Okay, this is a lame post, but now since I write inmates...it brought up a memory of when I was in high school and had to do a paper. For some reason I decided criminal law and litigation was interesting. Anyway, I called a local police station to see if a police officer would let me interview them. I expected no reponse as I figured they are too busy but one calls me back for an interview. The cop like sat with me for over an hour (he woud have gone longer) and poured out all sorts of details about his job. I was shocked. But one past case he discused that bothered him was this:

He Busted a young teenage boy for drunk driving after a horrible accident in which his teenage passenger had died in a crash. The boy had minor injuries but she was dead. His BAC was way over the limit. The kid should be serving a long sentence but the parents just happened to be VERY wealthy, like in the millions. When the boy went to trial they bought an idential Mercedes to the one the kid was driving at the time and did a crash test theory to prove it was not his fault (even though he was intoxicated) but that it was all just mechanical failure...the kid ended up with probation and community service and his parents paid some restitution...that has bothered this officer ever since as he feels people can use the law however they want and it doesnt matter what his job is really. What does anyone else feel about this?

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"Thats it then, they will go on double, secret, probation..."

Asha...the sad fact is: American justice can be bought if you have the money and the means, lady justice can be blinded by $$$. As for law officers, it's my belief that most officers are of good moral character and mean well, but the lawyers and courts of this land are passing sentences depending on personal profits and prejustices. I have yet to meet an attorney that does his/her job well when they're doing it as court appointed counsil...just my thoughts and nickels worth.

Asha, I recently asked this same question of one of my fellow faculty members who teaches Criminology. He talked about the disparity of exactly who ends up in jail today. He also recommended a book that he uses as a textbook in a Criminal Justice course. The book is called "The Rich get Richer and the Poor get Prison", the author's name is Reiman. Unfortunately in todays (in)justice system if you decide to plead not guilty you should make damned sure that you have a good lawyer because if you are found guilty after a trial you run the risk of getting the maximum sentence. If you cut a deal and plead guilty you can usually get a much shorter sentence. The worst thing is that poor people who truly aren't guilty might be tempted to take the shorter sentence than plead not guilty and run the risk of an extremely long period of incarceration. There is something very wrong with that. The reality is that rich and corporate criminals usually don't go to jail, or at least not for long. Jails contain a few real criminals but are mostly filled with people whose real crime is poverty, lack of education and social skills or addiction. It is a huge social problem in your country as well as mine.
Darrell.

doggedpursuit
unfortunately, i think your probably right to some degree, however, I do think we all have personal choices. However, the law is baised against poorer people. You only have to look at the OJ case to see how wealth and fame can buy justice. I know that the case is contraversial and people may have different views.

I myself have been accused of assualt. Here in the UK if you cant afford a lawyer you get legal aid. I was innocent of the charge as I was attacked in a night club by two men. I got appointed a legal aid solicitor but she wanted me to say I was guilty as one of the men ended up alot worse than I did. Fortunatley, through a friend who was a private dective she managed to get me a high profile case barrister. The firm carried out investigations that went beyond what they were being paid to do. They took my case on as a personal favour to my freind. My case went to trial and it was a very traumatic experience. The judge was far from objective and the police lied. People don't always believe that happens but it's more common than you think. The jury were out for five minutes and acquitted me. I always think there but for the grace of god. If I did not have the access to a very good barrister I might well have been sent down.In my case I got justice but in too many cases people do not.

Having lived with a Police Officer for many years, you see and know they are only human like the rest of us... no different.
There were many times that my eyes were opened wide to another side of this life. To be honest, at times one i wish i had not known.
I think for the majority, the guys in uniform do a great job. Can you imagine some of the scenes these guys see, only to know that many perpetrators will walk free with good representation.
I for one would not like there job, especially in American Society today. There are so many guns, so much violence and that isn't even looking at the corruption.
There is always a much big picture, the poor guy that is down on a three strikes law that should never have been, then there's the O'J's of the world.
Money does talk in a big way, and if you read the stats most prisoners in America are poor are black and are men. Doesn't that say something?

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The last of all freedoms is the ability to choose one's attitude in a given set of circumstances.
G. W. Allport.

Wow, thanks for all your interesting posts. i guess I would need to agree that most of the people in prison and especially on death row are minorities or poor whites. It is an indication of how our courts designate who gets fair justice and who just gets "justice".

Plus this whole thing about just pleading guilty to avoid the trial and a much steeper sentence is ridiculous in my opinion. It just intimidates people into not standing up for themselves if they truly are inocent. I can not see a poor black man wanting to risk it at all. Can you?

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"Thats it then, they will go on double, secret, probation..."