Bobby Brown and Incarceration Nation

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette News got it spot-on in its editorial today about the sweet, strange deal Bobby Brown received in Brockton District Court. It's almost as if the Telegram read my eerily similar post on this subject from several days ago. Let's just say we are definitely on the same page here. I would now just add that we should ask ourselves how it is that Bobby Brown is actually given the task of mentoring youth as he avoids jail, while many others get locked up for multiple years for possession of just a few grams of crack cocaine. Although admittedly I don't know all the facts of Bobby Brown's recent case, and wouldn't dare to say he deserves to have the criminal case go forward, I can in fact say with confidence that, based on what I do know, it was quite inappropriate, and absurd even, for Bobby Brown to have been assigned community service mentoring youth.

Furthermore, Bobby Brown's sweet deal does appear to be more evidence that, as I recently discussed in yet another post, the War on Drugs doesn't really affect important people the same way it affects those imprisoned in Incarceration Nation.

WORCESTER TELEGRAM & GAZETTE:

BROCKTON'S YOUTH TO GET A DUBIOUS MENTOR

EDITORIAL FOOTNOTE

A tip of the dunce cap goes to Brockton District Court Clerk Magistrate Kevin Creedon, who last week presided over a deal permitting R&B singer Bobby Brown to sidestep cocaine possession charges in return for mentoring the city’s youth for a year.

Whatever his other talents and charms may be, Mr. Brown’s public career has been marked by drug and alcohol abuse, nonpayment of child support, assaulting a hotel security guard, a parole violation for a previous drunken-driving conviction and allegations of assault on his ex-wife, singer Whitney Houston. This is a man whose first musical group, New Edition, voted him out because of his incessant lewd behavior onstage.

There’s no word yet on what kind of mentoring Mr. Brown might be offering the youth of Brockton, but Beating the System 101 seems likely to be high on the list.

For information about Massachusetts criminal law, see the criminal defense page of my law firm website.