Courtroom 302

Larry Bates completed his community service as part of his probation, but the punishment “didn’t cure of him of his crack addiction” (107). Bates was nabbed selling drugs. This time, his bail was set at $10,000. Bates didn’t have anywhere near that amount to secure his release. Eight days later, however, he was released on a recognizance bond—meaning that he was free without paying a fine. Judges often make this decision to avoid overcrowding in jails. Bates had already twice gotten probation. If he were to be caught again, he knew he’d go to prison. Still, he couldn’t resist the “taste” of crack cocaine, which he found “overwhelming” (109).

Bates was arrested for selling “two rocks,” worth $20 together, “to an undercover officer” (109). On the night of his arrest, when he was taken into lockup on 26th Street with other prisoners, he cursed himself for being so stupid.

During the time of the book’s publication, there were 320,000 drug offenders in prison; it cost taxpayers over $7 billion to incarcerate them. The “compassionate approach to drug abuse” which prevailed during the 1960s, declined in the late 1970s when illicit drug use among whites declined (111).

In 1980, Bates was laid off from the warehouse job he had for five years.