PUTTING STUDENT IN JAIL WOULD DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD

In response to Carl Blake's April 2 letter ["Distributing pot, even in
brownies, is still a crime"], I find it very disturbing to think that Mr.
Blake would gain some kind of gratification from slamming a young high
school man with the harshest punishment possible for a foolish mistake for
which he surely had no malicious intent.

Certainly this young gentleman was at fault for bringing a pan of pot
brownies to school, but is this a serious enough situation to prosecute him
to the limit, drastically influencing his future educational and
occupational goals?

Mr. Blake doesn't think community service is going to teach the student a
lesson. At least it's a chance for him to learn something new and give
something back for his error. Does Mr. Blake really believe that placing
this young man away from school and his family in a jail environment some
place is going to have a positive influence on his thought process?

I believe it's about time that society wakes up and realizes that the key
is education and definitely not incarceration. I think we should take some
time out to educate this young person about why he shouldn't do such things
instead of just wasting another young, healthy mind to the negative
exposure of today's judicial system.

Michael T. Guesman

Spotsylvania