11/16/2011

Stricter Punishments for the Poor

This is exactly the sort of garbage I'm talking about.  If there ever was a more perfect illustration of how our criminal justice system is designed to benefit those with money and screws over the poor (who happen to mostly be people of color), I haven't seen it.  Here's the lead sentence, which basically sums up the story: "A Rankin County mother will serve more time in federal prison for lying on her food stamp application than a group of people recently sentenced in a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud scheme."


In the US, you get the legal protection and treatment you pay for, not what you deserve.  This is about as bad as the fact that Jerry Sandusky was released on unsecured bail, meaning he was released to home confinement without having to pay, while millions of poor Americans charged with drug crimes are forced to pay exorbitant amounts of money that they often don't have to post bail.






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