out of whack
Oct. 23rd, 2001 08:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cellioOur criminal-justice system is out of whack. I've known this for a while, but two recent news items reminded me of it.
Sunday's newspaper contained two articles on the same page. One was about some people who hijacked a bus and apparently threatened to roll it (or drive it off a cliff, or something like that). The article noted that, if convicted, they face up to 15 years in prison.
The other article was about OJ's "road rage" (sic) trial. He is accused of reaching through someone's open car window during an argument and grabbing the driver's glasses, scratching him in the process. (The article said "scratch", not "cut".) This has landed in criminal court. OJ, if convicted, could face up to 16 years in prison.
Never mind that the hijackers probably will and OJ certainly won't face that knid of prison time, if convicted. What kind of guidelines allow these possibilities? Sheesh.
Yeah yeah, I know: this is the same justice system that releases rapists after about 5 years and locks up drug users for 10-15. At least there you can see the agenda at work. But this? I don't get it.
Sunday's newspaper contained two articles on the same page. One was about some people who hijacked a bus and apparently threatened to roll it (or drive it off a cliff, or something like that). The article noted that, if convicted, they face up to 15 years in prison.
The other article was about OJ's "road rage" (sic) trial. He is accused of reaching through someone's open car window during an argument and grabbing the driver's glasses, scratching him in the process. (The article said "scratch", not "cut".) This has landed in criminal court. OJ, if convicted, could face up to 16 years in prison.
Never mind that the hijackers probably will and OJ certainly won't face that knid of prison time, if convicted. What kind of guidelines allow these possibilities? Sheesh.
Yeah yeah, I know: this is the same justice system that releases rapists after about 5 years and locks up drug users for 10-15. At least there you can see the agenda at work. But this? I don't get it.
(no subject)
Date: 2001-10-23 08:20 pm (UTC)No good answers here, just lots of nodding in agreement. Y'all don't want me to start quoting examples I've seen of just how broken our "justice" system is...