please help me understand the consequences of being arrested

[toadzilla]

ok, so here is my situation. I very much want to go stand with the OWS - ers howvever I have been unemployed for the last year. I got a traffic ticket for $300 last month because I rolled through an intersection at 15 mph. my income over the last year has been around 7 thousand dollars, my rent is $550.00 a month. you can do the math.

I want to help so badly, i want to offer my body to the masses, i want to be counted. but if i get arrested, i need to know, what will be the consequences? will i loose everything that i have left?

thank you

Briana

[Major Nikon]

1. Not likely

If you get arrested with many others, chances are you'll be held for a few hours and set free without charges. If you get arrested by yourself, it might get a bit more complicated.

I'm not going to tell you what to do. You have to make your own choices and live with the possible consequences. I'll just say that if you decide to do so, don't be the lone ranger. Go with the crowd.

[Beartracks]

2. "set free without charges"?

Is this what happens when, say, 700 people get arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge all at once? I thought the charge was "obstructing traffic" or something like that. Do they just pay a fee or something?

==============================

[Chan790]

3. They can't book and arraign them all efficiently without backlogging the calendar...

and they don't want to hold them because they'd have to feed them. So SOP is to release anybody who is not facing a more serious charge (like assault or resisting arrest or inciting a riot) and doesn't have any warrants with a warning and a notice that if they're arrested again within the statute of limitations that they'll be charged.

Chan790: Detained 10+ times for protests, one charge, no convictions.

[Major Nikon]

5. It depends on the location

The reason for arrest is almost inevitably disorderly conduct, trespassing, or failure to obey a police order, which are difficult to prosecute if challenged. Some localities can issue citations for such things. However it works out, when hundreds of people are arrested, most are never charged, or if they are, the charges are dropped soon after. Imagine the challenge of trying to prosecute all those cases. Are the police really going to remember hundreds of faces as they round up people en mass? If they 'resisted arrest' or 'assaulted an officer' they may or may not get off so easy.

The real reason for the arrests is to disperse the crowd. Once that objective is obtained, the government doesn't have much interest in bogging down the courts with hundreds of cases they probably wouldn't win anyway.

[Tx4obama]

6. I don't know about that. I read where people are having to post bond.

I don't remember 'where' they were posting bond, but they were not just let go.

I would say that anyone that doesn't have the money to post bond and/or pay a fine should either stay home
or be prepared to do a bit of time in jail if found guilty and doesn't have the money to pay the fine.

[coalition_unwilling]

4. I appreciate your willingness to sacrifice. You should let those who

can easily shoulder the load shoulder it and hold yourself as part of the 'ready reserve'. The working class needs plenty of both and there's no shame in being part of the reserve. (Rough paraphrase of what Ron Kovic told my wife and me in the run-up to Operation Shocking and Awful.)

[OneGrassRoot]

10. I second this. Kudos to the OP. n/t

[grasswire]

7. maybe you can support those who can afford to be arrested...

...by doing laundry or running errands or some other way. You are no good to the ongoing cause if you have to spend jail time.

And if you haven't paid that traffic fine, it might not be a good thing to have your ID run by police. Just sayin'.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

8. It's a sad day when Americans are worried about getting arrested for their right to protest.

I hear ya, man.

It's your decision to make; either way you go, it will be the right decision. :toast:

[Zywiec]

9. Explaining on every job application going forward why you checked the box

Have you ever been arrested? Yes/No

[pecwae]

11. For the rest of his/her life.

If it doesn't bother someone to explain it, that's fine. One must understand they might not be hired because of an arrest record. If they're cool with that, it's again fine.

[Shagbark Hickory]

12. Maybe you can find a local OWS demonstration that is in a smaller, safer city? Maybe college campus?

If you can demonstrate in a place that is safer and I do mean safer from crooked cops then maybe that is something to look into.

As others have pointed out, getting arrested is something that stays with you forever.
Once upon a time I was arrested and actually beaten up by police and my parents hired a lawyer and paid them a lot of money to get the record expunged and the case thrown out.

But the problem is, the cops still know that you've been arrested and those job applications...
They used to asked "have you ever been convicted of a felony?"
Now they ask if you've ever been arrested and if so explain ____________________.

You may have the right to not answer that but stacked up against other applications that have a clear "no" answer, that doesn't exactly give you the competitive edge.