TRULY DISENFRANCHISED

The most disenfranchised adults in the United States are not, in fact, from
Palm Beach County. They include the 2 million people in America's jails and
prisons, and the millions more whose criminal records bar them from ever
casting a vote.

Many of them deserve it. But hundreds of thousands face years of
incarceration and a lifetime of punishment for drug violations and other
non-violent felonies. The social and economic costs are incalculable. Here
in Washington, African Americans - and more recently, women - are bearing
the brunt of the prison boom.

The passage of Initiative 200 suggests that Washington citizens want
everyone treated equally regardless of race. Though equal opportunity is
the goal, the state's imprisonment rates suggest lingering unequal access
to education, jobs and legal help.

Nationwide, African-American men go to state prison for drug charges at 13
times the rate of white men.

The United States has five times more white drug users than black, but
African Americans are questioned, apprehended, charged and convicted at a
far higher rate. Today, one in 20 African-American men over the age of 18
is in prison.

And today, the fastest-growing prison population is women, most of whom
have children or teenagers. These depressing statistics don't all come from
Texas and California. Washington state matches the national trends. In
fact, more than one-fifth of African-American men in this state are unable
to vote because of a felony conviction. Only nine other states - including
Texas - can match that.

The economy is still good and crime is down. Writing off everyone behind
bars is easy. But state legislators are feeling the pinch of
mandatory-sentencing laws, which lead to more prisons, more state workers
and more health costs.

The pinch should be moral, as well as economic. It is immoral for a minor
drug offense to carry a longer sentence than rape or manslaughter. It is
immoral for unwitting accomplices - often girlfriends or relatives - to get
a longer sentence than the plea-bargaining suspect. Washington is due to
re-examine its system of imprisonment. Punishment for many nonviolent
offenses does not fit the crime and falls hardest on minorities. The loss
of freedom and privileges lasts a lifetime. This is unacceptable in a state
that voted to be colorblind and fair.