'NO' TO 'ZERO TOLERANCE'

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 19 (AP) -- The leadership of the American Bar Association
voted today to recommend ending "zero tolerance" school discipline policies
and stopping the government's use of secret evidence in most immigration cases.

The zero tolerance policies -- which can mandate expulsion or referral to
juvenile or criminal court "without regard to the circumstances or nature
of the offense or the student's history" -- are unfair and inappropriate
for many children, advocates said.

"Zero tolerance has become a one-size-fits-all solution to all the problems
that schools confront," said a report accompanying the resolution adopted
by the policymaking House of Delegates of the 400,000-member lawyers'
organization. "It has redefined students as criminals, with unfortunate
consequences."

The ABA resolution, approved without a roll call vote on the closing day of
the group's winter meeting, has no legal effect, but advocates hope it will
prompt schools to reevaluate such policies. The policies, maintained by
many of the nation's approximately 14,000 school districts, typically cover
weapons, drugs or violence in school.

Those who oppose zero tolerance say the rules have gone too far, with
occasionally ridiculous results.

One example in the ABA report: A 12-year-old referred to Louisiana police
for telling classmates in the lunch line, "I'm going to get you," if they
ate all the potatoes before it was his turn.

Supporters of zero tolerance rules say they help keep schools safe, and
that parents and law enforcement generally support them.

The ABA's House of Delegates also agreed to several recommendations for
changing immigration law. Again, the ABA positions have no legal bearing,
but the organization likely will back them up with lobbying efforts in
Congress.

The group approved recommending changes to a 1996 antiterrorism law that
made it far easier for the Immigration and Naturalization Service to use
secret evidence against noncitizens. The INS typically has done so in cases
of suspected terrorism, citing the potential damage to national security if
the evidence became public.

The ABA policy opposes secret evidence in most immigration cases. An
exception would let the government supply unclassified summaries in
"extraordinary cases where there are legitimate national security concerns."

A report accompanying the recommendation cites the case of a Palestinian
academic jailed for three years in Florida without trial. Mazen Al-Najjar
was released in December without ever seeing the evidence behind the
government's allegation that he was a front for Islamic terrorists.