Plea Deals: A Deal with the Devil

A plea deal is an arrangement to resolve a case without going to trial. This is an option most often taken by those who cannot afford bail  (most notable poor people of color) and want to go home instead of wait days, months, even years locked up in jail. An estimated 177,624 innocent Americans pleaded guilty in 2013 alone. Does this sound like a just system to you? People often think that the reason there is a disproportionate number of Latino & African American people in our prisons is because they did something egregious & they're just criminally-inclined. Nothing could be further from the truth. You take the recent planting of drugs by the police in the Black/Latino communities & the subsequent arrests of innocent people & you combine that with this wicked plea deal & it is clear that this system is designed to contain & 'disappear' people of color. It is systematic & must be resisted.