Criminal Justice System Will Eat It's Own Young

Okay. I have in the past argued that majority of the people the criminal justice system prosecutes are young African American males. This is a fact. It angers me and sometimes anger is not the correct emotion to feel. Because of my anger I have been blinded to the overall picture. The metaphorical BIG PICTURE. Some would say that I was pea brained. Others would say life is growth and we evolve over time. Whichever choice you go with may or may not substantiate the fact that I have erred in my reasoning.

I have in the past associated the racial discrimination of African Americans with the evil doings of the criminal justice system. I have assumed that all of the dealing off the police, prosecutors, and the 'system' are racially motivated. I am wrong. The criminal justice system is designed to eat anyone and everyone that offers any opposition whatsoever. It has no respect of persons. The War on Drugs targets young African American males by coincidence. I think that it was not intended to lock up young African American males at a disproportionate rate but that is an unintended consequence of the legislation passed in 1986 by Ronald Reagan.

You ask, "What changed my mind?" Well, I have a friend that I have known for a really long time. Not best friends but we consider each other close. She is a single, professional, mother. Also, she is tall, blond haired, green eyes, well spoken, smart, and an overall good person. The quintessential white woman. For the sake of anonymity let's call her Molly. Molly is a professional that is the sole provider for her young daughter. She is college educated, pays her bills on time, pays her taxes, never had any run ins with the law [except for a DUI] seven years ago. The dreaded DUI/DWI can happen to any one that has had a single drink and made the ill advised decision to get behind the wheel. The statistics show that 1.5 million people are arrested for DUI annually. Yes 1.5 million annually! Recently, she received another DUI/DWI. It wasn't exactly what one would call criminal. She was leaving happy hour at a restaurant and got pulled over for failure to obey traffic signals. From what I understand that she made a right turn without signalling.

Now we have Molly the quintessential white woman in a very precarious situation. She lives in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has a Accelerated Disposition Program for first time offenders. However, this is Molly's second offense within ten years. Pennsylvania also has mandatory sentences that are never pleaded to lesser crimes. Either you are convicted of DUI/DWI or you are not. Now Molly understands that she has to pay the consequences of her bad decision. Pay in the way of legal fees, fines, court costs, etc. What Molly was not expecting was an immediate loss of her license, fired from her job, and mandatory 90 days in jail.
Wow!

The DUI/DWI game has become big business. It is the only "crime" in which you literally must prove your innocence. You can lose your license among other things way before your day in court. Police Departments, cities, districts, and counties are eating it up. Fines can range from 1000 to 10,000 thousand dollars.  There are approximately 16,000 alcohol related accidents per year. About 5,000 of those end in death. Yet we have 1.5 million arrests for drunk driving. One could look at those numbers and say the enforcement is the reason for such a small number. I believe that I have a much more pragmatic approach. The system is using DUI as a cash cow.

We have thousands of lawyers that specialize in only DUI/DWI, DUI/DWI court, Police Officers and State Troopers that only deal with DUI/DWI. The fines are automatic and license suspensions are automatic. This brings in untold billions per year for the system. Like the War on Drugs, the War on DUI/DWI has taken it's toll on the citizens of the US. However, the War on DUI targets anyone with a drivers license.

Molly ended up doing house arrest for 90 days. It didn't make much of a difference because she lost her job, license, money, and is struggling to take care of her child. Should she have drank and got behind the wheel? Absolutely not! Should she have lost her life and future earnings because of a bad decision. Absolutely not! The punishment for a DUI is not proportionate to the crime. This is another instance of the system eating it's own. So I am forced to retract my beliefs that the system is racially motivated to label minorities and disenfranchised groups. The criminal justice system is out to devour anyone with a pulse.