FREE CLARENCE AARON

ON SEPT. 28, President Bush issued 14 presidential pardons -- raising
the total of pardons he has issued to 58, plus two sentence
commutations. White House spokesman Ken Lisaius noted, "The president
has now granted more at this stage in his administration than
President Clinton did at this point during his."

True. But the quality of the Bush pardons is lacking. High numbers of
prisoners are serving time in federal penitentiaries -- more than
150,000 -- and sentences for first-time nonviolent offenders can
exceed a decade. Yet Bush has failed to put his faith where it is needed most.

For years now, I've been writing about Clarence Aaron, a first-time
nonviolent offender who, because he facilitated two large cocaine
deals between two drug dealers, was sentenced to life without parole.
At age 19, Chrissy Taylor was sentenced to 19 years in prison for
buying legal drugs for her boyfriend's illegal drug operation.

Bush should commute the sentences of Aaron and Taylor so that they
can become productive members of society.

I believe in being tough on crime. I support the death penalty and
long sentences for repeat offenders and violent criminals.

That said, I have to agree with those who argue that, barring
extraordinary circumstances, no nonviolent offender should serve more
than five years for a first offense. (And the extraordinary
circumstance should be more serious than the fact that the defendants
didn't plead guilty or provide evidence against other parties.)

There is such a thing as being smart about crime, and that means
giving people who screwed up a chance to turn their lives around
before they reach middle age.

Look at the September pardons -- all issued to individuals who
completed their sentences a decade or decades ago. Adam Wade Graham
served less than one year for conspiracy to deliver 10 or more grams
of LSD; he was sentenced in 1992. Larry Paul Lenius had been
sentenced to 36 months in 1989 for conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
Larry Lee Lopez was sentenced to three years probation in 1985 for
conspiracy to import marijuana.

Margaret Love, who was the pardon attorney for President George H. W.
Bush, observed, "It seems to me that the list of people who were
pardoned reflects a philosophy of punishment that the federal system
seems to have abandoned. These people served reasonable sentences,
which gave them an opportunity to turn their lives around."

While Love is heartened by the fact that Bush now issues pardons on a
regular basis, she hasn't seen him redress federal sentencing
outrages, or make any heroic decisions: "The ones who are making it
are so uniformly unremarkable that it makes you wonder what principle
of selection is at work here."

In fact, you get the feeling that the Bushies have read the
criticisms of Bush's stinginess with the pardon and responded by
issuing more pardons, but for the least urgent cases. Critics noted
Bush had commuted no sentences, so Bush commuted two sentences.
Editorials compared the Bush record to that of his father and
President Clinton -- so Dubya squeaks past the Clinton record of 56
pardons and commutations in his first five years. It's as if the
administration doesn't want to be criticized for meting out too
little mercy -- so it throws mercy where it is least needed.

Indeed, last year, Bush pardoned a man convicted of food stamp fraud
in 1994 -- who had died the year before.

In his 2004 State of the Union speech, Bush proposed a program to
help released inmates find jobs and establish lives that work within
the law. Bush noted, "America is the land of second chance, and when
the gates of prison open, the path ahead should lead to a better life."

Clarence Aaron has served more than a decade for a first-time
nonviolent offense -- and all he has to look forward to is spending
the rest of his life behind bars. Personally, I don't think Aaron
would face a future without freedom if he were white, not black.

The only person who can give Aaron a second chance is President Bush.
The good news is that Aaron's petition is still pending -- it has not
been rejected. The bad news is that Bush has the power to grant mercy
and a second chance to Aaron and others like him -- but he is afraid to use it.