The Throwaways
Throwaway Confidential Informants
The article, “The Throwaways”, by Sarah Stillman, is an account of confidential informants being used as inexpensive and off the record pawns in the drug war. A confidential informant is a person who has been caught for a crime, usually illegal narcotics, and has been offered to have their slate wiped clean or their punishment reduced if they help bust a higher up criminal. The police treat these informants as if they are nothing else but a tool to catch the criminals at the top of the food chain. The police do not stop to think that the informants are often productive people in society, even if they decide to partake drug use. I have a close friend who was asked to be an informant after being busted with just a small amount of marijuana. I strongly advised against this for his safety, and my friend instead had to spend nearly four thousand dollars on a lawyer. It is unjust and immoral for police officers to use these people with no formal guarantee that their charges will be dropped, as well as putting them in extremely dangerous situations.
“The Throwaways” is an article about four young confidential informants who had their lives cut short because they decided to cooperate with law enforcement and help bust drug dealers. Every single informant’s fate led 6 feet underground. Rachel Hoffman was a twenty-three year old girl who had plans to go to culinary school and open a new type of rehabilitation center. Rachel was found dead the next day fifty miles from where the cops were supposed to be tracking her every move. Lebron Gaither testified against a man in court and was then ordered to try and buy narcotics from the same man he had just testified against; he was tortured, shot with a handgun as well as a shotgun, ran over by a car, and then dragged by a chain into the woods. Shelly Hilliard was caught with a half ounce of pot, threatened with prison, and agreed to be an informant. Hilliard’s body was found on fire beneath a
The article, “The Throwaways”, by Sarah Stillman, is an account of confidential informants being used as inexpensive and off the record pawns in the drug war. A confidential informant is a person who has been caught for a crime, usually illegal narcotics, and has been offered to have their slate wiped clean or their punishment reduced if they help bust a higher up criminal. The police treat these informants as if they are nothing else but a tool to catch the criminals at the top of the food chain. The police do not stop to think that the informants are often productive people in society, even if they decide to partake drug use. I have a close friend who was asked to be an informant after being busted with just a small amount of marijuana. I strongly advised against this for his safety, and my friend instead had to spend nearly four thousand dollars on a lawyer. It is unjust and immoral for police officers to use these people with no formal guarantee that their charges will be dropped, as well as putting them in extremely dangerous situations.
“The Throwaways” is an article about four young confidential informants who had their lives cut short because they decided to cooperate with law enforcement and help bust drug dealers. Every single informant’s fate led 6 feet underground. Rachel Hoffman was a twenty-three year old girl who had plans to go to culinary school and open a new type of rehabilitation center. Rachel was found dead the next day fifty miles from where the cops were supposed to be tracking her every move. Lebron Gaither testified against a man in court and was then ordered to try and buy narcotics from the same man he had just testified against; he was tortured, shot with a handgun as well as a shotgun, ran over by a car, and then dragged by a chain into the woods. Shelly Hilliard was caught with a half ounce of pot, threatened with prison, and agreed to be an informant. Hilliard’s body was found on fire beneath a
Cited: Stillman, Sarah. "Re: The Throwaways." New Yorker. N.p., 17 Sept. 2012. Web. 27 Sept. 2012. . "Marijuana-arrests.com." Marijuana-arrests.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2012. .