12/14/14 Reading Post #5
The whole process of Elaine going through court was incredibly unfair. New York University Professor James B. Jacobs states that, "Your ability to remain free depends on the size of your wallet, which just inherently discriminated against the poor". The system bail is catered to the wealthy. Let me rephrase that, the system of bail mostly benefits white Americans. If Elaine had the $250,000 she could have avoided jail time. In general, do you think you can really put a money value to all crimes? That seems a bit shallow to me. It’s all a money game. As a result of Elaine not being able to afford a good lawyer, she was represented by a public defense lawyer who felt no need to defend her. Once again we return to the money. If you can afford to pay a lawyer, you will be better off in trial, especially if you are not white. Elaine and Nathan (her boyfriend) were given no legal advice. If Elaine had pleaded guilty (even though that’s a frustration on it’s own because she isn’t guilty) she could have done much less time, like 15 years less. It’s just ridiculous.
What’s scary to me is that Elaine is just one story. I’m sure there are lots of black and hispanic parents who have gotten screwed over in court or by the police, with kids at home that they are trying to provide for. As the book seemed to allude to, Americans in similar living conditions to Elaine don’t have $250,000 hanging around to give to the court. The idea of bail being a fair system is our country has been nagging at me, so I decided to look into a couple of articles about it. A member of the Human Rights Watch, Jamie Fellner states, "The idea that somebody goes and sits in Rikers Island [jail] and endures all of the hardship of that simply because they don't have $500 or $1,000 is truly offensive and serves no public purpose". After reading this section of Life on the Outside and the articles about bail, I’ve decided that my opinion on it is similar to Fellner’s. It’s a blatant contradiction to the idea that “all men are created equal” in the eyes of the law.
Be careful about conflating race and class...though they are often closely related. It is hard to accept the role that money pays in our justice system. Most experts would agree that the system is broken, but no one is willing to pay the cost of fixing it. The voters yell, "no new taxes," and so the politicians don't have the guts to try to raise the funds necessary to correct this situation.
ReplyDeleteSo...what do we do now?