Unequal Protection Under the Law
Much grossly untrue propaganda is made of there being “equal process” or “equal protection” for all citizens under the law in the US and various states. It’s difficult to imagine any bigger or more obvious lie than this other than the ones we tell children about various mythical beings that creep around their homes or bedrooms at night. Here is a list of the gimmicks that cops, prosecutors, lawyers, legislators, judges, chief executives, and the press use in their absurd attempt to disguise our inequality under the law.
Platinum justice is primarily for the wealthy and well-connected. But it is also extended to the people who enforce the inequality on behalf of that wealthy class (e.g. police, prosecutors) and occasionally and temporarily granted to white, conservative middle- and low-class people (“rednecks”) when it suits the political purposes of the wealthy class. When a platinum justice holder commits a crime where another platinum justice holder is the victim, they may lose some of their platinum privileges, but in the worst case, they only drop to the level of textbook justice – never injustice.
Injustice is what racial, religious, and socio-economic minorities; immigrants; and people who hold unpopular beliefs receive almost exclusively. People in the middle-class might sometimes get textbook justice or fall into the injustice group depending on various factors (facts related to the arrest, the personal agendas of judges and prosecutors, current events, et. al.).
| Injustice | Platinum Justice |
|---|---|
| No crime is too minor or non-existent to be hassled, arrested, or executed. | “Too big to fail” |
| Prosecutors definitely have no qualms about looking backwards (and forwards) for their crimes. | we must “look forward, not backward” [efn_note]Stern, Sam.[/efn_note] |
| No crime is too minor or non-existent to be hassled, arrested, or executed. | “Too big to prosecute” |
| A pardon maybe, but only posthumously or if you’re lucky enough to become a celebrity’s special project | Pardons |
| Zero tolerance policies | Be merciful/forgiveness |
| “Ignorance of the law is no defense” | Must have “intended to do wrong” |
| No crime is too political or incendiary to a community for someone to be hassled, arrested, or executed. | Prosecutor doesn’t want to be seen as “political” |
| “Ignorance of the law is no defense” | “Affluenza” (too rich to understand the consequences of their behavior) |
| “We’ve got the appropriate health controls in place. No need to let you out” | Risk of illness in prison too great, so home-confinement |
| Long sentences even for crimes of private consensual drug use or minor theft (e.g. hedge clippers) | 7- and 10-day (“fake”) sentences even for fraud with real victims in the amounts of tens of thousands and more |
| Never any part-time prison. | Part-time prison (Epstein) |
| Instant, no-trial death penalty even for non-violent allegations (like passing a counterfeit $20 bill). | Even the most belligerent or armed of suspects make it safely into custody, if stopped at all. |
| Police bust into your home without knocking or sometimes even warrants and you go immediately to jail and can spend several days sometimes before a bail hearing even for non-violent or moral crimes (like private consensual drug use). | Turn yourself in at convenient times of day to be out on bail same afternoon even for violent crimes like rape. |
| Stopped and frisked without warrant based solely on their racial or assumed socioeconomic features | Not stopped even if they snort up in from the police |
| Pulled off the street for disingenuous reasons like a “seatbelt safety check” | Rarely stopped for any reason and when they are the chances of the arrest if a crime is in progress are slim. |
| Long waits in jail for the so-called “speedy” trial | Bail/Release on own recognizance |
| Zero tolerance policies | Prosecutorial discretion |
| Die in prison no matter how old or sick with cancer or other painful illness even for minor crimes. | “Compassionate release” (age or infirmity-related) |
| No immunity deals | Immunity deals |
| Police will arrest you “prior to a crime being committed.” | Police say things like “we can’t charge them with a crime because we stopped them prior to committing a crime” |
| Go to prison for spreading communicable diseases (e.g. HIV) | Spreading communicable disease is a right (COVID). |
| You go to prison for 27 years for stealing a VCR. | You murder a man with your car, but because you’re Attorney General of S.D., you get a couple misdemeanors. |
| “Ignorance of the law is no defense”, “Zero tolerance”. If you told the law enforcer that you had too much stuff to know what you had violated the law, they just take all your stuff and you’re going to prison. | We own too much stock to be responsible for knowing when we break the law by owning it. [efn_note]Dangor, Graison[/efn_note] |
| Never gets off on self-defense. If this citizen tried to claim self-defense, they would just say “well you shouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place and so you’re still guilty”. | “It was self-defense” as the murderer travelled across state lines with an automatic weapon to hunt someone down to kill. |
| Judge will call these citizens “animals” and give them lengthy prisons sentences without commenting that he prayed over the dilemma of how to punish them. | The judge will say things like “incarceration … isn’t appropriate” of a convicted serial rapist. |
| No expectation of privacy while committing a crime. If the an appeals court or judge rules against that in such a way, the prosecutor would not meekly drop the case. | Prosecutors meekly drop the case when a judge determines that you had an “expectation of privacy” while committing a crime and so the police shouldn’t have the evidence that you committed the crime. [Bob Kraft, Robert Kraft scandal: Prostitution charges against Patriots owner dropped (cnbc.com)] |
| Prosecutors definitely do not care whether you believed your were right about the facts or law being on your side before they drop draconian charges on you, EVEN if you had a government agency assist in your search for the truth. https://www.texastribune.org/2021/03/31/crystal-mason-texas-voting-ruling/ | Prosecutors don’t take up cases against you if they think you really believed you were right. https://www.rawstory.com/john-eastman-2656865308/ |
A final point. Some critics might say that some of these are the same or could be reduced. However, my goal is to demonstrate the variety and creativity of the platinum justice holders and their enablers. It is not to be reductive as one might be when writing a textbook.
0 Comments on “Unequal Protection Under the Law”