LAW DAY INTRODUCES TEENS TO INTRICACIES OF COURTS

Judges And High School Students Tackle A Series Of Legal Questions In
Workshops Designed To Teach The Students About The Legal System.

PROVIDENCE -- Is it fair that the 24-year-old woman who says she had no
knowledge of the 2 pounds of heroin that her boyfriend had packed in her
Cadillac was criminally charged and handed a mandatory life sentence for
the crime, her first offense?

Can a dating teen couple be the victim and perpetrator of domestic
violence? If so, is it anybody's business?

Does it make more sense to spend $100,000 annually to house a youth
offender at the State Training School or to spend a fraction of that to
make sure he has the summer job, afterschool programs and a support network
that will keep him on a track to college, not prison?

Those were the questions that 250 high school students, their teachers and
state and federal judges and justice advocates pondered yesterday morning,
at a series of workshops at the downtown campus of the University of Rhode
Island.

URI's Urban Field Association and the Rhode Island Bar Association hosted
their annual law day celebration -- dubbed "Equal Access for All" -- by
engaging students in a series of discussions about current laws and the way
they affect society. The program was founded 18 years ago by Marcia M. Feld
as a way to raise awareness and educate students about the legal system
that impacts their lives and their futures.

The students hailed from the Textron Chamber of Commerce High School, Hope
High School, the Metropolitan Career and Technical Center (the MET) and
schools in Central Falls, North Smithfield, Pawtucket and Bristol.

The opening event featured an introduction by District Court Chief Judge
Albert DeRobbio and a debate about the fairness of drug-crime sentencing,
in a case illustrated by a taped interview with Dan Rather. The case
involved Detroit native JeDonna Young, who had no prior criminal record but
ended up serving 20 years of a life sentence for possessing 2 pounds of
heroin. Michigan authorities eventually commuted her sentence and changed
the law, condemning the mandatory life policy as too harsh.

Prof. David Zlotnick, a criminal-law expert from Roger Williams University
Law School who has written about equity in drug sentencing, led the panel
discussion. Of the 2 million people incarcerated in the United States, 60
percent were locked up for drug-related charges, he said.

"The problem with mandatory minimum [sentences] is that they don't take
into account all the relevant facts," said U.S. District Judge Ernest C.
Torres, noting such extenuating factors as lack of prior criminal record,
background, and nature of the alleged crime. Under mandatory minimum
policies, "if she did the crime, that's it . . . . The sentence was clearly
excessive and too harsh."

Students said they thought Young should have been given a five-year
sentence or a three-year sentence.

Superior Court Judge Edward Clifton estimated that, in Rhode Island, she
might have been ordered to serve one to three years in jail and several
years of probation.

Joining Torres and Clifton on the panel were Asst. U.S. Attorney Gerard B.
Sullivan; Mimi Budnick of Direct Action for Rights and Equality, and
"John," a man who served time for a drug offense.

When posed the question, most students said they were against legalizing
drugs, but one said he thought marijuana should be legalized for medicinal
purposes.

Clifton urged the audience to consider the risk factor cited in health
studies, showing that long-term use of some drugs has an irreversible
effect on the brain.

Budnick noted that, while she does not endorse drug use, law enforcement's
"war on drugs" has taken its toll on communities, including drawing money
away from social programs and job training in order to finance prisons.

"I believe the cycle of processing people in and out of prison is just as
destructive as the impact of drug use," Budnick said.

Teny O. Gross, executive director of the Institute for the Study and
Practice of Nonviolence, told students that adults "have failed to protect
you," by doing little to change violent communities.

"The best strategy to get young people to the age of 24 is working with
them on conflict-resolution skills," said Gross, who recently helped
provide funeral money for the family of a 14-year-old who was gunned down
on city streets two weeks ago.

While he has no magic solution, Gross said the initiative should be to
provide at-risk youths with jobs, programs and opportunities. In short,
Gross said, "we can't afford to be hopeless."