Two Recent Articles: Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System

THIS IS A MAKEUP BLOG POST

I saw two news articles on my Facebook newsfeed today. The articles outraged me, independently of one another because I think they both speak to failures on the part of our criminal justice system. However, what outraged me even further was the ABSURD disparity between the treatment of these two men. 

"Unarmed man shot at by NYPD has been charged with assault because bullets hit bystanders"

"Ethan Couch Sentenced to Probation In Crash That Killed 4 After Defense Argued He Had 'Affluenza'"

Take a wild guess at which man is white, and which is black.

Glenn Broadnax, unnamed in his headline, is a 35 year old man from Brooklyn, where the incident occurred. The article states:  "Instead of apologizing, the New York Times reports that the city has charged Broadnax 'with assault, on the theory that he was responsible for bullet wounds suffered by two bystanders.'" (http://raniakhalek.com/2013/12/05/unarmed-man-shot-at-by-nypd-has-been-charged-with-assault-because-bullets-hit-bystanders/)

In stark contrast, Ethan Couch is very privileged, white teenager. Couch was driving with a BAC of .24, three times the legal limit for an adult. I am going to quote from the article directly, because I simply have no words for this.

"As part of his sentence, Couch will be sent to a private counseling center that costs $450,000, which will be paid for by his father.

Money and privilege has helped defendants avoid serious prison time for violent crimes before.

In a particularly clear example, cited by journalist Glenn Greenwald, hedge fund manager Martin Joel Erzinger served just 90 days in jail after driving the car that seriously injured a bicyclist and fled the scene of the accident in 2010.

The district attorney in the case charged Erzlinger with two misdemeanors instead of a felony, noting that "felony convictions have some pretty serious job implications for someone in Mr. Erzinger's profession."" (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/11/ethan-couch-sentenced_n_4426722.html?utm_hp_ref=tw)

We know, from reading The New Jim Crow, how being poor and black is practically a crime in the eyes of the law, however to see these two headlines nearly side by side on my newsfeed illuminated this disparity in a way I never could have imagined. I can't believe this shit actually happens in our world.