Our Two-Tiered Justice System

There's always been a class disparity in America by how much justice can a person afford, but it is reaching Dickensian levels.
On one side you have the merciless treatment of the poor.

Joseph Sobolewski picked up a single Mountain Dew from a convenience store, listed as two for $3, according to Penn Live. He left $2 on the counter on his way out the door, unaware that the price only applied if he bought two. Rather than write off the difference—43 cents, including tax—to a misunderstanding, the clerk called the police, who tracked down Sobolewski and charged him for the theft.

Unfortunately, Sobolewski has two prior theft convictions, and under Pennsylvania's "three strikes" law, the act of paying for most of, but not an entire, beverage requires he be charged with a felony, and face a potential jail sentence of up to seven years. Additionally, despite there being no force or threat of violence involved with the offense, Sobolewski was held with bail set at $50,000—which, to a homeless person with negligible income, may as well be $5 million.

Under the law in question, even though a first offense is treated akin to a speeding ticket, any third retail theft is treated as a third-degree felony, akin to stealing merchandise worth more than $1,000. Sobolewski's two previous convictions involved stealing a tank of gasoline, and a pair of shoes from Kmart, with each incident occurring a decade ago.

This isn't unusual. In Florida, 70-year-old Andrew Sweet is currently serving a three-year prison sentence for stealing three bags of pistachio nuts and a box of Folgers coffee—worth a total of $44.85. He was also homeless.

On the other side you have the wealthy.
I could take the easy way out and use the Epstein example, but I'm going to look at JP Morgan Chase.

JPMorgan Chase is a five-count felon in the United States, a recidivist law breaker. It’s also the bank that admitted to two felony counts for its role in facilitating Bernie Madoff ripping off the life savings of thousands across America.
JPMorgan Chase was also fined for using depositors’ money to gamble in derivatives in London and lose $6.2 billion of that money.
JPM is being charged with tax fraud by France.

The tax fraud case revolves around former directors and executives of the investment firm, Wendel. According to court records, three directors and 11 senior executives had derived a net gain of approximately 315 million euros ($373 million currently) from an initial investment of approximately 996,250 euros. The scheme allegedly involved a series of bogus transactions so that the directors and executives could avoid paying capital gains taxes on stock awards from Wendel. Some of the executives said they were bullied by higher ups into going along.
Court records show that there are emails implicating JPMorgan Chase in the scheme.

JPM is appealing the charges on the basis that its “human rights” had been violated.
Let us weep for JPM's human rights.
Then I found this.

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Guess who wrote the article? Jamie Dimon former Chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase.

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Comments

Biden was the author of much on the bill.

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2019/05/10/469642/3-wa...

Highlights of the article.

3 Ways the 1994 Crime Bill Continues to Hurt Communities of Color

1. Authorized the death penalty for 60 new federal offenses

2. Imposed mandatory life sentences for individuals with three or more felony convictions

3. Levied harsh new penalties for justice-involved youth

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@humphrey
It really started in the early 80's

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Pricknick's picture

Meant to say AI, but fucking people over for $500 is the cheap way.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

between myself and the prosecutors when representing white, well heeled whites, is MUCH different that the plea bargain offers I get for poor whites, and horrific if they are black. Or Hispanic.
My fall back is that I will request a jury trial and fill the court room with the people of color that matches my clients.
It is trickier with poor white clients. Only pressure I can bring to bear is if they were arrested by a black cops.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

is we live in a 2 tiered everything system. Justice, healthcare, education, employment, taxes, retirement.... leaving us to fight over the crumbs.

Meanwhile we applaud Jeff Bezos and his rocket powered dildo as heroic, when he's just getting a free ride on the taxes he avoided by down shifting them on to us.

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the very next day

(Reuters) - Brazilian authorities are investigating whether JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) played a role in an alleged bribery and money laundering scheme that dated back to 2011 and involved state-run oil company Petrobras, according to documents reviewed by Reuters and two law enforcement sources.
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