I apologize for ranting, figuratively yelling and kicking a wall here, but I need to speak and there's no one to speak to. The saying goes something like 'Everybody is equal in the eyes of the law,' but it's simply not true- it's all about '$.' And I'm madder yet that individuals try to turn it into a racial issue, because it has nothing to do with race. (example: I received a petition in my email days ago about the need to change the system because 'black' fathers who hadn't been convicted of crimes were sitting in jail because they couldn't afford to post bond). Shortly after I fell asleep last night (after 2 a.m.) I woke up to the sounds of screaming. When I was able to access info, I found it was about one of the neighbors. Although she shouldn't have done the things she did, she's been trying to improve her life and if there's one local who deserves another chance she's it. Yet, as she evidently does not have $ or connections, she's sitting in jail. In contrast, awhile back, two former locals were back on the streets within hours after committing much more serious crimes. why- because drug dealers have more $ and more access to $ than other people. Both committed domestic abuse- one so violently that he broke all his girlfriend's ribs. In a recent blog post I mentioned an acquaintance who had to spend weekends in jail because he couldn't afford to pay a parking ticket. I can look even farther back, to the only brush I ever had with the law, I would have ended up in jail if a person hadn't lent me the money to pay a ticket for jaywalking. What does it say about the so-called 'justice' system when people's rights and freedoms depend on money? Sorry for the rant, but I think all of this is flat-out awful.
Well, I continue saying this..........."money talks while everything else walks". Just the way it is and has been for years upon years. You need to elaborate more on what the neighbor done, or should I say, was accused of. When someone says "they couldn't have done that" and law enforcement says the opposite, who is right. Many teens do crimes that their parent/parents and relatives say "no way they did that. My son (or daughter) is a very good person." That statement is heard all the time and when the entire story is known, the teen did do it. IOW, the parent/parents didn't know their kid as well as they should have. If a person really dug in to what the justice system and law enforcement has to figure out/work on, it would be amazing. Some folks say "they don't get paid enough for what they do and the hours they put in." I don't believe the justice system is always correct, but do we as Seniors always do things right? I have always, and will always, respect and support law enforcement. I have worked, doing emergency medical, right along side of them and one thing for sure, they have a tough job to do.
@Cody Fousnaugh - too many don't do their job though, they just want a quick fix Too many innocents are rotting in jail
This is not just a first world problem as it happens here in the D.R. as well A few years ago an Dominican who went to the US and became a baseball player making real good money came back and ended up shooting his cousin with witnesses and then paid off the family and went back to playing baseball in the US.
So, okay........I read the whole story, @Janice Martin . what I am understanding you to be upset about is that your neighbor lady, who is actually (in your eyes) trying to make her life better; but she committed some sort of crime and was arrested during the middle of the night, and is now in jail because she has no money to post bail, or even pay a bail bondsman. On the other hand, you know of two druggies who beat up their wife/girlfriend, and didn't spend much time in jail because they were bailed out right away. I can see where this seems unfair; but I can't see how it would make a difference to change the system. To my thought, it has nothing to do with how our system works that she is still in jail, and everything to do with the drug dealers selling enough drugs that they can do whatever they want to do and then bailing themself out if they are arrested. That is not the fault of law enforcement that the druggies have money and your neighbor does not. You don't say what her accused crime was; but if she is/was using drugs , then she is also part of the problem, because she has been putting money in some drug dealer's pocket. It is a shame that your neighbor did something that got her put in jail; but she had to know before she did it that it was against the law, and that she had no money to post bail if she was arrested for whatever she did. Our justice system can't say that some people can post bail and some can't (for an equal crime); so the system works right, but it always makes it possible for anyone with money to bail themself out, and ones with no money can't.