Administration of Justice: Rich vs. Poor

People with money have a greater chance to win or get lower sentences compared to poor families. In today’s society we see all kinds of unfair cases coming in and out if the courtroom. People who have enough money to go hire a top of the line lawyer to protect them from being accounted guilty. All the while in the poor community people struggle to survive just to pay their rent, and when they commit a crime it’s hard for them to afford a top of the line lawyers.

Every day you turn on the TV or the radio and hear about these celebrities that constantly get in trouble for drugs, guns, and fighting but yet when the judge sentences them it’s like they get a smack on the hand or receive the minimum sentence available. This even happens in a reoccurring basis with the same people in and out like a revolving door. The lower income communities get arrested and go to court and unless they receive a plea bargain they usually are looking at the maximum amount of sentencing when it comes to chronic offenders.

Even those low income first time offenders can be hit hard when it comes to sentencing unless the crime committed isn’t at high risk. I will discuss some celebrity cases as well as regular civilian cases in today’s courts. Celebrity Lindsey Lohan is considered a repeat offender in and out if the court room for cocaine possession. On July 6th 2010 she was sentenced to 90 days in jail and remained free until July 20th 2010 when she had arrived at the Beverley Hills court house to turn herself in to start serving her sentence.

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Upon release she had to also serve a 90 day impatient rehabilitation sentence due to violating her probation from a prior DUI case. According to the spokes person Steve Whitmore of the Sheriff’s Department stated she would only serve 23 days behind bars since it was a non-violent crime. Regularly the sentence for Recidivist is if a misdemeanor is one year it goes up to two years, if it is a felony can be increased by four additional years. Convicted “crack” offenders are usually African Americans and “cocaine” offenders are usually white.

The disparity in punishment evoked images of low-income blacks sitting in jail for crack longer than affluent whites caught with the same amount of cocaine, but in powder form. By the crack offenders being mostly poor black people they been receiving higher sentencing and a unfair trial, seeing as white people get caught with cocaine most of the time the sentencing isn’t as harsh due to their color of skin and if they come from wealth. I Washington as of the 1st of November, 2007 they are passing a federal rule that will shorten time for new crack offenders regardless of race, to be able to decrease the thought of racial issues.

Of the nearly 20,000 federal prisoners whose sentences could be reduced, 86 percent are black and 6 percent are white, according to the commission. Speaking with a Chronic offender Benito Garibay who I interviewed he stated that while being charged for drug cases he always received the maximum sentence that was set against him in disregard to his home life. He also stated he had two prior drug cases before catching the third one were they charged him with a class X felony, which is a sentence of a minimum of six years in a state penitentiary and a maximum of thirty years.

He was sentenced to the minimum and involved himself in classes for his diploma as well as a work study to help reduce his sentence for what is called “good time”. Weapon cases on the other hand are the same issue depending on the person’s race and economical status. For instance I have two examples of celebrities caught with guns and served less time than the average offender, even though they are black males, they both still have the money for good lawyers and in a political issue people can assume they also have paid off officials revolving around the case to receive lighter sentences.

In the case of T. I. a well known rapper whose real name is Clifford Harris Jr, was caught with numerous types of guns in his home ranging from hand guns to semi-automatic weapons in October 2007. He was arrested and posted to bail to be released until hearings took place which ended up being a very long process. His suppression hearing was scheduled for February 19, 2008 when the performer admitted guilt to possession of U. S. federal weapon charges.

He was sentenced to serve one year and one day in prison, one year of house arrest, and 1,500 hours of community service. He also had to pay $100,300 for the federal weapons charges. The performer went in to serve his sentence May 26, 2009 and was released on March 26, 2009. After being released the performer already has new charges brought up against him for the possession of methamphetamines. With this case coming soon after being released from prison on the weapon charges, the media speaks about how harsh the charges may be this time.

I think that’s just the media assumption and my assumption would be looked at differently and he will get off easy yet again. Dwayne Carter also known as Lil Wayne a very successful rapper ran into trouble on the streets of Manhattan in 2007. The police had pulled over the tour bus after the performer was smoking marijuana at a concert he did at the Beacon Theatre. During the search the police found and seized a . 40caliber loaded semi-automatic gun. During Wayne’s initial appearance he stated he was innocent and the gun did not belong to him.

Trial was then set for January 20th were a controversial DNA profiling technique had tied the performer to the weapon. From January to February 2010 the performer was scheduled for his possible sentence of 8 to 10 months. Just like T. I. he is also scheduled to go to trial in Arizona on felony drug possession and weapons charges, stemming from a January 2008 arrest at a U. S. Border Patrol checkpoint. Interstate 9 is known for illegal drug trafficking and illegal aliens trying to get over.

During the border patrol’s common evenings the performer’s tour bus was pulled over and searched when, they found three guns, $22,000 in cash, and drugs. The authorities discovered 105 grams of marijuana, 29 grams of cocaine, 41 grams of ecstasy and various drug paraphernalia. While we are currently unaware of the sentence he is looking at for this case in Arizona Lil Wayne must first get past his sentence being held in Riker’s Island Penitentiary where he was placed on close surveillance due to a rumor of himself trying to commit suicide.

The scheduled release date was November 11th but ended up getting out Thursday morning on November 4th 2010. This goes to show that higher class people and celebrities get off more easier then poor families who have nothing. Just because someone or someone’s family member are drug addicts doesn’t mean they don’t deserve just as much as a fair trial just like someone that can afford the great lawyer or have connections with in the politics of the court house.

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