Criminal justice system should focus on rehabilitation
To the Editor,
I am a criminal lawyer with an office in Whittier, on the Swain County
side of the river, but live in Cullowhee. In 1996, I returned home to
resume my law practice, emphasizing criminal law.
After 20 years of criminal law as a prosecutor and defense attorney
I have been asked many times how I can defend "criminals"
or "bad people." I start out trying to answer as an attorney,
but end up sounding like a preacher: forgive me, it's probably hard-wired
into my brain from growing up here.
At any rate, I recently read an article in the North Carolina State
Bar Journal by Louis Allen, a federal public defender in Guilford County
that thoughtfully addresses this question.
Mr. Allen pointed out the obvious. So obvious, we routinely overlook
it.
"There are not good people and bad people on this earth. There
are only people who are both good and bad.
Read Socrates or Carl Jung or those Bible guys and you will know that
the evil within us all has been a theme throughout time," Allen
wrote.
I have always believed that people were basically good and know that
good people sometimes do bad things.
Some of these "bad things" have been prohibited by law, thus
subjecting the person to criminal punishment. It is too easy, however,
to say that those who break the law are "bad people" and those
who don't (or don't get caught) are "good people."
In Western North Carolina there is of course a strong Christian current
that has pulled people through hard times and no one can deny its positive
influence. Unfortunately, despite the Christian teachings alluded to
by Mr. Allen, many of us still think in terms of "good people"
and "bad people." As noted in the Bar Journal article, greed
or pride, as examples, are not crimes; but is a person guilty of too
much pride or greed any less "bad" than a person who commits
one of the thousands of crimes defined in our North Carolina Criminal
Code? If not, let us not rush to convict those less fortunate simply
out of arrogance, fear or self-righteousness.
Our criminal justice system is fueled by fear and insecurity at a time
when the government (until recently I would have said our government)
has abandoned the people it was meant to serve and protect. These two
facts create a volatile and dangerous time for our criminal justice
system because we want to strike out at someone to satisfy our anger
and frustration.
Christian love, respect and compassion would prevail over hatred and
fear if only we trust in God and all the wisdom he has provided. Let
this community be more forgiving and remember that we are responsible
for our brothers and sisters; not all are born on a level playing field.
What society does to its own will define in the long run how it will
be remembered in history.
Punishment in the criminal justice system should be dispensed in the
same fashion as punishment to one we love; that is to rehabilitate him
or her and then accept that person back into the community. Too many
times our smallness is stronger than our civic duty and the power to
punish transcends our obligation to be fair and open-minded.
As a defense attorney I agree with Mr. Allen that the accused is one
of us, not a good person or bad, just one of God's own. I know why I
defend "criminals." Because I look for and have found good
in all of my clients and at some level, love them all, because they
are just like you and me.
They are people and deserve to be given a fair trial by people who believe
in the power of love and compassion, no matter what the criminal charge.
Punishment, true punishment, is not ours to dispense.
John Parton
Cullowhee
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'New Deal' follow-up
To the Editor:
As a follow-up to my letter last week, I recommend the following path
for the Dillsboro Dam. Maybe the 15 Tuckasegee stakeholders who didn't
endorse the current agreement can think about this one.
Keep our power operation with a "new deal" for the Tuckaseigee
watershed.
The 2,500 of us who signed a petition want the Dillsboro Dam utility
operation to remain intact and operational for the benefit of the
clean energy, flood control and sediment management on this section
of the Tuckaseigee River.
We want to protect and renovate the Dillsboro Dam and to use the dam
to help finance a neighborhood sediment clean up and river restoration
program.
We want to make this section of the river, with its multimillion dollar
Dillsboro Dam and pond-front property into a historic park system above
and below the dam (similar to TVA projects) for the benefit of residents
and tourism at this end of Jackson County.
We want a redefined stakeholders agreement to promote and enhance economic
development with environmental integrity on both sides of the dam.
In a new era of watershed management, we want better "life cycle
management" practices throughout our watershed that address reservoir
sedimentation for all the dams in the watershed.
These steps should make up for the neglect and abandonment of the Dillsboro
Dam and reservoir in the past 30 years and address real mitigation concerns
for our neighborhood for the next 40 years.
As well, these improvements along with the other agreements reached
in the stakeholder process not associated with dam removal, should more
than make up for the mitigation credits Duke Energy Corporation is so
heavily relying on in removing the Dillsboro Dam.
T. J. Walker
Dillsboro
(Editor's Note: In Walker's Dec. 11 letter, the word "million"
in "$20 million watershed-wide enhancement package" was inadvertently
omitted.
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