page 5- The Behreml College Beacon. Thursday, March 25, 1999
Incarceration not solution
to war on drugs
By Michael Kirkland
The State News
Michigan State University
Paging through a copy of a recent
edition of The New York Times, I
happened upon an interesting little ar
ticle. This illuminating collection of
words and numbers presented me
with a most extraordinary fact: In
America today, nearly one of every
150 persons is incarcerated in some
sort of correctional facility.
That’s more than twice the num
ber of a decade ago, despite the fact
that government statistics claim crime
rates have fallen sharply for six con
secutive years.
The most compelling explanation
for this seemingly unnecessary
growth in the imprisonment rate is the
fact that many of our society's pris
oners are drug offenders.
In other words, the main reason
the United States is second only to
Russia in imprisonment rales is the
infamous war on drugs.
Conservative politicians in the
1980 s, realizing our society was
plagued by savage dope fiends who
indulged in horrifically non-taxable
substances such as marijuana,
launched a nationwide campaign to
rid our country of the
scourge of casual drug use.
Congress passed the mandatory
minimum law, which requires a judge
to imprison any drug offender, re
gardless of the circumstances. Nearly
60 percent of federal prisoners are
The Behrend Review
A review of the
Academy Awards
The 71st annual Academy Awards
show was a mixture of many things.
Those things ranged from predictabil
ity to surprise, from honors to exuber
ance, as well as from total boredom
to a complete disgrace. That was this
year’s Oscars.
In an attempt to respond to past
criticisms that previous Oscar shows
have started too late and have run too
long into the night, the Academy this
year decided to move their telecast
from Monday to Sunday night and
begin it a half hour earlier at B:3opm.
However, despite this, the show still
lasted over four hours, over four and
a half hours if you include that corny
and completely unnecessary Oscar
pre-show with Geena Davis. In fact
after they got through the introduc
tions, the film montage, and the in
credibly long and not very funny
monologue by host Whoopi Goldberg.
It was nearly 9:oopm before they got
to the first award of the evening.
That first award was for Best Sup
porting Actor and in perhaps the big
gest upset in a night full of upsets, it
went to James Coburn for his role as
an alcoholic and abusive father in “Af
fliction”. Unfortunately though the
award was such a surprise that even
Coburn didn’t expect to win, so he
thus did not prepare an acceptance
speech. So when he went up to the
podium to accept it, Coburn basically
rambled on and on for about three
minutes or so until the orchestra fi
nally cut him off.
Coburn’s speech would go on to set
the tone for the next hour of the cer
emony with lifeless winners accept
ing award after award and droning on
and on at the podium.
However finally we got a break
with the award for Best Foreign Lan
guage Film. In one of the only two
sure things of the night, the other be
ing a Best Director Oscar for Steven
Spielberg, “Lite Is Beautiful , the
story of a Jewish father who protects
his son from the horrors of a German
concentration camp by pretending that
it is all just a game in which the grand
prize is a real tank, won the award.
Roberto Benigni, who acted, directed,
and co-wrote the film accepted the
award by climbing atop and walking
across the seats in the auditorium, and
then running up on stage and hugging
presenter Sophia Loren. In his accep
tance speech, Benigni in his broken
English dedicated the award “to those
who are not here (Holocaust victims),
they gave their life in order that we
can say life is beautiful . Later that
drug offenders. On the state level,
the figure is 22 percent.
Almost one-third of these con
victed drug offenders are incarcer
ated simply for possession of an il
licit drug.
The same government statistics
also point out that, on average,
Americans do not use drugs more
than people in other nations do. So
the United States does not have any
more illicit drug use than any other
nation, but is simply
one of the only Democratic societ
ies that has chosen incarceration as
its primary solution to its drug prob
lem.
This is a ridiculous solution that
is rooted in ignorance, hypocrisy and
puritanism.
Incarceration will not necessar
ily alter the view of a casual user,
nor will it necessarily rehabilitate the
dependent user.
Meanwhile, public funds are used
to support a gargantuan prison sys
tem that has expanded to accommo
date people who do nothing but
freely choose to ingest a certain sub
stance and people who do nothing
but provide that substance to those
freely choosing individuals.
Of course, crimes related to the
distribution of illegal drugs or result
ing from their use are still crimes and
should be treated as such.
But, despite the fact that some
crime may be connected to illegal
drug use, the average user is not
compelled to rape and pillage when
ES TESTRAKE
CHAR
evening Benigni would also win the
Best Actor award, becoming only the
second actor in Oscar history to di
rect himself to the prize.
After Benigni’s exuberant accep
tance speech the tone of the evening
was somewhat improved —at least
for a while! Especially when Jim
Carrey came out to present the award
for Best Film Editing. He said in his
remarks; "Winning an Oscar isn’t
everything. It’s an honor just to be
nominated, oh God”, then he pre
tended to break down and cry. For
those of you who don’t know, Carrey
was making light of his not receiv
ing an Oscar nomination for the
“Truman Show”. Unfortunately
though that was pretty much the last
highlight of the evening.
Next came the most disgraceful
moment in Oscar history, when the
Academy presented the Lifetime
Achievement Award to Elia Kazan.
While I will admit Kazan was a great
director of such classic films as
“Gentlemen’s Agreement” and “On
the Waterfront”, he is nevertheless a
despicable human being. In the early
1950’5, Kazan testified before the
House Un-American Activities Com-
mittee and gave them the names of
several colleagues and friends of his
whom he suspected of being Com
munists. And thus those individuals
were blacklisted and had their careers
and lives destroyed because of their
political beliefs. Kazan never apolo
gized for his actions and at times
even bragged about them.
After the Kazan award, the
evening concluded with Oscars for
Gwyneth Paltrow for Best Actress in
“Shakespeare in Love” and Steven
Spielberg for Best Director for “Sav
ing Private Ryan”. However the Best
Picture Oscar did not go to “Saving
Private Ryan” as expected, but in
stead went to “Shakespeare in Love”,
becoming only the third comedy in
last fifty years to win Best Picture.
Unfortunately though the camera
only showed the “Shakespeare”
people celebrating and did not show
us the obvious disappointment of
Spielberg and the “Ryan” people.
However, having actually seen all
five nominated pictures, I thought
“Life is Beautiful” should have won
the award.
Charles Testrake is a junior political science
major. His column appears every three weeks
in the Beacon.
they use. At least, not any more than a
user of alcohol, a legal drug.
The bulk of drug-related crime is
related to distribution. And distribu
tion-related crimes are a direct result
of the illegality of the distributed sub
stance. In the 19205, a nationwide ban
on alcoholic beverages didn’t stop
people from drinking it only gave rise
to an illegal market and
all sorts of related criminal activity.
Its not unrealistic to think that the
decriminalization of drugs in America
might reduce certain types of crime
associated with their distribution. Just
like the repeal of prohibition did with
alcohol.
This is, for some reason, not treated
as a realistic solution. The consensus
opinion tells us that the substances in
question are inherently harmful and
dangerous to personal health and so
ciety.
This surgeon general-style objec
tion doesn’t hold water.
Are we to believe that alcohol is
somehow less harmful than any other
poison a person might ingest? Is there
anyone out there that doesn’t think that
alcohol has ever broken a home or de
stroyed a life?
Better yet, is there anyone in East
Lansing who would say that alcohol
related crimes are unheard of?
While I could continue along these
lines for quite some time, it seems to
be a pointless exercise. I don’t expect
drugs to be decriminalized in America
soon, and I’m not alone.
What You Talkin ’ Bout Willlis
What are we paying
Food Services needs
What’s the deal with Food and
Housing? Many people as well as
myself feel very unsatisfied with sev
eral aspects of the Food and Housing
service here on campus.
The first thing I would like to talk
about is the food. I have been boy
cotting Dobbins and avoiding eating
at Bruno’s all semester long. Yes I am
a lot more hungry than I used to be,
but my stomach feels a lot better. To
put it bluntly, the food sucks. When I
was eating at Dobbins, TUMS became
my dietary supplement. I do not feel
that Dobbins offers a very healthy
menu.
There is a small monopoly here on
campus. Why can’t there be some
thing closer to campus such as a
McDonald’s or a Taco Bell or a pizza
place? No, the food from these places
isn’t very healthy either, but at least
students would have a choice of where
Editorial
Myriam Marquez
;*lUdder Newspapers
Getting ready for a wedding, I
pulling and tugging on the
a body slimmer that’s sup*
' to hide the panty lines. Oh,
it’s really to hide all the
'fatcaused by two pregnan*
>ng ago and a gazillion bowls
jmy ice cream from then on.
No way could 1 pull that slim*
thing up the back, though.
' the hubby to come to the
mg of the days when I could
on a pair of tight jeans in a
York second aU by my lone*
1 could take them off just as
Funny bow the mind works.
, of jeans and college
id turned to Italy and
my ml
>f pants “without the coopera*
of the person wearing them.”
even harder if the victim is
'tag to get away, the Italian
insisted.
CHiNese TAKe-ouT
they want to eat. The only students
that have access to these places are
those who have cars. That is unless
you take the Blue Bus to Peach
Street. Since there is a monopoly
here, Food and Housing is capable
of changing any prices that they
want for food, however unreason
able they may be, it seems to me that
the portions at Bruno’s have slowly
gotten smaller since my first semes
ter here 2 years ago. Hey, it’s infla
tion at its best. I mean why is it that
when you get a six inch sub from
Bruno’s, you get one piece of cheese
and very little meat. And is it me, or
is the mayonnaise chunky?
What was up with Housing kick
ing us out of our domiciles at 7 p.m.
before Spring Break? But it was very
nice of them to take the time to find
hotels near here with such adequate
rates for college students. Come on
eware Bambina: don’t wear
ose tight pants in Rome
was finishing the job I was
,astmonth, Italy’s highest
overturned the 1998 rape
of a 45«year*old driving
The Italian justice said
'ear-old student must have
•d to sex. Otherwise, they
was the instructor able
>ff the tight jeans the young
.was wearing?
impossible, Italy’s Court of
in stated, to take off a tight
Here we go again.
The batnbina was asking for it.
You know, she was wearing tight
jeans and speaking Italian. Irre
sistible.
And maybe the 18-year-old was
one of those young things who is
attracted to older men and the
power they wield. Oh, the author
ity of a driving instructor can be
ever so alluring.
Maybe some misguided people
even see a parallel between this
case and our own Monica’s grab
for White House power.
To me, the rape ruling confirms
the disconnect between the sexes,
particularly when jurists are older
and out of touch. Of Italy’s 420
judges, only 10 are women.
Enough said.
That the driving instructor is
much older, heavier and stronger
than the 18-year-old should have
rang alarm bells for the justices.
The size of the instructor must
have been a factor worth consid
ering for conviction at the trial,
when the man was sentenced to two
years and eight months for the
rape.
Fortunately, many Italians
don’t share the old jurists’ feelings.
They are appalled by this ruling.
“It could be seen as a manual for
aspiring rapists,” the Rome daily
II Messaggero noted in a front
page story.
Five women in the Italian Par
liament went so far as to dress in
jeans for a session to protest. They
for?
to wake
now. We pay so many thousands of
dollars for housing campus and yet
we can’t stay in them. Now I’m sure
that there is a logical explanation for
them kicking me out. I guess they
couldn’t ask any RAs to stay an en
tire day to keep an eye on all of us
so we could wreak havoc in the
buildings. Just how old do they think
we are? We know the rules and I
know that everyone in my suite is
responsible enough not to burn the
place down.
Finally, I have to say something
about the way they have been han
dling the handing in of housing con
tracts the past two years that I have
been here at Behrend. Last year
when I was trying to get into the
suites, several students and I camped
out on the steps of Dobbins on a
Monday night. It snowed that night
and the steps were wet due to the
carried signs that stated: “Jeans:
An alibi for rape.”
Prime Minister Massimo
D’Alema said his government post
prevented him from criticizing the
court’s ruling, but then he said that,
as a private citizen, he was in “soli
darity” with the women legislators.
Big whoop.
This is the same man who ex
pressed outrage at the U.S,
military’s recent finding that a U.S.
Marines pilot wasn’t guilty of man
slaughter when his plane hit a ski
lift cable in Italy and killed 20
people. “I think it is a duty that jus
tice be done,” D’Alema said after
the pilot was let off the hook.
What of justice for women in
Italy?
“Nothing can be done,”
Simonetta Sotgiu, a female justice,
told The Associated Press. “Justice
in the court is in the hands of men.
often elderly, with old ideas.”
For now, women’s groups world
wide are holding protests. Instead
of burning bras, they’re wearing
jeans.
Hmm. Maybe I should contrib
ute that slimmer. It’s just what
those old Italian jurists need
wrapped around their fat heads to
squeeze some common sense into
them.
WILL JORDAN
Housing and
students using them to gain access n
the apartments. Many people were mi
those steps from 7 p.m. Monday night
until 8 a.m. Tuesday when the office
finally opened. All of the people :a
line seemed to get along a lot better
than the people who were waiting m
line this semester. 1 don't understand
why your semester status means ab
solutely nothing as far as housing
goes, unless you are trying to get into
the apartments. I waited there in Dob
bins that whole night and 1 didn't
even get into the suites at first. 1
wasn’t notified that I could be in the
suites until the end of July.
Will Jordan is the editor-in-chiej of the Hu
con. His column appears every three weeks.
iPTWBOM