zlacker

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+(OP)
"Leads to license suspencion. Leads to driving while license suspended." Or, like, don't drive without a license.

>>adnam+n
leads to job loss. you want them to work, right?

>>adnam+n
Leads to losing job...

>>adnam+n
Meh, you gotta do what you gotta do. You think for one second that if I had my license revoked that I wouldn't drive to get to work to support my family? You're a statist if you think driver's licenses prove you are a good driver--they're bullshit, just like all those little tags and stickers are bullshit. And a man can only eat so much bullshit.

>>adnam+n
pfft... reduce your statement to "or like just follow the rules stupid" you really missed the point... fundamentally why do you think people do something like stealing food? because they don't know stealing is wrong? or because they are fucking hungry and are poor?

>>adnam+n
If you're an American, there are huge parts of the country where lacking a car is infeasible.

But for the sake of argument, let's say you shutter your car. You can spend a ton of time walking to, and waiting on, public buses, time you can't use to study for a degree, or be with your kids. Maybe you rely on a friend's car, but then you miss out on last-minute shift opportunities, and your friend's transport problems become your problems, too, so if they're sick, you miss a shift and risk getting fired.

You're so out-of-touch, I'm surprised you didn't just say "Let them Uber to work, then."

>>adnam+n
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.

>>KingMo+O3
I'm not American, thankfully

>>adnam+Cq
National flamewar comments will get you banned here. Please don't do this again.

(Regardless of which nation, obviously.)

>>dang+mB2
This guy has been hugely discourteous to me, why not ban him? Things like this are partly the reason I just want to delete my HN history and leave.