What a tragic story. If this young girl were rich and white...

[Horse with no Name]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/longterm/stories/111407dnproujday4main.3ad3fee.html

>>>snip
The 17-year-old is trying to escape her ex-boyfriend, a career criminal twice her age. He hits her and tries to throw her over the second-floor railing.

She breaks free and takes refuge in a relative's apartment. But later, when she tries to leave, he is waiting with a handgun.

"Bitch, I told you, every time I see you I'm gonna kick your ass," a witness recalls him saying. He hands the gun to a buddy, hits her again and grabs a 2-by-4 from a truck bed.

What would you do? She runs. He chases her down and hits her with the board.

At 17, Jacqueline Fox killed an ex-boyfriend when he relentlessly attacked her.

What would you do? She stumbles toward her mother's door and screams for help. He pounds her so hard that the board breaks.

>>>snip
What prosecutors did was persuade a grand jury to indict Jacqueline Fox and her mom on murder charges. They told the teen she could avoid the risks of trial if she agreed to a 30-year prison sentence.

Ms. Fox refused. Too poor to afford bail, she spent 4 ½ months in a Dallas County jail awaiting trial.

[cosmik debris]

1. Trial by journalist

A true American Tradition!

[Ghost in the Machine]

2. Absolutely sickening is what this story is.. nothing less.

That poor young lady should have been given a medal for killing that scumbag in a pure case of self defense.

There is no equal justice in this country....

[Marrah_G]

3. Or if she was simply rich. You can scratch the "white" part

[IndianaJones]

4. I was thinking more along the lines of scratching the rich and leaving the white. nt.

[gollygee]

5. I think she could have been rich, or white, or male, and been OK

It is certainly a tragedy and a true miscarriage of justice regardless, though.

:(

[IndianaJones]

6. I disagree....but it is an injustice. nt.

[Romulox]

7. Umm, males are incarcerated at 3 or 4x the rate of females...

:wtf:

[gollygee]

9. And what percentage of crimes do they commit?

Your number alone doesn't tell the whole story.

[Romulox]

11. "Crimes" are defined by the enforcement, not the act

That is to say, if police decline to arrest, and DAs decline to charge women because of a systematic bias, then there is simply no way of knowing what percentage of crimes women commit.

For example, every credible study shows that blacks and whites use drugs in the same proportion. And yet blacks are incarcerated for drug crimes at a rate that is several times that of whites. It is facile to conclude that this is because blacks commit a higher percentage of crimes--whites are simply not prosecuted for drug crimes in the same proportion as blacks, despite being as likely to use drugs.

Another good example is female statutory rape--there is a demonstrable disparity in the rate males and females are prosecuted for these crimes.

[Romulox]

13. What percentage of crimes do African Americans commit? No systematic bias in our court system?

:rofl:

[gollygee]

15. There is a bias against African Americans in our court system

but that has nothing to do with the rate of crimes committed by men.

[Romulox]

16. That's pretty weak. The systematic bias against AA indicates that our system is biased.

You seem to be arguing that there exists a bias in one area (i.e. w/r/t race,) but as to another area (i.e. w/r/t gender) none exists. You provide no support for this contention.

Because of demonstrable bias in the system, relying on conviction rates as indicators of propensity for criminality is foolhardy.

[gollygee]

19. It's possible there's a bias in both areas

it's possible that women are biased against more than men. There's no reason to assume men are biased against more than women simply because a bias might exist and men are convicted of more crimes. I fully believe men commit more crimes.

If I had to guess, I'd say men are biased against in some crimes, and women are biased against in others. But I think "protecting yourself from violent attack" would be an area where women are likely to have a bias against them. Men are seen as "the king of their castle" in our society and it's considered to be a sign of manhood to be able to protect yourself. Women are supposed to be quiet and accommodating in our society. That's changing but I think there's still a bias. I saw some news magazine program at one point about the percentage of women who are in prison for murder who killed a significant and where evidence suggested it might have been a case of self-defense, and the show was compelling enough to have stuck with me for some period of time. That's where I get that opinion from, so you're right that I don't have statistics but you're also right that by definition the statistics would have been tainted by the system anyway.

I agree with your example of statutory rape as an area where men are likely to have a bias against them.

But it is just my opinion - I will definitely grant you that.

[Romulox]

20. The bottom line is that conviction rates are not reliable indicators of criminality, full stop. nt

[pink-o]

8. I dunno. What about OJ?

[IndianaJones]

10. what about OJ? nt

[pink-o]

17. He's rich but he's not white. Yet he was found not guilty in 94

...so the only colour the justice system can see is green.

[IndianaJones]

18. no...they kept going until they got him...nt.

[pink-o]

21. But he hasn't been convicted yet.

[aikoaiko]

12. As reported, this case seems so wrong...

But its stories like these that prompted many states to wrote "Stand Your Ground" laws to offer people more protection against asinine prosecutors. So called "Stand Your Ground" laws, in general, allow people to use deadly force when threatened when someone is committing a violent felony in the victims home, car, or other places they have a legal right to be.

[pansypoo53219]

14. texas

i am not surprised.