Sometimes I wonder if there aren't just as many victims of the so-called justice system as there are of actual criminals.
I heard recently about a man who drove trucks for a living. Just a normal average dude. One day he was out driving; he was on a hill and his brakes went out on him causing him to crash into a car killing the people inside. The charge, which was originally vehicular manslaughter, was bumped up to, get this, murder. They ruled that since he hadn't checked his brakes, he was acting in reckless disregard for the safety of others on the road, and was therefore guilty of murder.
I understand that it was a horrible tragic accident, but as far as anyone is concerned this man wasn't malicious, or acting consciously in any way. Now, because of something that was largely out of his control, he's being sent to prison for a very long time with actual violent criminals.
I also heard about a young woman who was driving, not speeding, and accidentally rear-ended the car in front of her, causing it to explode. She's now doing two years in prison for felony manslaughter. A lot of rapists do less time than that.
These people will spend the rest of their lives atoning for the small mistakes they made that led to terrible consequences. They aren't inherently bad people. They didn't act in any way that was consciously or intentionally harmful to any other person, but now they are branded with the "criminal" title, forced to face a life of social stigma. It will be harder for them to get jobs, find lovers, live a truly normal life, all because of a tiny mistake that set off a domino effect that completely turned their entire lives upside down.
Far be it from me to say what they deserved to get, but I feel like the punishments they're facing are too harsh, especially when there are actually truly malicious people out there who deserve to be in our, already overcrowded, prison system.
I wonder about these so-called criminals' families, and how they're affected...
Tragic.
Just a thought...
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