Correspondence
Correspondence THE COLUMBINE TAPES DON'T WE ALL WISH to forever forget the names of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold ("Columbine, Again," Dec. 27)? J. Bottum suggests that we should permanently...
...second, whereas rape, for example, involves a victim and is motivated by something far more sinister and dangerous to the community, drug possession and use is a "victimless" crime, which is precisely why 400 courts all over the country have seen fit to give the drug-court method a try...
...They want to replace traditional justice with an "ethic of care perspective" that focuses on the "needs" of the "client...
...Maybe we should call them X and Y? I do see Bottum's point, but let's be serious...
...ROBERT B. WARD Albany, NY...
...Frankly, they were some of the most constructive "talk show" forums in recent memory...
...Forgotten, Bottum complains, is the larger truth "that at least one Colorado high-school girl affirmed her faith, and was killed...
...she affirmed her faith and lived...
...In the few weeks following the tragedy, media sources inundated viewers with an assortment of shows focusing on cause-and-effect issues such as gun control, the decline of the American family, and the influence of Hollywood (among others...
...why not instead use Harris and Klebold as extreme examples of what has happened to certain aspects of our society—such as the fragmentation of the American family, the negative influence of movies and television, and the easy accessibility of automatic weapons, just to name a few...
...Big Book" cannot help but realize that it was written from a Christian "sinner in need of redemption" premise...
...State attorneys general across the country sued tobacco companies for billions of dollars in the mid-1990s, arguing that the taxpayers deserved to be repaid...
...Census figures show, for instance, that state tax collections alone jumped by $120 billion from 1993 to 1998, to a total of $475 billion...
...FRANK T. PIMENTEL Arlington, VA ERIC COHEN RESPONDS: I think Mr...
...Hence, drug courts...
...It's not even in Littleton...
...i just don't see therapeutic "rape courts" cropping up anytime soon in this country...
...Likewise, special "mental illness courts" have sprung up across the country...
...says who...
...The emphasis is on rehabilitation, with the expectation that a hoped-for permanent sobriety (a year's continuous clean-time/sobriety was required for graduation in Rochester) will eliminate future criminal behavior, which had heretofore been fueled by drug addiction...
...The governors who are clamoring for new taxing authority often claim that their treasuries fail to capture a fair share of the growing economy...
...Is that a realistic means of preventing others from committing similar acts...
...Cohen is certainly correct in portraying drug courts as a type of "therapeutic jurisprudence...
...in fact, many people who participate in drug court, unsuccessfully or not, often end up spending more time in jail over the long haul than they would otherwise if, for example, they just accepted a bargained-for 90-day jail sentence on a misdemeanor possession charge...
...in fact, state and local tax collections have outpaced economic growth in the past decade...
...Just a few examples: In a July 1999 article in the National Institute of Justice Journal, David Rottman and Pamela Casey describe the "traditional model" of American justice as "adversarial," "backward looking," and unresponsive to "justice, rights, and equality issues...
...Pimentel may underestimate the revolutionary ambitions of "therapeutic jurisprudence...
...On a per capita basis, that growth amounted to 28 percent—significantly more than inflation...
...And certainly, we can't ignore them...
...As a former assistant public defender in Rochester, New York, i had the privilege of spending six months as the assistant public defender assigned to the Rochester Drug Treatment Court during my four-year tenure with the public defender's office...
...Fine, I'm all for it...
...This revolutionary approach— as drug court professionals proudly call it —has already taken hold in washington, D.C., Florida, and Hawaii, which have created therapy courts for domestic violence offenders...
...But now that the states are collecting billions of tobacco windfall dollars, hardly any of those dollars are actually going back to taxpayers...
...Fortunately, however, Valeen schnurr was not killed...
...A TAXING PROBLEM THE PROBLEM of Expansionary state taxes goes well beyond the issue, described in Edmund walsh's article, of applying sales taxes to online purchases ("Sales Tax: The Next Generation," Dec...
...That system has proven a revolving-door failure...
...The Rochester Court was one of the first drug courts in the country, perhaps one of the first 12 which Cohen references in his article...
...After all, toward the end of the article he does cite several eminent conservatives who have had good things to say about drug courts...
...27 editorial blames "the Denver sheriff's department" and "Denver authorities" for letting a Time magazine reporter see the videotapes made by Columbine High school killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold...
...Unfortunately, the horrific tragedy of Columbine was so wrenching it warranted an hourly rate of press coverage...
...MICHAEL NADEL Arlington, VA YOUR DEC...
...But it does not serve the interests of people of faith to elevate myth over truth, however perfect the myth may be...
...Prior media coverage of similar crimes, as well as Columbine, killed that wish...
...As it happens, Denver, which is a coterminous city and county, does not even have a sheriff...
...For years, the cost of taxes collected by state and local governments has resembled a hot internet stock—up, and up, and then up some more...
...Finally, while Cohen is concerned, as i am, that too much of modern therapy avoids moral judgments and teaching, Alcoholics Anonymous, which is the basis of all of the various 12-step groups which drug court participants utilize, does not shy away from moral education...
...where are the boundaries...
...They want to expand the therapeutic model to cases of domestic violence, larceny, prostitution, and even rape...
...Cohen, as far as i can tell...
...It may have been Valeen Schnurr who said she believed in God, Bottum notes...
...Bottum isn't suggesting that we forget Columbine—just Harris and Klebold...
...As Cohen stated, when defendants relapse and lie about it, sanctions are swift and drastic (if one considers a week in jail drastic...
...Those tapes needed to be investigated and exposed—not to give those boys another day in the limelight, but because we can't ignore what they were thinking...
...LINDA SEEBACH Denver, CO THERAPEUTIC JUSTICE I WILL FIRST ADMIT a modicum of balance in Eric Cohen's article, "The Drug Court Revolution" (Dec...
...rOB lAMOREE Richmond, VA J. BOTTUM NOTES that the story of Cassie Bernall as Columbine's martyr may be in doubt...
...And it's too late for the media to correct their ways...
...Cohen overreaches, and discredits the conservative cause, when he states without support, "the fact is that the most passionate advocates for drug courts have a thoroughgoing contempt for 'traditional justice.' . . .They see drug courts as the first step in the transformation of the courts into a wholly therapeutic enterprise...
...Having said that, Cohen's overreaching does not assist the conservative cause...
...Most will be spent, instead, on bigger government...
...First, it would be politically impossible, at least on a large scale...
...Higher state taxes were driven, in large part, by an explosion in Medicaid spending...
...J. Bottum suggests that we should permanently cleanse our minds of the two boys that terrorized Columbine High school, mainly to cease the continued media coverage, and with it, the desired notoriety they so desperately crave...
...This latter fact, in light of the recent surgeon general's report declaring that half of all Americans suffer some form of mental illness in their lifetime, one quarter in any given year, suggests that the therapeutic state is not a "political impossibility" but an accelerating fact...
...And unfortunately, the crime was so heinous it crystallized national concerns greater than just the sick state of mind of two attention-starved teenagers...
...it is in unincorporated Jefferson County, and the official responsible for showing the videotapes to Time magazine is Jefferson County sheriff John Stone...
...All media outlets today struggle with the fine line of needed coverage versus saturation and overexposure...
...Now, presidential campaign coverage has put most of the important social issues relative to Columbine on the back burner...
...This may not conform with the message that some wish we would take from the Columbine tragedy...
...27, 1999...
...Spending by state and local governments combined is now greater than all non-defense expenditures by the federal government...
...But is it that easy...
...To stand against it—or at least approach revolutions like drug court with skepticism—is not a "discredit to the conservative cause" but a prudent application of conservative principles...
...However, Columbine High school is not in Denver...
...I've never heard the most ardent supporter of drug courts utter such nonsense...
...Anyone who has ever simply thumbed through the A.A...
Vol. 5 • January 2000 • No. 17
