zlacker

>>RBBron+(OP)
I wish we heard more stories like these. It might dissuade people from getting involved in drugs in the first place.

>>adnam+Kb
That is the absolute wrong takeaway here. It's about being overly harshly punished for mistakes in their youths. I've heard very similar stories from public defenders that have nothing to do with drugs, but with common punishment escalations that are hard to avoid when you're poor, and people surely can't avoid being poor.

Minor fine goes unpaid because this month the electric bill is more important.

Leads to more fines.

Leads to license suspencion.

Leads to driving while license suspended.

Leads to license suspension.

Leads to driving while license suspended.

Leads to felony jail time.

Don't get me wrong, there are choices made at each stage of escalation, and often all that's needed is to show up to court, dressed in your sunday best and respectfully explain situation to the judge, and the chain can be broken, but being poor leads to a lot of suboptimal decisions that could make it difficult or impossible to deal with any of this until there is no choice, and a felony conviction often ends up as the escalation that can't be putoff any longer.

>>milesv+wg
"Leads to license suspencion. Leads to driving while license suspended." Or, like, don't drive without a license.

>>adnam+Tg
Sure, you can lose your job because you can't get to your job, or you can???

I'm sorry what alternative are you offering? We live in a society where driving is most necessary for those who can least afford it. I think you may grossly misunderstand how difficult life is for people struggling to get by.

You are right, that poor choices can lead someone to a scenario where there are no good choices though. Most of this chain can be broken by just taking some time to take care of their life, but that is not always as simple as it sounds. Right now I personally have societal+familial+work obligations that total 17+hrs daily and I'm lucky to get 6hrs sleep, 3 uninterrupted. I am not poor, and I'm lucky to have a very flexible job, so I could take time to deal a minor fine so it didn't escalate past early court escalations, but I'm not sure I'd be able to trivially take time off to deal with a court appearance if I had a more demanding job, I don't have a lot of flexibility elsewhere to borrow from.

Never forget that it's easy to judge someone's actions from outside, but in their same mental state and reality constraints, you may make the same decisions.