthony] Papa, however, draws the exactly 180-degree wrong conclusion...How 'bout instead we treat like cases alike and put the drug-dealing pretty rich girl in jail for 15 years?
Well, I think it's Tom that's drawing the wrong conclusion. The War On Drugs is a pointless communist-empire-sized waste of resources that has eroded our civil liberties far more than the PATRIOT act ever has, all in the name of stopping a victimless crime. As far as I'm concerned, Julia Diaco got justice (or pretty close to it). The injustice here is not the light sentence given to a rich white babe, but the crushing sentences routinely handed out to everyone else.
Tom's response is chilling. A 15-year prison sentence is life-shattering. It would destroy all her hopes and plans. Her friends would leave her and move away. Family members would grow sick and die. Everything she did, all the plans she made, all the dreams she had...it would all be wiped out, made meaningless by the passage of a decade and a half. When she got out, she'd have to start her life over from scratch.
Some criminals, of course, deserve that. But Julia Diaco is a college student who sold a little drugs to other college students. A slap on the wrist sounds about right.
.
Leave a comment