Rhetoric of Fear The Death of the California Dream Health Care in Perspective The Discipline Leave No Child Behind No Daddy, No! Unconditional Equal Justice under the Law Thank God I Am Not A Woman Infallible "Don't ask, don't tell" Thou Shalt Not Kill Irreconcilable Differences My Will Positive Reinforcement Changing My Name After Sixty Years Copyright © 2000-2009 Thomas E. Rosenberg. All right reserved. Essays may be reproduced with written permission. tomr@inaword.org

The elimination of negative words brings clarity to speech "Liberty and Justice for All" "No man is above the law," was the underlying principle expressed over and over by the House managers who prosecuted the President. "No citizen is better than his fellow citizens . . . " repeated Florida Congressman Charles T. Canady in arguing for the President's removal from office. Congressman Stephen E. Buyer of Indiana, another House manager said " . . . implicit in the social contract that we enter as a civilized society is the principle that the weak are equally entitled as the strong to equal justice under the law." By their words and images, the 13 men appointed to manage the House case against the President, reminded the public that we live in a society divided by race and income. Rep. Henry Hyde, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, restated the argument for impeachment as " . . . fighting for equal justice under the law." This argument flew in the face of reality. Ask any public defender how the scale of justice is weighted. The district attorneys have more resources at their disposal - - police and investigators and a crime lab that processes evidence - - than the outgunned public defenders. The poor receive the short end of the stick before the bar of justice. About three quarters of the inmates in state prisons and half of those in federal prisons receive publicly provided legal counsel. Drug offenders represent almost one in four inmates nationally. Federal statistics show that investigations involving drug-related offenses run about five-to-one over violent offenses such as murder, rape, assault, and robbery. Arrests for drug violations increase every year while the level of violent crime is declining. The Sentencing Project reports that drunk drivers are predominantly white males; who are generally charged as misdemeanants and their sentences are typically fines, license suspension and community service. Persons convicted of drug possession are disproportionately low-income, and African-American or Hispanic who are generally charged with felonies, leading to incarceration. While African Americans constitute 13 percent of all drug users, they represent 35 percent of arrests for drug possession, 55 percent of convictions and 74 percent of prison sentences. Nearly one in three African American males in the age group 20-29 is under criminal justice supervision. In the last two decades, the proportion of Hispanics in state and federal prisons has doubled. Our society spends more on prisons than it does on education. Congress' approach is to treat more young juveniles as adults and impose new mandatory minimum sentences for their drug, gang and gun related crimes. Simultaneously, Congress has cut funds that provide legal assistance for the poor and those under sentence of death. Politicians take a demagogic approach to crime legislation. The increase in poverty amidst historic affluence is the prime issue facing our society. Poverty leads to crime, especially in the inner city, where hopes for the future are blunted by racial discrimination. One of the biggest lies in our society is that all people are treated equally under the law. The real disgrace are those representatives who sanctimoniously promote this myth while relegating the growing number of homeless, mentally ill and hungry to local jurisdictions that lack the resources to deal with the problem. January 1999