Judge urges behavior modification in talk

Published 5:00 am Tuesday, April 1, 2008

WESSON – United States District Judge for the Southern DistrictKeith Starrett spoke to students at Copiah-Lincoln CommunityCollege Monday about modifying behavior – what he said was his mostimportant duty on the bench – and urged students to do thesame.

“I like to encourage kids to do better than they’re doing,”Starrett said about such speaking engagements. “There’s a lot ofwasted ability, especially with younger people, and I like to seethem do the best they can.”

Starrett, a former circuit court judge former Lincoln, Pike andWalthall counties, talked about some of his experiences of morethan 15 years on the bench to prove his point.

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“I’ve sentenced over 10,000 people to penitentiaries, and everytime I did, I was trying to modify behavior,” Starrett said. “Everyperson who commits a crime is not a bad person – there’s a lot ofgood people in penitentiaries today who have just made baddecisions.”

The judge shared specific instances he encountered over theyears in Drug Court, a process he founded in Mississippi that hassince spread across the state.

“Can you imagine coming up with $500 per day to buy cocaine?”Starrett asked the students. “I’ve had some that could. Thosepeople had amazing abilities, but it took some time to modify theirbehavior to put those abilities to good use.”

Starrett also used Drug Court experiences to explain the truemeasure of success to the students. He warned them not to measuresuccess by financial wealth, but by wealth of character.

“I once had a man in Drug Court whose salary was $2 million peryear,” Starrett said. “Success is not the key to happiness, buthappiness is the key to success. There’s a lot of unhappy,miserable people who we think are very successful.”

Starrett pointed out that the difference between the successfuland unsuccessful, the rich and poor that have passed through hiscourts over the years, was not the difficulties facing them but howthey handled their troubles. He told the students that everyonewould face trying times, no matter who they were.

“When you think of yourself, you think in terms of yourpotential,” Starrett said. “When other people think of you, theythink in terms of what you have done. What do you want people tosee? You never know what it means in the future – the things you dotoday.”

In order to avoid negative life effects, such as appearing inhis court room, Starrett outlined four steps for the students totake in order to improve. The first step, he said, they werealready carrying out.

“Getting an education sets you apart from a lot of people,” hesaid. “Abe Lincoln once said, ‘Give me six hours to chop down atree, and I’ll spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.’You’re sharpening the axe here at Co-Lin.”

The second of Starrett’s steps was not to work against one’sself, but to choose obvious, clear solutions to problems.

“The best way to teach a foolish person a lesson is to let themdo it their way,” he said.

Starrett’s third point was to accept responsibility and not shyaway from duties.

“No one snowflake feels responsible for an avalanche,” he said.”You’re just one person, but you’re responsible. We haveresponsibilities to ourselves and other people.”

Starrett’s fourth and final point of the presentation was hardwork.

“Talk is cheap,” he said. “There’s always an over-supply oftalk. What we need to see is more action.”

Starrett’s views on life and his application of those views inthe courtroom was appreciated by 20-year-old Co-Lin sophomoreRobbie Nettles. Starrett once presided over a case involving amember of Nettles’ family, and the sophomore has been grateful.

“He gave a second chance, and I’ve always wanted to shake hishand,” Nettles said. “Every time I hear him speak, it motivates meto change something.”