Friday, January 26, 2007

How True

Greensthings posted to my first post her opinions about our penal system and I couldn't agree more. In fact, in my humble opinion it goes beyond just the penal system but the whole criminal justice system. Once you are in the system it is hard as hell to get out. No wonder the recidivism rate for all crimes is an astounding 50%.

In the criminal justice system, it's all about the money. First of all if you have it, you get a different brand of justice. A quick review of the OJ murder trial speaks volumes of the kind of justice you can get if you have the wherewithal to hire the best legal minds. If you don't, you're screwed. Secondly, if you are lucky enough, even with a public defender to strike a deal that allows you to serve probation instead of jail time, it's still all about the money. They make sure that you pay your court costs, the cost of investigation, cost of supervision and if you have to pay any restitution, then throw that in for good measure.

Once you have a felony record, try to get a job. They want all this money from you, but you can't get a job because you have a record. It's catch22 like a mf'er. Even something as simple as getting life insurance. You can't get it, because the life insurers are afraid that you will violate your probation and end up in prison, where your numerical worth in life is significantly lower than outside the wire fence. Might as well call probation, invisible chains.

1 Comments:

At 6:14 PM, Blogger BillyWarhol said...

I read an article about that a while back about crime in New Orleans or somewhere in the Southern States - but it pointed out all the Roadblocks & Impediments which make it extremely difficult for folks to rehabilitate themselves back into normal society*

Not too mention the Billions of Dollars wasted enforcing stoopid drug laws & all the Pigs ie Cops, Lawyers, Judges, Politicians, Lawmakers & many others Sidling up to the Public Trough*

Just Sickening!!

Cheers! Billy ;))

Peace*

 

Post a Comment

<< Home