Jeff Cannon Call Jeff Cannon at 336-846-6425 Email: JeffCan542@skybest.com Other: www.lpnc.org Send Contributions and offers to volunteer to: Elect Jeff Cannon 303 Bare Ave West Jefferson, NC 28694

The continuing high level of violent crime - and the government's demonstrated inability to deal with it - threatens the lives, happiness, and belongings of Americans. At the same time, governmental violations of rights undermine the people's sense of justice with regard to crime. The appropriate way to suppress crime is through consistent and impartial enforcement of laws that protect individual rights. Laws pertaining to "victimless crimes" should be repealed since such laws themselves violate individual rights and also breed genuine crime.

I would propose institutional changes, consistent with full respect for the rights of the accused, that would permit victims to direct the prosecution in criminal cases. I oppose the current practice of forced jury duty and would propose all- volunteer juries. I also would propose that juries have the common-law right to judge not only the facts but also the justice of the law itself. In all cases to which the government is a party, the judge should be required to inform the jurors of thier common-law right to judge the law, as well as the facts, and to acquit a criminal defendant, and to find against the government in a civil trial, whenever they deem the law unjust or oppressive.

Because only actions that infringe on the rights of others can properly be termed crimes, I would propose to repeal all state laws creating "crimes" without victims. Included in these would be all laws or policies authorizing stopping drivers without probable cause to test for alcohol or drug use. Also included would be statutes such as the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), which punishes peaceful behavior and allows the government to seize assets before the person is even convicted, thus robbing them of the ability to defend themselves against the charges they are accused of. Another law that I would want repealed would be any law interfering with the right of an individual to commit suicide. This law is an infringement of the ultimate right of an individual to his or her own life. Other laws that should be considered are laws governing sexual relations between consenting adults; laws against the possession, use, sale, production or distribution of sexually explicit material; and laws prohibiting gambling.

The so called "War on Drugs" is in reality a war on the American people, our Consitution, and the Bill of Rights. It is yet another war that cannot be won. If law enforcement put the time, energy and money into murder, rape and other violent crime that they put into the war on drugs, there would truly be a lot less crime. I say that as long as a person using drugs is not doing anything that directly affects others, leave them alone. They are only hurting themselves. Unless he goes out and murders, rapes, robs or otherwise assaults the rights of another individual, why should anyone care what he is doing in the privacy of his own home? If we stopped incarcerating drug users that have committed no other crimes, we would not have to parole/early release violent offenders. Would you rather have a shoplifter or a murderer/sex-offender living in your neighborhood?

My proposed changes to the criminal justice system would free up enough prison space to keep all violent offenders in jail for the entire term of their sentences, and would bring more modern solutions to some very basic problems that exist not only in the world of law enforcement but in society as a whole.