 
Dear FRONTLINE,
As the father of a nineteen year old son, who is black, I am terrified after seeing this episode. My fear is that my son whom, I have great respect and for and pride in, may meet the wrong guy or girl. A guy or girl who may not have the greatest ethics and may one day fall into the realm of the snitch. I fear my son, who is as innocent and inexperienced as the guy on the proverbial turnip truck, will the the target of the guy who is only looking out for himself. Even if I warn my son about associations what good would it do if some prosecutor really wanted to make an example of him. God help us all.
Edmond Foster
spencer, oklahoma
Dear FRONTLINE, My wife and myself were very disturbed by the program. I was almost certain of a slant before watching, but on considering that the information given had come to me in small pieces before the airing I was surprised by how insensed I became when that same information was presented as a whole. I believe in the rule of law, but have always maintained that it should be balanced by the search for justice. In this issue I see the need for law, but the end product is not justice!
Roy Earls
cedar bluff, va
Dear FRONTLINE, I'm honestly afraid to use my name here and that's just about as frightening as anything I've ever thought. Under the current laws and the way in which they are used to prosecute I can honestly say that more than 90% of my friends and family members under the age of 50 could just as easily have ended up serving mandatory sentences of 10 years to life. And we're all professionals. We have families. Upstanding, you might say. Oh, and most of us are white and mostly affluent. Mandatory minimum drug sentences need to be abolished in order to protect the civil rights of every American--no matter their color.
duluth, mn
Dear FRONTLINE, I have long been troubled by the fact that prosecutors are allowed to offer deals to defendants who "snitch." The recent case, recently reversed, where a judge held that such plea deals were tantamount to bribery was valid, and the ruling should be, but probably will not be, reinstated by the Supreme Court. The program on drug snitches also made me think of how much our highly praised criminal justice system resembles that of the PRC. There you get 15 years when you are ratted out for advocating democracy. Here you get three life sentences based on the testimony of snitches that you were involved in drug trafficing. Does the fact that we leave it up to a jory to convict on the basis of the tainted testimony really make our system more fair or humane than theirs? Not really.
David Tillotson
washington, dc
Dear FRONTLINE, The concept that a federal prosecutor would encourage a parent get involved in the drug trade, in the hopes of generating information which might lead to a potential sentence reduction for his or hers child is too terrible to contemplate. Such an idea might qualify as a story line on the x-files or an old twilight zone, but then again, it would probably be rejected as too farfetched. We should rethink this system of justice, if it could be called that. The people who have been put in the position of administering the system have become hardened by the wretchedness of the task.
Richard Pinto
st. augustine, fl
Dear FRONTLINE, I am absoloutly appalled by the case of Clarence Aaron. Is there anything anyone can do to get this young man out of prison??? I know this is the state of Alabama, but there must be some attorney out there that can help him, like the lawyer who helped Ollie North??????? What can I do?? I am "really upset"
Edward Caballero
peoria, il
Dear FRONTLINE, Those who snitch shouldn't get any liniecy from the government at all. Anyone who can become a confidential informant can't be trusted. They'll give up anyone at any time. Since, that is a fact how can the government trust that a snitches testimony, isn't absolutely fabricated? A tall tale told to save face. In turn, making someone else face the consequences of their actions. How can this be allowed in our justice system? Is that justice for all?
Jazmin Pons
bronx, ny
Dear FRONTLINE, The Frontline program was very powerful and moving. It shows how unjust to criminal justice system has become in part because of this holy crusade against drugs. The eradication of drug use has become an obscene obsession by gutless politicians who are willing to sacrifice constitutional safeguards without seeing the real costs of their legislation which causes suffering of ordinary far beyond what is fair or reasonable. There is far more suffering caused by criminalizing drug taking rather than addressing it as a public health issue. The use of snitches is just a symptom of a much larger disfunction.
ashland, ma
Dear FRONTLINE, Thank you for an outstanding broadcast, though a troubling one. The subtext of racism, classism and unproductive drug paranoia that seems to prop up the current sentencing guidelines is a sad thing in an ostensibly democratic society, and I look forward to the day when they are overturned and replaced with a system that does not make perjury, and its tacit approval by prosecutors, a necessary form of self-defense. I hope this documentary will spark a national debate on the need to do just this.
Randolph Lewis
norman, ok
Dear FRONTLINE, My son is presently serving a 27 year sentence after being falsly accused by a Government informant who was granted freedom in exchange for a name after he (THE INFORMANT) was caught dealing drugs. He recanted his accusations on the witness stand but neither the Judge, Jury nor Prosecuters took that into consideration and condemned my son who was 19 years old at the time to life in a Federal Institute. I think that this is a form of MODERN DAY SLAVERY and I think that it should be abolished. It is a law geared more toward BLACKS and MINORITIES and it's time for the Government to Right a Wrong that has ruined a lot of innocent lives.
jacksonville, fl
Dear FRONTLINE, I have seen and heard many different variations on the theme of this show . It is infuriating. If the tables are turned, and the evidence and or witnesses were being submitted by the defense, the defense lawyer would be prosecuted.
Steve Huizinga
holland, mi
Dear FRONTLINE, I am a 44 yrs old. I was convicted of conspiracy by snitches just prior to the mandatory sentencing of 1986. You show is as accurate now as then. I was convicted of conspiracy as part of a large drug conspiracy and was the last of about 20 people who snitched. I received a minimal sentence. Today I have a family. I currently make 75,000 a year as a sales manager honestly. After mandatory sentencing, I doubt that I would be writing this tonight. My experience was the same as the show. The government only wants to get the statitistics and the human toll taken in the process is irrelevant.
indianapolis, in
Dear FRONTLINE, Having worked in the drug rehabilitation field in the 1970's, I remained absolutely convinced of fighting the war on drugs until a year or two ago when I began to see the parallels with Vietnam. I am now persuaded that the war on drugs is a disaster, a real danger to this country. "Snitch" helps to explain this as do books such as The Corner. Mandary sentencing is just one aspect of the problem but one of the most disturbing. The story of the two young men in "Snitch" who are serving long sentences is an outrage.
hampton, new hampshire
Dear FRONTLINE, I have worked for the Illinois Dept. of Corrections for the past 8 years, 4 in a prison and the last 2 as a parole agent. In my experience I have found that the defence attourney in the frontline program was absolutly on the mark when he stated that we are eroding our rights by persuring the war on drugs. When I check the file material of parolees on my caseload I have found that convicted sex offenders and violent criminals are receiving lighter sentences than drug offenders. This does not seem to make much sense to me and shouldnt to the public at large when there is constant publicity concerning the problems with prison overcrounding. We are filling our prisons with drug offenders and to make the bed space available we are kicking out rapists and child molesters. I hope that some day the public will wake up and the sentencing guidelines for drug offenders will be reviewed and modified. I think that the beds in prisons should be used for violent offenders and not drug offenders.
springfield, illinois
Dear FRONTLINE, The piece on snitches was very informative and disarming. I felt very helpless and ashamed of our system of justice. I don't understand how criminals can turn informant on other people and get off with less time. This is not a justice system it is more like a barter trade system, where the goods are owrds for an innocent life and conviction of a less involved individual. I would like to know if there is anyway to change the sysyem, but I'm sure at the moment there is no sollution. This leaves be severely disallusioned about America Politics, Justice and the US system.
Nicole Nembhard
ny, ny
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