HARVARD PANEL ON PRISON REFORM DRAWS BOOS

Former California attorney general Dan Lungren was pounded by audience
hisses and two ideological opponents last night at Harvard University's
Institute of Politics panel on prison reform and sentencing.

Nearly 300 people crowded the ARCO Forum to hear a vehement discussion
between Lungren and former Black Panther Eddie Ellis and Marc Mauer, the
author of The Race to Incarcerate. The debate included discussion of drug
arrests, racial bias in the criminal justice system and mandatory minimum
sentences.

Moderator Cait T. Clarke, an adjunct lecturer in public policy at the
Kennedy School of Government (KSG), began what she categorized as a "highly
politicized and sometimes emotional" discussion by asking the panelists
what they think causes crime.

Mauer responded that nearly 2 million Americans are currently imprisoned,
and that 11 times as many people are imprisoned for drugs today as in 1980.

Lungren countered that the discussion should focus on the victims, rather
than the perpetrators of crimes.

"The obligation of government is to protect the innocent from...the
predators," Lungren said, and was immediately hissed for using this term.

During the question-and-answer period, Lungren was assailed for his use of
the word "predator," which an audience member said demonizes the person
instead of the crime, and has negative racial overtones.

Ellis objected to Lungren's use of the term predator in part because he
believes that poverty is the root cause of many crimes. If this is the
case, Ellis said, the United States should not spend the money it does on
prisons.

"It seems to me that if you have $25,000, it makes more sense to send
someone to Harvard than to Attica," he said.

Ellis served 25 years in Attica, the New York State prison, after being
investigated by COINTELPRO, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's
counterintelligence program, for his involvement in the Black Panthers. He
earned his master's degree while imprisoned in Attica.

Ellis cited fear as the main reason for the skyrocketing number of prisons
being built.

"America has always needed a bogeyman...and the criminal has become the
bogeyman," Ellis said.

Lungren responded by saying that "punishment is the linchpin of the
criminal justice system" and that victims "say punish that person."

While Lungren often appeared flustered and unable to respond to the
arguments of Ellis and Mauer, he remained light-hearted about his unpopular
position.

"I don't mind being in the minority here," Lungren said.

Mauer raised the issue of sentencing for drug charges, which led to just as
heated a debate.

He criticized Lungren's support of federal legislation passed while Lungren
was a member of Congress in the late 1980s that set mandatory minimum
sentences distinguishing between powder and crack cocaine.

The bill said someone carrying 499 grams of powder serves a maximum
one-year sentence, whereas a person caught with just 5 grams of crack
cocaine receives a mandatory five-year sentence.

Not only is this distinction illogical, according to Mauer, but 85 percent
of those convicted for possessing crack cocaine are black. He added that
although whites sell and use drugs at the highest rate, blacks and Latinos
make up 92 percent of drug arrests.

During the question-and-answer period, Ellis, Mauer and the crowd came down
heavily upon Lungren's views, with Ellis claiming that "punishment will
never be effective in the long term" and that "we are mortgaging our
futures" with current prison policies.

And Mauer stressed the need for foresight and rehabilitation.

"If you just spend all your time reacting, you'll never get anywhere," he
said.

Ultimately, Mauer responded to Lungren by calling for unity. "We don't have
two types of people. We're all in the same community."