Why is it that non-violent felons are treated equally as harsh as a pedophile...?

Question

Or even white collar criminals who rob hundreds of people of their pensions?
I believe that in america,crimes that people of color are more likely to commit are dealt with harsher penalties thanks to our Racist justice system.
Working for the new york state department of correctional services, I witnessed how pedophiles were set free after they completed a sexual offender program- not once but many times. Eighty percent of them were white caucasian males.
Now I know many people on this site have tried some form of illicit drug, so in my eyes you're just as guilty as the drug offenders who are amost always denied parole and the numbers go up if the person is dark skinned.
Most people are turned on when they hear the news about some rapist being sentenced to a long prison sentence and fancy a gang of hardened criminals taking matters into their own hands, "the old way". In reality inmates are not allowed to lest suffer long and harsh in-departmental penalties.

Answer 1

It has to do with who is voting for and writing the laws and who is committing the crimes.

Answer 2

If you are referring to drug dealers.. look at the long lasting effects of what they are doing and what it has done to our society.. A lot of people who commit violent crimes are also using controlled substances... that they got from the drug dealer.. I think that's why they receive such harsh sentences because what they are doing has such far reaching effects on our society not to mention the people you are probably seeing now are repeat offenders.. and I personally feel that rape and rape against children is a crime that should be considered with the same penalty as murder.. but.. some murderers get out of jail... so in essence I said all this to say.. you have definitely raised valid points but our justice system is a complete joke...

Answer 3

The reason is that the legislatures set the punishments allowed by law. And very often, non-violent crimes have just as high or higher sentences than violent crimes.

So, judges can only sentence people based on what the statutory laws allow them to do.

And yes, many criminal laws are set up (coincidentally, or so the legislature claims) to impose harsher sentences to crimes that are more frequently committed by racial minorities.

Answer 4

its not race. its that more people are 'afraid' of a violent crime than a white collar crime. if someone broke into your neighbors home, assaulted him, and took all his money you would be scared. but if that same man hacked into your neighbors job's files and was stealing money, you would be less afraid, even though the potently for monetary damage is exponentially higher. and that is why voilent crimes are treated more harshly.

Answer 5

i think that drug USERS should not ever be sent to prison. It shouldn't be criminal. They should go after the DEALERS.