Questions For People Who May Face Criminal Charges
There’s a lot of talk about criminal justice reform, and I’m optimistic that we’ll see change. Yet criminal justice reform will be slow in coming. Since we must deal with the world as it exists, rather than as we would like it to be, I thought I should offer some guidance for people who may face criminal charges.
When facing criminal charges, defendants empower themselves by asking Socratic questions. If possible, before being trapped in the system, individuals should ask how they will respond to criminal charges.
I didn’t know how to answer such questions as a young man. Considering that I led a group that sold cocaine, I should’ve known. The best way to avoid problems with the criminal justice system would be to refrain from breaking laws, or from associating with people who broke laws. Unfortunately, too many people didn’t receive that message until after they made a series of bad decisions. I was one of those people.
When I was 20 years old I started selling cocaine. When I was 23, in 1987, authorities arrested me. I made more bad decisions. Instead of accepting responsibility, pleading guilty, and expressing remorse, I pushed prosecutors to the limit. After a trial, members of a jury convicted me on numerous counts related to trafficking in cocaine. As a consequence of my living in denial, my guilt, and not knowing an appropriate response, my judge slammed me with a 45-year prison term.
That term required that I serve 26 years in the federal prison system. I concluded my sentence in August of 2013. Had I known more about the system at the start, I would’ve responded to my problems with the law differently. Better decisions would’ve led to my serving less time in prison.
People who may face charges that could lead to imprisonment may consider the following series of questions. The questions may help defendants make better decisions as they navigate the long-lasting and potentially devastating consequences that could follow. Before choosing to plead guilty or not guilty, consider:
1. In what ways will challenges you face with the criminal justice system influence your future?
At the time of my arrest, I didn’t know that I should be asking such a question. All I cared about was putting my troubles with the law behind me. During the decades I served, I met people from every socioeconomic background who approached their problems in the same way.
I was arrested on August 11, 1987, when I was 23 years old. Prior to that arrest, I’d never been held in custody and didn’t know what to expect. All I wanted was for my defense attorney to liberate me. Without knowing anything about the journey ahead, what I could expect, what options I might have, I lived like an ostrich. In other words, I buried my head in the sand, thinking that if I didn’t know about the danger, the danger would pass me by. The strategy didn’t prove to be a good one.
Trouble with the criminal justice system brought enormous implications. Had I understood more about those implications, not only from a guilt-or-innocence perspective, but also the influence my troubles would have on my future, I could’ve made better decisions. In fact, had I known more, I could’ve spoken differently with my defense attorney, providing him with options to navigate the best possible outcome in my case. Instead, without a full understanding of how the criminal justice system would influence my future, I made every bad decision a defendant could make — exacerbating my problems.
Defendants who make decisions that result in their being sucked into the criminal justice system should contemplate everything going forward. Before making a decision of whether to plead guilty or not guilty, defendants should consider how their lives will change if the charge results in a conviction. In the federal system, convictions follow for nearly nine out of every ten defendants. The sooner defendants take those statistics into consideration, the more they empower themselves to make decisions that can lead to the best possible outcome.
2. How will your responses to the challenges you face with the criminal justice system influence your family?
At the time of my arrest, I only thought about myself. With a singular focus of wanting to get out of jail, I blinded myself to the way that problems I created influenced others. In retrospect, the choices I made had wider implications. Responses I made to challenges from the criminal justice system meant that my mother, father, and sisters had to live without my active participation in their life during the 26 years I served in federal prison. Every holiday season or birthday or family celebration renewed pain for my family members.
Family members lived without my presence in their life.
My lengthy sentence meant that I would never have a child.
My lengthy sentence meant that I wouldn’t be home when my sisters had children and I couldn’t play a role in their life.
I was incarcerated when my father and grandfather passed away.
Had I known more about the system, options that were available, and the ways that my responses would influence my family members, I would have made better decisions.
While incarcerated, I interacted with thousands of defendants who would have liked to have made different decisions. By focusing exlusively on the immediate challenge of the criminal charge, and not taking into consideration conviction rates, they prolonged the inevitable. Individuals who could’ve resolved their problems with the criminal justice system in sentences of a few years ended up serving decades.
Defendants strengthen themselves when they think about ways that they can prepare in the best way possible. Besides thinking about their own lives, they should think about the people they love, and the people who love them.
3. What do you know about mechanisms that the prison system offers for early release in the event that you’re convicted?
In the United States we have many different criminal justice systems. Each state has its own system, the military has its own system, the Disctrict of Columbia has its own system, and the federal government has its own system. Each of those systems has different release mechanisms. I didn’t understand any of those release mechanisms.
Had I known more about opportunities I could create for growth while in prison, and opportunities I would have to use my time effectively, then I could’ve moved forward from a more enlightened perspective. Since I didn’t know anything about the system ahead, I made decisions that exacerbated my problems.
While living as a prisoner, I learned that many people went into the system from the same state of ignorance. They didn’t know about steps they could take to position themselves for a better outcome. Consequently, decisions they made — like decisions I made — exposed them to more severe sanctions.
Defendants who are charged with a crime should educate themselves on the system they will experience. The more defendants know, the better decisions defendants can make. Those decisions may lead to lower sanctions and they may influence the place where they serve the sentence — not all prisons are the same. Besides positioning for the lowest possible sanction, defendants should position to serve the sentence in the best possible environment.
4. What impact will your current challenges have on your career when this is behind you?
I didn’t ask that question. And as a consequence, I made decisions that resulted in a lengthy federal prison sentence. Career options narrowed. Since I served a sentence of multiple decades, while inside I prepared myself for the only career that I could contemplate:
Educating others about our nation’s prison system, the people it held, and strategies to create the best possible outcomes for people who struggled through adversity.
Given my experience, I’ve chosen to build a career around my journey. But I’ve interacted and written about hundreds of individuals who once led careers as stockbrokers, real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and executives who’ve lost their vocation because of their criminal problems. I’ve been passionate about working with those individuals to help them build new careers.
Defendants who face challenges with the criminal justice system should think far beyond the impact of the current moment. Contemplate the ways that charges will influence life next year, in five years, in 10 years, and in 20 years. The more thought defendants give to those answers, the better they prepare to make informed decisions. Good answers restore confidence to navigate through the storms and into the best possible outcome.
5. What do you envision as the best possible outcome from these circumstances?
When I began my journey, all I thought about was getting out of jail. It was a myopic plan with a bad outcome. A jury convicted me on every count and I went to prison for decades. Since I was guilty, and the government had plenty of evidence to convict me, it wasn’t realistic to think that the “best possible outcome” would be an acquittal. Instead, I should’ve been thinking about minimizing the downside and maximizing the upside.
Had I thought differently, I could’ve worked more effectively with counsel. Together, we could’ve crafted a strategy that would have resulted in my receiving the least burdensome sanction given the nature of my case. Such a strategy would’ve resulted in different choices. The best possible outcome in my situation would’ve been a sentence that resulted in my serving about seven years in prison. I would’ve served that time in a minimum-security environment. I could’ve returned to society as a well-educated individual with sufficient opportunities to launch a new life and career.
Since I didn’t know how to think about “the best possible outcome,” I only saw an outcome that proved to be impossible. And I paid a much steeper price than I otherwise would have.
I cannot count the number of people I met in prison who regretted the way that they approached their problems with the law. As I did, they only focused on the impossible. Rather than responding to problems effectively, they spent fortunes on lawyers. Then they lied to the attorneys to minimize their involvement. Strategies they pursued resulted in their serving longer sentences. Ancillary consequences followed. Many lost family support and struggled with depression.
Rather than making decisions that could bring a parade of horribles, defendants should make decisions from a position of strength — going after the best possible outcome.
6. What process have you put in place to prepare for success while serving your sanction, in the event that prison follows?
Since I didn’t have a process, I made poor decisions through judicial proceedings. Had I known more about prison and the growth I could make while inside, I would’ve been more inclined to help my attorney negotiate a deal with a more favorable outcome.
Defendants who research opportunities empower themselves. They remove the fear of the unknown and restore confidence. They realize that they can leave bad decisions in the past and begin moving forward in a deliberate manner, a manner that will strenghten their resolve for the best possible outcome.
7. If statistics show that seven out of ten people face continuing challenges from the criminal justice system after they complete their sentence, what would you say the three out of ten people who succeed after confinement do differently?
When I started my journey I wouldn’t have known how to answer such a question. Now that I have more than 26 years of confinement behind me, I know a lot more. The three out of ten people who succeed after prison followed a deliberate path through confinement.
They articulated the values by which they professed to live.
They set clear goals to determine whether they were living in accordance with their values.
They pursued those goals with a deliberate purpose, understanding the relationship their decisions would have to their success in prison and beyond.
They had a clear vision of the life they wanted to lead upon release.
They took incremental action steps that empowered them through the challenging times ahead.
They established clear accountability metrics to ensure that they were always on the path to success.
They kept aware of opportunities around them that they could seize.
They stayed relevant in society, building strong support networks.
Defendants who faced challenges with the criminal justice system could empower themselves by learning more about the ancillary consequences. By creating a path to a better outcome, defendants restore confidence and dignity.
8. How would you rate your level of commitment to becoming one of the three out of ten people who succeeded after an altercation with the criminal justice system?
In the beginning, I didn’t know how to make such a commitment because I wasn’t thinking about prison. All I thought about was avoiding prison, even though I was being held in pre-trial detention. After a year of confinement, however, a jury convicted me and a judge sentenced me. That was when I made a 100% commitment to building a successful outcome that would allow me to return to society with my dignity intact.
Had I asked the question sooner, I may have concluded that I needed to begin thinking differently.
Unfortunately, during the multiple decades that I served, I saw how the culture of confinement influenced many of my peers. Rather than preparing for the challenges that would await them, they lived day-by-day. Instead of focusing on a deliberate path to success, they focused on the turning of calendar pages.
Individuals who faced challenges with the criminal justice system should start with a clear understanding. The more they learned about what was ahead, the better prepared they would become. Defendants should not oursource all decisions to defense attorneys. Instead, they should learn from people who’ve gone through the system and emerged successfully. Then they should make a commitment to advance with a clear understanding of the best possible outcome — given current circumstances. They should set a plan in place. Then they should execute that plan every day going forward.
In articles that follow, I’ll offer more guidance that people may consider in the unfortunate event that they become criminal defendants.
