Posted on 09/08/2007 3:55:50 PM PDT by SmithL
Alcoholics Anonymous, the renowned 12-step program that directs problem drinkers to seek help from a higher power, says it's not a religion and is open to nonbelievers. But it has enough religious overtones that a parolee can't be ordered to attend its meetings as a condition of staying out of prison, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
In fact, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, the constitutional dividing line between church and state in such cases is so clear that a parole officer can be sued for damages for ordering a parolee to go through rehabilitation at Alcoholics Anonymous or an affiliated program for drug addicts.
Rulings from across the nation since 1996 have established that "requiring a parolee to attend religion-based treatment programs violates the First Amendment," the court said. "While we in no way denigrate the fine work of (Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous), attendance in their programs may not be coerced by the state."
The 12 steps required for participants in both programs include an acknowledgment that "a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity" and a promise to "turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him." They also call for prayer and meditation.
Friday's 3-0 ruling allows a Honolulu man to go to trial in a suit on behalf of his late father, Ricky Inouye, who was paroled from a drug sentence in November 2000.
A Buddhist, he objected to religiously oriented drug treatment in prison, sued state officials over the issue and told Hawaii parole authorities just before his release that he would object to any condition that included a treatment program with religious content.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
looks like the 9th got one right
and defensive driving courses, rehab programs and half way houses are all unconstitutional too. as a matter of fact any and all punishment including probation is unconstitutional. so sayeth the high and mighty circus
lol. by accident? nope, they just hate God.
Any punishment should be unconstitutional.
Right?
;)
“When Inouye was arrested for trespassing in March 2001 and tested positive for drugs, his parole officer, Mark Nanamori, ordered him to attend a Salvation Army treatment program that included participation in Narcotics Anonymous meetings, the court said.
Inouye showed up but refused to participate, dropped out after two months, and, for that and other reasons, was sent back to prison in November 2001 for violating his parole.”
________
The drugs and “other reasons” are not offensive to his personal religious beliefs however, just the drug treatment with the higher power references.
Stopped reading right there. The most overturned circus in American history is a bad joke, and no, they didn't get anything right. And I am not a theist.
Maybe, but it sure wasn’t this one.
Another 9th reversal coming.....
The hospital and health care system is part of the justice system and rehab can be court ordered. However other rehab programs exist that are not religious affiliated and can be ordered without violating that Amendment. It’s nearly to the point of ludicrous, but there it is.
A sober bunch of judges could recognize that AA is neither a religion nor a church. So could sober Freepers!
oh brother. I really wish I could go mine an asteroid far far far away
Oh, and it, the meat of the meeting, that is, might actually help over come the socially undesirable behavior to drive drunk?
pretty soon going to jail will be unconstitutional.
Fine - it you can’t put them in rehab then just forgo probation and make them serve their entire sentence in jail.
Ping
I’ve recently read that 12-step programs have a low success rate and wonder if that indicates that the higher power is not as high as once believed.
Perhaps the 9th would care to explain who “GOD” is. I she Buddha, Allah, Jehovah, or any number of other god’s.
After that, maybe they can explain to the rest of us how that idea promotes one religion or prohibits the free exercise thereof.
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is a part of the United States Bill of Rights. It prohibits the federal legislature from making laws that establish religion (the “Establishment Clause”) or prohibit free exercise of religion (the “Free Exercise Clause”), laws that infringe the freedom of speech, infringe the freedom of the press, limit the right to assemble peaceably, or limit the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment
Best solution of them all.
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