$1 felony: Florida man charged over soda bill at McDonald's

[shawn703]

40. Well that's easy

For one, prosecutors have a lot of flexibility determining which crimes they want to prosecute, what charge they will attempt to prosecute, and what penalty they will request during sentencing phase if there is a conviction. They also can choose who they will work with for a possible plea bargain and who they will try to go for the maximum sentence. The quality of representation the defendant has can play a large part in this too. This has nothing to do with who is actually engaging in criminal activity (what you are saying is my claim) and who is able to get away with it, in addition to who is best able to avoid a wrongful conviction.

With that said, I have some questions for you:
1. Which political party is most heavily favored by minorities?
2. Do you believe minorities in this country are treated the same way whites are by our legal system as a whole?

Depending on your answers to those questions, you may or may not be able to follow the logic in answering these questions:

3. Are minorities more or less likely than whites to be affected by three strikes laws?
4. Would this have a higher chance of affecting votes for Democratic or Republican candidates?



And for evidence to support my claim, how about this?

http://www.dcvote.org/pdfs/papers/woatdcrights.pdf

The number of people disenfranchised as a result of criminal convictions has increased
dramatically in recent years as a result of the introduction of harsh sentencing policies such as
mandatory minimum sentences, "three strikes" laws and truth-in- sentencing
laws. Although crime rates have been relatively stable, these laws have increased the number of
offenders sent to prison and the length of time they serve. “In California, for example, more than
40,000 offenders have been sentenced under the state's "three strikes" law as of June 1998….
Seventy percent of sentenced three-strike offenders were either African American or Hispanic.”