THREE STRIKES LAW LEAVES MANY FAMILIES IN PAIN

Deadline to Sign Petition to Amend Three Strikes Is March 31

Inglewood, Calif. (NNPA) -- Most parents find it rather easy and
enjoyable to talk about their children. But not Freddie Lawson. When
she mentions her 43-year-old son Derik, the elderly mother breaks down
in tears, her warm and inviting face quickly turning cold and weary.
It's not that she isn't proud of her son. Quite the contrary. She
loves Derik and spends most of her waking hours fighting for him. She
cries because she's afraid: Afraid that she will never again be able
to share with her oldest son the simple things in life.

That is because Derik, a former Washington Preparatory High School
student, is serving 25-years-to-life in state prison for burglary, his
third felony conviction under California's controversial Three Strikes
Law, which sentences repeat felony offenders to prison for at least 25
years if they are convicted of a third offense. Derik, like the
majority of those sentenced under the 1994 law, is serving time for a
non-violent crime, burglarizing an unoccupied dwelling, one of many he
committed to support a serious drug habit. If paroled, Derik will
likely be released when most his age will be planning their
retirement. His mother will probably be dead.

"I'm crying because 25 years is really cruel for someone who hasn't
done any violent things," said Lawson, who spends the majority of her
time volunteering at Families to Amend California's Three Strikes
(FACTS), an advocacy group and support network for families that seeks
to place an initiative on the November ballot changing the law so it
applies to only violent crimes, such as rape, murder, child
molestation and armed robbery. "I'm worried that I may never see him
get out."

Freddie Lawson is not alone.

A new report by the Justice Policy Institute has just been made public;
it is titled "Still Striking Out: Ten Years of California's Three
Strikes." The study reveals that the African American incarceration rate
for third strikers is 12 times higher than for Whites - 143 per 100,000
to 12 per 100,000.

The Latino rate of incarnation is 17 per 100,000, which is 45 percent
higher than the third strike inmates for Whites.

The report also noted that 57 percent of third strikers are accused of
non-violent crime.

While analysts focus their attention on the financial costs of Three
Strikes in California, which is said to be more than $4 billion for
non-violent offenders, according to the National Institute of Justice,
there are very few reports on the emotional and financial costs borne
by the families of those incarcerated.

"I put a lot of the blame on myself, because I knew he had a drug
problem, but I just couldn't afford to keep him in a rehab program,"
said Lawson. She remembers her son being an average kid who was
involved in sports and loved bodybuilding. He was a normal African
American child who went to school, hung out with friends and attended
church with the family.

"We were just a middle class family trying to do our best. Now he's
caught up in the system. It's been very hard on me and the rest of the
family," said Lawson.

Her pain and feelings of guilt and hopelessness are shared by
literally thousands of families whose lives have been transformed
because they too have a loved one incarcerated under the law, the
majority for non-violent offenses such as shoplifting $2.69 worth of
AA batteries, forging checks, possession of less than two grams of
marijuana or filling out a false driver's license application. The
long sentences can destroy families, cause depression and anger. But
they also can spur a sense of togetherness as families unite in
support of their loved ones.

Sue Reams knows what Three Strikes can do to a family. She has seen
her suburban life rocked by the tough-on-crime stance taken by most.
Her son Shane, 35, is serving a 25-years-to-life sentence for being
the lookout in a $20 crack cocaine sale. The dealer received only four
years, Reams said.

"I felt like someone had knocked the wind out of me," she added. "The
attorney kept telling me that he wasn't going to see a day in prison,
but she didn't know anything about Three Strikes. So when the judge
came back with the life sentence, I couldn't even believe it."

Luckily for Reams and Shane, they have a very strong family. Like
Lawson, relatives come together to support Reams with her efforts to
reform the law. She is the Orange County representative for FACTS. "My
husband and two daughters are my support network," she said. "Without
them, I don't know what I would do."

Reams, like many other mothers and fathers, blames herself for Shane's
sentence. After all, she voted for the law, as did Lawson.

"I thought it was going to apply to violent offenders only, at least
that's what I was told," she said. Reams also blames herself for
Shane's first strikes, because she is the one who forced neighbors to
file charges against her son after he burglarized their houses to get
money for drugs. The burglaries counted for his first two strikes, and
he served 18 months in prison, one of many short stints he served
because of his addiction.

"I was a tough love parent, and I thought sending him to jail would
scare him straight. All it did was get him his first two strikes," she
said. Reams said Shane tried to seek help many times and was sober at
times, but she could never afford to help him pay for an extensive
rehab program and he was unable to enroll in one while serving time.
"They just send them in there without any way to better
themselves."

What is especially difficult for Reams is that her son has a child of
his own, a 13-year-old boy who is afraid to even visit him because of
the intimidating and sometimes frightening prison environment. Shane's
younger sisters also have grown and have families of their own, time
Shane has missed while in Corcoran Prison, where he has been exposed
to more violence and drugs instead of rehabilitation, said Reams.

"He says it's difficult to see us come and go. It's hard for him to
see everyone growing up without him, especially his son. That
relationship has definitely suffered because he's in prison," Reams
added. "They all write to him, but the burden of keeping all those
relationships up sometimes kind of falls on me, and other family
members often don't want to talk about it because they know it is painful."

The deadline to submit petitions to amend Three Strikes for the
November 2004 ballot is March 31. To help collect signatures, call
FACTS at (213) 746-4844 or visit www.facts1.com. In San Francisco,
petitions are being circulated by the Idriss Stelley Foundation. Call
(415) 595-8251 or (415) 595-8461.