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One more example of our wealth tiered justice system.
So we all remember that horrible affluenza kid who has further proven he is a callous douche bag since getting off from his DUI.
Then we have another Texan, Jaime Arellano, who had a similar case but was sentenced to 20 years and was tried and an adult. He was the same age as Couch. But he didn't have rich parents to fall back on.
Same charges, very different result. This is the invisible inequality that doesn't get measured easily, and causes wildly different outcomes.
Rich:
Quote:
prosecutors in Fort Worth said they didn't ask to have his case moved to the adult system because they thought the judge would refuse. Instead, he stayed in juvenile court and became infamous for his psychologist's assertion that his wealthy parents coddled him into a sense of irresponsibility the psychologist called "affluenza."
Poor:
Quote:
Prosecutors quickly sought to have Arellano's case moved to adult court, and a judge agreed.
At that point, Arellano faced two choices: a plea deal with the promise of 20 years in prison and possible parole after a decade, or a jury trial in one of the most conservative regions of the United States and the risk of 50 years in prison. He took the plea.
Excellent example of the Class differences infesting our economy and our justice system. Another example is the recent assignations of poor black folks by white cops in the white folks occupying armies. White cop shoots, frequently with no reason, a black kid and get a new assignment. Black kid shoots a cop shaking down his employer and they hang the black. The funny part is this is not created by color but by class and the political and economic suppression of the poor by the might have been wealthy.
One more example of our wealth tiered justice system.
So we all remember that horrible affluenza kid who has further proven he is a callous douche bag since getting off from his DUI.
Then we have another Texan, Jaime Arellano, who had a similar case but was sentenced to 20 years and was tried and an adult. He was the same age as Couch. But he didn't have rich parents to fall back on.
Same charges, very different result. This is the invisible inequality that doesn't get measured easily, and causes wildly different outcomes.
Exactly! Both of these people - the rich kid & the poor kid - should have gotten the exact same punishment. But, because the poor kid had no $, rich parents with influence, etc. he went to prison. Obviously, if Couch had been poor (regardless of his race) he would also now be in prison.
The system is obviously biased towards those who have $, and against those who are poor. It's always been that way - but, cases like this just bring this unfair disparity to the fore-front.
Location: When you take flak it means you are on target
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What happens? You get a public defender, lose or cop a plea, go directly to jail, and spend the rest of your life as a felon unable to work, unable to ever get out of the restitution cycle, unable to get a driver license, returning time and again to prison for real or imagined crimes. That is modern America.
A rich person can use growing up wealthy as an excuse for not knowing right from wrong, but a poor person raised by criminal parents could never use their upbringing as an excuse for not knowing right from wrong. Aside from the inherent implication that wealth equates to moral bankruptcy it shows clearly that the law is not logical, let alone fair.
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