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Todays laws completely unrealistic and unfair

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Contributed by: William Kus on 6/14/2007

Since Paris Hilton is so easy to hate, nobody had a problem with her being sentenced to prison for a minor traffic infraction. But the second someone you know or feel sympathy for could be guilty of the same offense, all of a sudden the issue becomes important, even going so far as to bring race into the issue.

The jailing of Paris highlighted a lot of problems:

1 The plight of poor African-Americans,
2 The revolving door type system for all offenders,
3 The ease at which a judge can abuse the intent of the law.

It isn't Baca's fault either, he is running an overcrowded jail system. The jail is overcrowded because of overzealous judges sentencing people to jail for non-violent crimes like driving violations or minor drug possession.

It's one thing to commit a crime while on a drug, it's another thing to just possess a drug. Many crimes are committed without any drugs involved. At least you know why a druggy does it, his body is forcing him to. The most heinous murders of all time are usually perpetrated by people who are completely sober.

Or possibly under the influence of legal drugs like alchohol or Prozac.

But the jails are full of non-violent offenders. How many of you know of someone whos committed a non-violent offense, probably everyone. You guys probably know people who've committed much worse but since you know them, you don't have a problem.

I've know plenty of people who have an uncle who spent time in prison, or cousin or brother or something. They're regular people. Even the violent offenders.

Which leads me to another point. Once your a felon it's impossible to find a job. Would you hire a felon? I might not and I've seen the injustices of the system.

The current system of laws are unfair and made to take advantage of poor people. The majority of punishments are able to be avoided by paying a fine. The fines are what keep the city running.

And if you actually get caught for something bad, if you can afford a lawyer you have a good chance of getting off. Don't expect a public defender to spend more than 5 minutes with you, if you're lucky.

So the law books are filled with so many laws, that nobody knows really what's fair or not. Alot of these laws probably existed from the same time as segregationist laws.

The same people who thought "separate but equal" was legal are the same people who think it's ok to jail people for driving on a suspended license.

If the law books were simplified, we'd have a lot less problems with the prisons.

Plenty of things are illegal. And we villify them because some guy says its wrong to do something. Well those guys who tell us it's wrong are usually doing stuff that we would also consider wrong. Sometimes people are backwards.

Nobody really feels sorry for Paris, Black people feel sorry for all of the black people in prison, Hispanics feel sorry for all of the people here who aren't citizens and get harassed by the law.

But nobody cares when some other guy gets in trouble unless it's someone you can relate to.

I think it's real big of Mr. Sharpton to try and connect with Paris. Even if it is just for show, it's a good start. What if it was his daughter being sent to prison for driving without a license?

I think the prison system is unfair to everyone with judges being able to decide a person's life depending on their personal dislike of an individual judge.

And then there is no way to overturn it without going through a huge legal morass.

Everyone thinks drug addicts are criminals and worthless. That is until your son or daughter is one of those speed or crack heads. Or what about all those people who need to fill huge perscriptions at the pharmacy every month.

They are just as addicted as any street addict but they feel no guilt. Doctors are scamming America into legal drug addiction. Doctors used to perscribe heroin, cocaine and many other things.

How often does a drug come out that it is banned within a few years when it's foun dhow harmful it is? But other things like alchohol and cigarettes are still legal.

But marijuana which has more medical benefits than all those percription drugs combined is illegal and people are routinely jailed for smoking something that comes out of the ground.

Uh oh, the awful truth is out, I support the legalization of marijuana.

But anyways, if you ever actually met a pot head, you'd know what nice people they are, if not a little slow and sometimes a bit unmotivated. But otherwise you couldn't even tell most of the time unless you smoked weed yourself.

Just like many people criminalize illegal immigration. Unless you know someone who came here illegally and lived the American dream, you may not care. But if you do know someone then all of a sudden it's a personal issue. They aren't criminals at all.

Same with "gangsters". These guys are real people. Many times exhibiting the true American spirit of the "don't tread on me" mentalities.

Nobody ever thinks their son or relative or friend is a gangster. They are just normal people. But someone who is not part of your family or who is not even Hispanic, may think you are a gangster or may be intimidated. Maybe they should be intimidated.

Being someone of mixed ethnicity, my birth certificate lists my father as Polish American and my mother as Japanese American.

Some people used to say "Wow you get the best of both worlds!", but in reality it's more often the worst of both worlds.

Even when white people hated blacks, black people could feel a sense of belonging within their own community.

Same with Hispanics or anybody who comes from a different country and tries to fit into a new culture dominated by other people who don't understand you and don't care to either.

But when you are half Asian and half White, you actually look just enough like the other that you can't be considered trustworthy.

Being a mixed ethnicity, I have seen first hand how gosh darn important race is in everything, since it all comes down to interpersonal relationships. I'm not saying it's like that everywhere, some people are able to overcome it and work professionally together.

But how often do you see an obvious racial majority at any company, private or public. Whoever is in charge just happens to hire a bunch of people who are near clones of themselves.

Sometimes it isn't always race, many times it's a cultural thing. Like a non-druggy manager will try and hire only non-druggies. Whereas the manager that's on drugs all the time probably hires people on drugs. Or people who dress like heavy metal guys, or people who dress like nerds.

When everyone is the same race, the seperations take place on different levels. But usually race is the first factor, then you can decide whether or not you like or hate someone.

From there everything they do is going to be either right or wrong depending on your personal preference.

Trust me, everything is based on race. Friendship, job promotions, love.

People of mixed ethnicity should back me up. I know I've heard of light skinned blacks having the same problem. The are too light for black people and too dark for white people.

Or how about the Hispanic immigrant who wants to be American, but gets dissed by Americans for being an immigrant and gets dissed by Hispanics for not being Hispanic enough.

Either it's unfair for everybody. Everybody wants to go after everyone but their own.

That's when you have chaos and civil war. The toughest thing to do is turn in your friends or relatives, but that's what you have to do to maintain order.

Imagine how tough it would be for a mother to turn in her son. But ifit's for the good of the community that's what should happen.

People always want to protect their friends from prosecution. But those same people will do the same thing to anyone. If they rob or kill one guy, they will rob or kill you if one day you aren't their friend anymore.

People always protect these guys because they are family or friends. But then if a crime is commited against you, nobody will ever get caught because nobody ever turns in anybody they know.

Only the outcasts get in trouble. Everybody else gets away with it if nobody wants to see their buddies get in trouble.

Only time someone gets turned in is from an enemy of theirs that is trying to get back at them, or trying to collect money or is afraid of the person.

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