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this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023
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Careful, there's very little that separates you from those you wish to disenfranchise.
You might want to check out Anthony Ray Hinton's The Sun Does Shine for a memoir of what it's like to be wrongfully sentenced to prison for nearly 30 years all because your friend was mad at you over a girl.
There's also the case of Crystal Mason who's in prison, right now, despite comitting no crime.
Profit and Punishment: How America Criminalizes the Poor in the Name of Justice by Pulitzer prize winner Tony Messenger is a more comprehensive book, but one that I think every US citizen should read before defending the status quo.
Criminal justice reform is extraordinarily difficult in the US because citizens with first hand experience are disenfranchised. Everyone affected by society should have an equitable voice in society - there should be no disenfranchised underclass.
Yes. A superficial search yielded this article citing the American Bar Association as stating 98% of federal criminal cases end in a plea bargain - confession in exchange for a lesser sentence.
Many solid defenses never go to trial because the accused does not have the resources to fight the charge. Many of those individuals who plea guilty will lose their right to vote. The books cited in my previous comment provide more compelling statistics and case studies showing that any one of us can easily find ourselves in trouble with the law, in over our heads, and eager to take the path of least resistance back to a "normal" life.