LET THE PUNISHMENT FIT THE CRIME

"Zero tolerance" is an absolute school policy aimed at fighting use of
drugs and alcohol. In districts where it's used, even a single minor
offense always leads to suspension and transfer to another school. But
this policy increasingly is being challenged by parents and others.

A case that could be decided today involves Michael Catskill, a junior
at Tustin High School. Mark Eliot, Tustin Unified School District
communitcations specialist, told us, "We can't comment on the
specifics" because of confidentiality to protect the student. So the
version of the case we got came from the student's lawyer, David Shores.

According to Mr. Shores, on Feb. 20, "Mr. Castillo ditched school that
day. Others were drinking, but he didn't drink. He took a bottle of
beer someone handed him, but put it down." Mr. Castillo was suspended
for five days under the "zero tolerance" policy of possession of
alcohol. Mr. Shores said, "Possession means it's in your backpack.
Just transitory holding of a beer is not possession."

The suspension was stayed pending an appeal. But Mr. Castillo, who has
been a star pitcher for the school baseball team, is not allowed to
play sports. If Mr. Castillo's suspension is implemented, he also
could be transferred to Foothill High School, the other high school in
the district, and would be barred from playing baseball until next
year.

Today the appeal in the Castillo case will be heard by Jan Jones, the
assistant superintendent of instruction. If the school upholds the
suspension, Mr. Shores is prepared to appeal the committee's decision
to the Tustin school board. He has threatened legal action as well.

Mr. Shores represented Ryan Huntsman in a similar case in which police
allegedly found a marijuana pipe in the Corona del Mar High School
student's car. Although Mr. Huntsman was driving off-campus and police
didn't charge him with anything, they gave the information to school
officials, who suspended the student and transferred him to Newport
Harbor High School.

In March, Superior Court Judge Robert E. Thomas
found that the school's action amounted to cruel and unusual
punishment. Mr. Huntsman graduated last year without returning to his
own school. He is also pursuing a case for civil damages, which, Mr.
Shores said, will go to trial this November. Mr. Shores is seeking
damages of $5 million from the school district.

To be sure, schools need to keep order and not permit drug or alcohol
abuse. "Our goal her is to make sure the kids stay on course and
succeed," Mr. Eliot said. "We have strong support in our community.
The parents are very supportive of zero tolerance. Some parents said
it needs to be tweaked or modified, which the board will take up." He
said that in the 1997-98 school year, of 73 suspension cases, 66
students were transferred, seven remained in their schools (because of
special education requirements) and none were expelled.

Our concern about the zero tolerance approach is that it's too
absolute. There's a long continuum between taking drugs on campus and
briefly holding a beer at another location.

The schools seem to be invoking a harsh punishment as a behavioral
club. To stop unwanted behavior, it levies the severest punishment
possible to all.

However, a growing number of people are seeing zero tolerance in a
different framework - as a matter of justice. In short, they ask: Does
the punishment fit the crime?

Students need not only to receive justice when they break the rules,
but need to learn that justice turns on degrees and proportion and on
aggravating and mitigating circumstances. Debates on a much larger
scale are ongoing in criminology circles and society at large: Three
strikes, the death penalty, non-violent offenses.

One of the voices calling for a more balanced approach than zero
tolerance is Gilbert Geis, professor emeritus of criminology at the
University of California, Irvine. "They've just got to stop being so
rules-driven," he told us of school districts, "but instead see what
makes sense and do what's wise. I don't object to the school having
rules of conduct, but they've got to have some sense to them." He
warned that too-rigid enforcement will bring more lawsuits.

In the Castillo case, it seems to us that the suspension and transfer
of Mr. Castillo are far too harsh to fit the transgression.

Tustin High should join the ranks of those rethinking the absolutist
approach.