Fighting Back

Not too many people like to talk about domestic violence, but it is prevalent in our rape culture society we call the United States! What do women and children have to do with poverty and the criminal justice system? You would be surprised how much women and children are involved.

We hear domestic violence is purported by men, well most of the time that is. Do we ever really look at why a woman is charged with domestic violence. Nine out of ten times it is because women are sick of being abused and they actually fight back. When these abused women fight back and are arrested, the book is thrown at them. Meaning, the judge makes an example out of the abused woman and punishes her with the maximum sentence. The children are removed and placed with the real perpetrator while their mother sits in jail and pays her restitution to the courts in which she has to prove she is a fit mother to regain custody of her child(ren). Meanwhile, the abuser is as free as a bird possibly abusing the children.

I speak about this topic from experience and working with women and children fleeing domestic violence. Instead of making an example out of the woman who fought back, look at the dynamics and statistics of why women fight their male counterparts. Instead, the judge sentences a woman to a mandatory thirty-day jail sentence, five years formal probation, and fifty-two anger management classes. This ends up costing the abused woman in one year  $1,100 for anger management classes, $1,000 – $1,800 for probation, $1,000 -$3,600 in restitution, which averages on the high side of $6,500 over the course of a year. These are rough estimates with which it can vary from state, county and city. Not to mention there is additional attorney fees.

The courts consider this punishment for wrongful behaviors, but never looked at the logistics behind why women fight.

Why?

Looking passed the boundaries of the criminal justice system,  some questions remain. How can we help low-income people maneuver through the criminal courts system? How can we lift people out of poverty?

I have struggled with these two questions for a long time and it seems the criminal courts are drowning in cases across the board. The court system rather a person figure it out on their own than to offer help, and help is limited; really limited. Why? People, law makers, the political elite and the like would rather point fingers and go round and round in circles rather than fixing the system our society operates. Instead of saying these people made the wrong choice, we label them with negative stereotypes and , make sure their record follows them until their last breath.

What happened? Why? How?

Our society has turned into an imperialistic society run by greed, or should I say capitalism at its finest. This is why people living in poverty cannot get out of poverty. Low wage menial work is accepted as a desperate cry for help by low-income people, yet big corporations thrive and make astronomical amounts of profit. They outsource jobs, so they do not have to pay a standard minimum wage. They would rather pay people in other countries two or three dollars a day for the work Americans used to do! Companies “DO NOT” and “WILL NOT” pay living wages for citizens of America, which people become desperate to make ends meet and they know that.

Limited help!

As I search aimlessly for programs that help impoverished individuals maneuver through the court system, I found limited opportunities. I posted yesterday about one agency willing to help rehabilitated individuals, but the struggle is real. On the other hand, there is Legal Aid Foundation and Pro Bono attorneys. For Legal Aid, there is an intake process by which a person must qualify for services. Even then, the individual is responsible for restitution and fines, but not legal fees. For Pro Bono attorneys, there is an increasing need for volunteers, which limits the amount of low-income people served. There are a limited number of programs that are willing to help low-income people with court, fines, and charges, but an increasing number of people who need help.

It seems that a person who has money there is no need to worry, but a person barely surviving is reprimanded and thrown the book. Our political system needs to get it together rather than handicapping people who are already viewed as outcasts by our society. Instead of giving them an outrageous sentence and restitution, why not incorporate programs to help them.

A Program Helps Impoverished Individuals

After researching programs willing to help low-income people with criminal records and outstanding court fines, I found a program called Homeless Court. There are strict key points for eligibility in Los Angeles County.

 

• Applicants must have completed a minimum of 90 days of continuous, satisfactory participation in a rehabilitative program. Participation in substance abuse, mental health, employment/training, and other similar programs meets this criteria.
• Applicants must not have received any new violations within the past six months.
• The tickets and warrants they want to clear, must have occurred within Los Angeles County.
• The offense cannot involve a victim, a weapon, or possession or sale of drugs.
• Qualifying infractions include: traffic tickets, jaywalking, riding the metro without a fare, sleeping in public places, illegal use of shopping carts, possession of an open container of alcohol in public, obstructing traffic on the sidewalk, sleeping on a bus bench, as well as any warrants that arise for failure to resolve these offenses.
• Individuals must not have any outstanding felony warrants.

 

 

This program is a once in a lifetime opportunity to have outstanding balances and charges rectified. Also, the person applying for the program cannot apply themselves. It must be the case manager, drug counselor or the director of the program to name a few. The application process is not an overnight ordeal; it takes time to process and review each application carefully. The applicant must list each offense and fines as truthfully as possible. Of course the office is going to pull the applicants record to make sure there are no outstanding warrants as well as the applicants criminal history. Once obtained a person who works for the Los Angeles County Public Defenders office will go to each court and ask for dismissal in lieu of Homeless Court. There is no guarantee Homeless Court will be able to rectify every case or fines a person might have, but the program attempts to clear as much as they can.

I have heard of this program through various drug rehabilitation programs throughout Los Angeles County. I cannot say the people I have spoken with represent a larger sample, but I can say out of thirty individuals Homeless Court has helped them with 95% of their cases. The other 5% of the cases the courts would not dismiss for reasons I do not know.

If you would like to know more about this program or know someone who needs help  click here

 

Low paying jobs and Outcomes

I watched a documentary a couple of months ago about ship wrecking and I read an article yesterday about the same topic, which urged me to write this post. Low-income people are faced with low paying jobs in America we snivel about. Have we looked outside the US about jobs poor people hold? No we have not. We have only had a glimpse of what it entails to be poor outside the US. In Bangladesh, freight ships go there to die! Cargo ships that once transported goods from one continent to the next, now lays in a burial ground to be dismantled by poor people who make two to three dollars a day.  Poor people dismantle freight ships with no ppe (personal protective equipment) and no shoes. It is extremely dangerous and some of the workers have lost their lives due to pieces of the ship falling on them. These people live in absolute poverty compared to the US and some have reverted to criminal activity to supplement their pay in order to survive. Yet, a job is a job and someone has to dismantle the ships.

Poverty is a global problem! It seems that people living in poverty have been short-changed with life chances and pay for it for the rest of their lives unless an opportunity presents itself. Working class positions are supposed to be filled by the uneducated and poor. Through the lens of Marx, this is precisely what the bourgeoisie and the owners of the means of production wants. They do not want workers to fill positions and question supervisors as the educated would. Managers and supervisors want a worker to do the job without questions and as efficient as possible. This reveals the true nature of Capitalism ( generating money by any means necessary).

Through the Eyes of Poverty

Did your parents ever send you to bed without supper, because you decided to get into big trouble? I know my parents did, but I cannot imagine going to bed or throughout the day so hungry I could not think. Yet, there are many people in our nation that go to bed hungry or get thrown into jail because they were trying to steal food for themselves or children. I have read numerous stories where police try to apprehend a person stealing food for their children and turn around and buy them food to put in their home.

Considering we live in the wealthiest nation, there should be no reason people should be living in poverty or attempt to steal to feed their children. We live in a nation where the rich get richer and the poor have nothing. I do not think it should be this way, but our politicians say with merit you will succeed; like the American Dream. I hate to burst your bubble, but no such thing exists. We might want it to, but what are the odds of a person that is poor moving up to the top 1%? Not likely at all. Why? Our nation feeds off the working class. Who else would work at a job doing repetitive motions for eight to ten hours? The people who do not have the money to own such a corporation which is eighty-five percent of the people living in America.

This is why our prison system has flourished and our public education system is diminishing. We, as a nation, would rather incarcerate people than to give them the tools to lift themselves out of poverty. I think our system is backwards and no wonder why other countries balk at us.

Project Post: Switching Articles

Last Thursday I made up my mind with the article I chose for a rhetorical analysis. However, I am switching articles for two reasons: First, Ciaron O’Reilly has “Gladwelled” me with his articles. Second, O’Reilly has faced many challenges  and adversities along the way of his activism. For me to get hooked in any reading is simply unheard of, but Mr. O’reilly managed to sucker punch me in the face with his tropes, schemes, and pun. I like an author that can be sarcastic and get the point across with an everlasting impact.

O’reilly is also known for his Pitstop Ploughism. He and a few groups members attacked a US B52 bomber in New York in which it was out of commission for two months. This led to numerous trials, but in the end of he served thirteen months in an Australian prison for his actions. If that was someone who belonged to a minority group, the dynamics of sentencing would change to a longer harsher sentence.

Project Post: Police Brutality, Poverty and the Criminal Justice System Goes Hand in Hand!

The sad part with all the literature I am reviewing is it is all interrelated. Police brutality is unheard of on Rodeo Drive, yet it happens more than we like to know in poor communities. Take Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown for example. They were both murdered, yet the media was quick to disclose their rap sheet to the nation, but we are not looking closely at the interdependent parts. Police brutality happens most of the time in impoverished communities. Poverty is lacking the basic means for survival. The criminal justice system does not work in favor of low-income individuals. Yet, these three components work against people who lack resources and monetary value. Our nation should be condemned for the way we treat our very own citizens, yet we are all human.

How do people sleep at night knowing that America’s poor are going to bed hungry at night (if they have a bed to lay their heads)? Does it bother you at all? Does it bother you that people intentionally commit a crime so they can go to jail in order to eat, shower and sleep inside?

It strikes a nerve with me and I try to do something about it everyday. Differences can be made starting with one person at a time and that is exactly what I do. Our system is structured in such a way that getting out of poverty and the criminal justice system is one of the hardest outcomes.

Project Post: White Dominant Ideology Around the World

Australia’s prison system is highly populated with Aborigine people facing institutional racism similar to African-Americans. Australia’s Aborigines people experienced differential treatment, racial segregation, and slavery, which is similar to African-American men and women; white dominant ideology. Prison populations in both, Australia and America, have higher rates of the two minority groups in which they face harsher treatment, longer prison sentences, and discrimination due to systematic racism . These groups encompass poverty, lack of jobs or low paying jobs, harsh living conditions, and racial disparities .

When is this kind of treatment enough? Why can’t equality prevail? How does a society move from systematic racism to equal rights for minority groups?

People should be horrified with society’s infrastructures and how it is being embedded into individuals and their children. In this aspect, many societies operate with a primitive form of oppression and some type of racism intertwined in the foundation. Yet, on the surface, it does not seem to be a big problem, but once we get under the foundation we see things how they really work.

Style Post: Clichés

I was reading an article the other day and it was loaded with clichés. I never thought an author (it will remain anonymous) would actually use cliches to analyze the criminal court system and poverty until I read one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. I stopped reading at that point, because the article made complete sense. Normally, a person will throw out trash, because it is of no use to him or her anymore. The trash of one can be a treasure for another, but also run the risk of jail time. Most people who belong to the middle class and higher do not go through people’s trash, yet people who live below the federal poverty line might. These people who “dumpster dive” run the risk of being charged with trespassing and stolen property. Really, one man’s trash can be another’s charge.