Steal $11, Spend Life in Prison?

by Alex DiBranco · 2010-10-19 12:42:00 UTC
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This is a case of "the punishment doesn't fit the crime" if I ever heard one: Jamie and Gladys Scott had no prior convictions when they were sentenced to consecutive life sentences for their role in an $11 robbery in which nobody was hurt. That's not tough on crime; it's an absurdly disproportionately harsh and cruel response to a minor offense.

Aged 19 and 21, the young sisters weren't even the ones who committed the theft; instead, they were charged with luring two men to the place where three male acquaintances could steal his wallet. The men who actually committed the theft? Free after a few years, in part because of the evidence they provided against the Scott sisters for their lesser role in the crime. Tell me when this starts to make sense.

As Nadra Kareem points out on Race in America, the women were African-American, which, hm, might possibly have something to do with the over-the-top punishment? With a healthy dash of misogyny too, it seems, since the men who actively committed a crime got off so easily.

One of the sisters, Jamie, is seriously ill due to kidney failure at the young age of 38. This sickness makes it all the more urgent that the Scott sisters receive a pardon from Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour immediately. What good does it do to society to have these women locked away, costing taxpayers, when they could be going on with their lives? It's hard to argue that they pose a serious danger to the public. The NAACP is fighting on behalf of the Scott sisters to secure the release of two African-American women who clearly became victims of an unjust system.

You can add your voice in calling for the release of the Scott sisters — who have already served 16 years in prison, more than adequate punishment for being mere accomplices to minor theft — by signing the petition here.

Photo credit: abardwell

Alex DiBranco is a Change.org Editor who has worked for the Nation, Political Research Associates, and the Center for American Progress. She is now based in New York City.
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