Defending yourself against a group of 5 assailants who assault you and appear intent on causing you great bodily harm, even if battery to you is stopped, no one was injured, and you use no force in excess of defense, in the current political environment, it will result in a maliciously prosecuted assault charge if they happen to be PoC and you happen to be a white man leading to:
- Stress and uncertainty for months to years
- Legal costs between $15k and $50k
- Loss of rental housing
- Moving costs, say $6k
- An inability to be hired by a major corporation because of background checks until after the charge is expunged (another $5k in legal costs and many more months of uncertainty)
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I hold the Scandinavian view, that after 20 years, a person can be very different, especially if they had a rough childhood. The US is organized around punitive prosecution and maximizing carceral suffering, has a net average problem with over-prosecuting PoC, a very high incarceration rate, over-prosecuting some crimes that aren't there, and not prosecuting thieves and vandals enough. There also isn't enough community engagement, de-escalation intervention, counseling, and diversion from the school-to-prison pipeline to care about people on a troubled path.