English, The Language of Freedom?
Kelvin Reyes-Rosario, Luis Reyes, Ricardo Doninguez and Rafael Guzman-Mateo got an incentive to learn English: speaking and writing the language can keep them out of jail. When Judge Peter Paul Olszewski sentenced the four Hazleton men to serve four to 24 months for assault on Wednesday in Luzerne County Court, he added a twist. If they pass an English test a year from now, they will remain free after serving the minimum sentence. If they fail the test, they go back to prison for the full term.
Naturally this has got the ACLU in a tizzy. Olszewski's order this week that the men learn English "is putting a condition on them that, as far as I'm aware, is not directly related to their likelihood to get into trouble," Mary Catherine Roper, an ACLU staff attorney, said and that's true. Being a Spanish speaker doesn't make you a criminal and learning English won't prevent you from committing crimes, but isn't our justice system supposed to be about reform?
It also looks like it might be something that would annoy a law-n-order republican. Yes these men committed a crime, no one is disputing that. They've served the minimum jail time for the crime so they aren't getting away scott free. So what do we do, stick them in a hole for two more years where they don't really have any incentive to do anything but sit there and brood and learn more ways to be an effective criminal or encourage them to become better citizens backing that up with possible jail time?
As a side note, this isn't an immigration issue since they're legal citizens and if they weren't I'd say deport them. Of course if they were illegal and we did jail them I'd say mandatory English training while they were in the pokey would be a great thing. I don't think though that our obligation to people is to simply make them less likely to get into trouble but more likely to succeed. Now granted I see issues. Twelve months may simply not be long enough. What test will the judge use? Who will pay for the education? All of these are valid and should be addressed.
My question is should English be our official language? This was also an issue raised in Hazleton by the Mayor in 2006. I don't think there are any easy answers to any of those questions, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try and work it out.
