6 ms·

This sounds fishy. He probably pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal, so law enforcement has a scapegoat and some meaningless "media success" in exchange for hi

This sounds fishy. He probably pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal, so law enforcement has a scapegoat and some meaningless "media success" in exchange for him getting a drastically reduced sentencing. They always do that, threaten people with insane penalties if they don't accept so shitty plea deal and if you are not super certain that you can win, you will likely accept that one, just because it seems "safer". There are a LOT of cases like this, just most of them don't gain this publicity. Actually, 95% of court cases never reach court because of this. Innocent people plead guilty because they don't have the wealth and resources to win in court. USA is a shithole when it comes to law enforcement. Medieval and sad. Land of the free (as long as you are rich, that is).

deadEndDave 7y ago
>> They always do that, threaten people with insane penalties if they don't accept so shitty plea deal and if you are not super certain that you can win, you will likely accept that one, just because it seems "safer". Actually they don't. What they do is tell you the maximum amount of jail time you can get for the crimes for which you are being charged with. If you're good and cooperate with them, then the DA tells the judge that and they work to get you a reduced sentence. Be a prick or attempt to impeded their investigation or fall on the sword for your "homies" and they have the authority to go after the stiffest sentence possible. Even then its up to the presiding judge to ultimately take into account what the DA has told them and what the defense presents for its part and decide sentencing along predefined guidelines. Your entire comment is completely false and shows a total lack of knowledge of the US criminal justice system. >> Innocent people plead guilty because they don't have the wealth and resources to win in court. USA is a shithole when it comes to law enforcement. Medieval and sad. Land of the free (as long as you are rich, that is). You have the opportunity to be represented by a court appointed lawyer if you can't afford one. Depending on your case, if you actually do your homework, its pretty easy to find an attorney who will take your case for free. I've seen many, many low income defendants retain a real defense lawyer to try their case. Also, you do not "win" in a criminal case, you are either found "guilty" or "not guilty".
ChrisCinelli 7y ago
As a side note: Promise (YC startup) was also saying that 70% of people in jails are waiting for judgement or are in for a technical violation (ex: did not show up to a hearing). And being in jails they end up losing their job, eventually they lose their house etc. This is a space with a lot of low hanging fruits. And minor fixes may end up doing a lot of good.
- throwawaybbb 7y ago
  These people are too poor to be a viable market. There is a lot more money in getting more of them in prison than getting them out.
- heartbeats 7y ago
  It's not so simple. Why do we have education? Firstly, because there's needed some way to filter people. If you get 100 applicants, you can't make a detailed consideration. But if only 30 have degrees, it's much easier. So there is a signalling effect. But secondly, and more importantly, because you need somewhere to have these kids. If there's ten million jobs and ten million two hundred thousand jobs, you'll get problems. This is also why many countries had military service, to further improve on the unemployment figures. "We didn't raise [the school leaving age] to enable them to learn more! We raised it to keep teenagers off the job market and hold down the unemployment figures." Prison is just a logical extension of this. If they weren't in prison, they would be unemployed and causing all sorts of trouble.
  - dmos62 7y ago
    You might be responding to the wrong post.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - pests 7y ago
      I think he's responding correctly but just doesn't touch on any topics in the GPs post besides the prison topic and completely misses the point.
dotancohen 7y ago
> Land of the free (as long as you are rich, that is). What did you think "capitalism" meant? Rule of those with capital.

deadEndDave 7y ago

>> They always do that, threaten people with insane penalties if they don't accept so shitty plea deal and if you are not super certain that you can win, you will likely accept that one, just because it seems "safer". Actually they don't. What they do is tell you the maximum amount of jail time you can get for the crimes for which you are being charged with. If you're good and cooperate with them, then the DA tells the judge that and they work to get you a reduced sentence. Be a prick or attempt to impeded their investigation or fall on the sword for your "homies" and they have the authority to go after the stiffest sentence possible. Even then its up to the presiding judge to ultimately take into account what the DA has told them and what the defense presents for its part and decide sentencing along predefined guidelines. Your entire comment is completely false and shows a total lack of knowledge of the US criminal justice system. >> Innocent people plead guilty because they don't have the wealth and resources to win in court. USA is a shithole when it comes to law enforcement. Medieval and sad. Land of the free (as long as you are rich, that is). You have the opportunity to be represented by a court appointed lawyer if you can't afford one. Depending on your case, if you actually do your homework, its pretty easy to find an attorney who will take your case for free. I've seen many, many low income defendants retain a real defense lawyer to try their case. Also, you do not "win" in a criminal case, you are either found "guilty" or "not guilty".

ChrisCinelli 7y ago

As a side note: Promise (YC startup) was also saying that 70% of people in jails are waiting for judgement or are in for a technical violation (ex: did not show up to a hearing). And being in jails they end up losing their job, eventually they lose their house etc. This is a space with a lot of low hanging fruits. And minor fixes may end up doing a lot of good.

throwawaybbb 7y ago
These people are too poor to be a viable market. There is a lot more money in getting more of them in prison than getting them out.
heartbeats 7y ago
It's not so simple. Why do we have education? Firstly, because there's needed some way to filter people. If you get 100 applicants, you can't make a detailed consideration. But if only 30 have degrees, it's much easier. So there is a signalling effect. But secondly, and more importantly, because you need somewhere to have these kids. If there's ten million jobs and ten million two hundred thousand jobs, you'll get problems. This is also why many countries had military service, to further improve on the unemployment figures. "We didn't raise [the school leaving age] to enable them to learn more! We raised it to keep teenagers off the job market and hold down the unemployment figures." Prison is just a logical extension of this. If they weren't in prison, they would be unemployed and causing all sorts of trouble.
- dmos62 7y ago
  You might be responding to the wrong post.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - pests 7y ago
    I think he's responding correctly but just doesn't touch on any topics in the GPs post besides the prison topic and completely misses the point.

dotancohen 7y ago

> Land of the free (as long as you are rich, that is). What did you think "capitalism" meant? Rule of those with capital.