Recently there has been so much activity with our justice system that it's hard not to discuss. Not only has an ex-president been indited for several criminal crimes, but I have watched tv programs about people incarcerated for crimes they didn't commit as well as those who may have been guilty but never faced punishment. My local newspaper ran a weekly series about a person who spent years in prison for a crime they didn't commit and now what happens next for them. The one thing that stands out for me is that while our system of justice is probably the best in the world it is complicated, and those with power or money can manipulate it, while common or poor people don't really stand much of a chance. Also, whether you believe it or not race has a play in decisions by a supposedly blind justice system. I know this for a fact, as I watched my daughter try to navigate through the legal system after a series of poor choices in her twenties. It is discouraging to see white people extended chances that she would never get. Charges such as hitting a pedestrian while DWI, even though your driver's license had been suspended three times and two other DWI on your record.
While the things that Trump has done including inciting a riot at the Capital, retaining classified documents after leaving office, tax fraud, and probably many other things that were never pursued he uses his money and lawyers to delay trails, find loopholes, and will eventually not face what any reasonable individual would consider cut and dry crimes. His New York trial regarding misrepresentation of campaign finances was a weak case at best and 34 charges all about the same crime is overkill even for someone like me. At the same time the current President's son is on trial for buying a gun and checking a box that said he wasn't an addict at the time, when he was. It was a first offense, he didn't even load the gun, and had it for eleven days. Anyone else would have gone to court got a fine and a probated sentence, but not in this politically charged environment.
It is painful to see these things happening and envisioning a future where the rich and powerful control the system in a way that maintains their power over minorities or people who disagreed with them. People say that things swing like a pendulum, and that we must speak out to clean up the system and the partisanship politics that has helped to politicize democracy and its many great systems and institutions. Unfortunately, I feel like this is not a pendulum but a sludge hammer, that is on the downswing.
No comments:
Post a Comment