A New Voice in Vice -- Max Robbins Writes Crime (instead of doing it, anymore)

I learned during this last go-round with the justice system: the feds are a joke.   As much as they like to think they're the top echelon of law enforcement, fighting the most serious battles against crime in a crucial effort to keep society safe from law-breakers---and I do believe that's how they see themselves---the vast majority of what the FBI is doing these days is knocking off low-level drug users, guys for whom just having a gun is a crime, and credit-card thieves. *And* slamming them with double-digit sentences that even the worst state courts (like Virginia's) would balk at.   I’ve been in federal prison (if you’re reading my blog & you don’t know that by now, well…). So I’ve seen it. The breakdown of guys in the blocks I was on goes, roughly, like this: ·       40% Drug Conspiracies, of which: o    85% were conspiracies of 5 or less kilograms (Meaning that, divided by the number of ppl in the conspiracy, and divided again by th...

  OK, I was wrong. I expected a different result on Nov. 3rd, but—unlike so many people—I can admit a mistake and recalculate my trajectory when I realize I’ve erred. Despite my most sober projections and hopes, it looks like Donald Trump will have another term as President. In my regrettable past, I had smugly believed that Americans would see through the made-for-TV shenanigans and vote for stability and experience in office once again. I really believed it, and, while volunteering for get-out-the-vote causes as much as I could, I projected my certainty to so many friends and family who trusted my prognostications.   But I was wrong. Trump looks like the winner. And in the rare cases where I contemplated this result, I sometimes jokingly made myself the promise: if Trump wins, I’ll become a supporter. It’s been such a damned hassle trying to talk and blog people into my way of thinking… And for what?   So, my new credo is this: Trump was (and *is*) right. I ...

It’s a small thing, but it cost me a year-plus of my life. What’s worse, the precedent could cost hundreds of defendants thousands of years. And it’s blatantly wrong.   Section 2D1.1(b)(1) of the US Sentencing Guidelines provide for a 2-point sentence enhancement for “possession of a firearm or dangerous weapon” during the commission of an offense. This enhancement is applied in some 70% (*1*) of federal drug cases, and it’s no small thing--those two points can add anywhere from a few months to over six years to a sentence, according to the USSG Guideline Table (or they can be the difference between a thirty-year sentence and life in prison).   OK? Clearly, it’s a big deal. Now, how is it being misused? Well, in my case, the 2D1.1(b)(1) enhancement was applied for a toy BB gun, that was found in a closet during a search of my house, subsequent to my arrest elsewhere. (A BB gun --that, in fact, was broken, unloaded, and probably I should have thrown out years ago…but I...