Newsclipping summary:
FEAR-List Bulletin posted by John Paff, 10/14/95
On September 24, 25, 26 and 27, 1995, the Boston Globe ran a series
of forfeiture/drug war stories. Here is a synopsis:
9/24 First time drug offenders are filling state prisons while violent criminals are getting lighter sentences
9/25 Big time dealers consent to forfeiture in order to reduce criminal penalties.
9/26 The small time drug dealers are the ones doing time.
9/27 A secret rebellion is underway in the Mass. judiciary against the state's drug war.
I have only seen the September 25th story, and it is good. Here are the first few paragraphs to give you a flavor of what the story is about.
Money at the Root of Deals
Accused's assets are key chips in plea bargains
But they are all members of an exclusive club--convicted drug dealers who should still be in jail on trafficking charges. They are the blue-collar neighbors who somehow drove the new cars and paid cash for everything because they had secretly stockpiled cocaine and weapons in the basement. And, eventually, they became targets of the toughest penalties in the state's war on drugs - up to 15 years in mandatory prison terms.
But, instead of doing hard time, they have been at large for years or have never been to prison at all after they bought their way out of steep prison terms by using of all things, drug profits.
Many of them would have been serving sentences into the next century were it not for local prosecutors' perverse use of state forfeiture laws that provide for the seizure of drug proceeds.