MONEY=POWER

This week in class we discussed an article called Courtroom 302. It was an eye opening article that shows our true justice system, which more Americans need to be aware of.  In Courtroom 302, those who were arrested were treated like animals and completely dehumanized, before they were even found guilty. In my life I've talked to kids who have gotten themselves into trouble and they were told by the cops to "shut the F up" and several dehumanizing things. Many cops believe they are above the law at times.  Like where I live, the guards in Courtroom 302 would drop the F bomb constantly and one man was yelled at for looking the wrong way. There is no respect for people who are being accused of a crime.


We also discussed how someone's social class can determine the outcome of their punishment. We read an article called Saints and Roughnecks. This article explained how the Saints were just as bad as the Roughnecks only they didn't get into trouble and they were even trusted by their teachers, when they were in fact just making up excuses to ditch class. Through this article my class discussed how poor people [ the roughnecks in the story] are the ones more likely to get into trouble. For example when someone is arrested, if they are wealthy or come from a wealthy family they can afford a lawyer and fight their way out of a punishment with money. A non-wealthy person cannot afford to do so, therefore they end up getting into more trouble because they don't have a high paid lawyer fighting their legal troubles. For example, one of my friends had gotten pulled over for going 70 MPH in a 40 MPH zone. His family used the family lawyer and allowed him to get out of getting his license taken away and he didn't have to go to traffic court. However, when I was pulled over for going 38 MPH in a 25 MPH [yes, I understand it's speeding and I probably deserved it] my mom didn't think it was right to get a lawyer and I ended up going to a 4 hour traffic school and put under supervision for 6 months. Although I could have gotten a lawyer, I was still in the "poor mans" shoes when it came to my punishment. Moral of the story, the more money one has, the more power... unfortunately.