You have GOT to stop acting like "criminals" are a different breed of human that are more violent just because.
Criminal law is so bonkers disconnected from the reality of everyday life that things are crimes that people just Do.
Have you ever had on your person a prescription drug for someone else? Held for them, brought to them, picked up for them? If it was on the controlled substance list, you opened yourself up to a felony.
Ever pulled your sibling’s hair? Gave them a nougie? Hit them, tripped them, grabbed something out of their hands? You could have been charged with domestic battery.
Did you play with fire as a kid? Most people do, at least a little. Hope it wasn’t in a place with grass, because burning grasses is a felony here.
Your parents leave you in the car while they went into the store? Felony child neglect, these days.
Ever had a pet die from something that made them lose a lot of weight? I had a client convicted of felony animal abuse resulting in death even though the only veterinarian witness testified he didn’t know what caused the animal’s death and did not do a necropsy.
Ever thrown something at a car? Empty soda bottle, snowball, water balloon? Felony missile at occupied vehicle.
People can be convicted of brandishing a firearm for having it in a holster. For concealed carry of a firearm if it’s on the other side of their body from an officer observing (and therefore “hidden”). Got a knife in your pocket or a brass knuckle keyring self defense device? That’s a concealed weapon.
Did you know that child protective services safety plans are sometimes taken out as protective orders? My client didn’t, when she went to try to buy a firearm to defend herself against an abusive ex. She was under a CPS protective order to not have the ex around her children. Charged with felony fraud in firearm affidavit: attempting to buy a gun while under a protective order.
Had a kid convicted of arson for burning some variant of nerf darts in his room and not even trying to set anything else on fire.
I have seen convictions and charges for everything on this list.
And always remember, almost half (45%) of people are in prison for probation or parole violations, huge swathes of that number for doing things that would be legal and fine for you and me but are not fine because they’re on probation.
This is why overpolicing matters: because normal shit gets regularly criminalized for certain populations.
Forgot a big one! Have you ever shared painkillers or anti-anxiety meds or other controlled substances (obtained with a prescription) with other family members?
That is in fact drug dealing. The defense to it is “accommodation” — as in, I was accommodating someone, not dealing for profit — and accommodation, uh, slightly reduces how bad of a felony it is and does nothing else.
The person who is accommodated also has committed felony possession of controlled substance.
This is why people with Adderall prescriptions only use the original pill bottle. Because they could get charged with a felony at any point if they don’t, just because an officer thinks it’s not theirs.
I work with kids who are on probation and a big one for then is about 'affiliating with known gang members.' Which is difficult to manage when you've been placed in a school for expelled students - many of whom are on probation for gang-related charges. Or...hey...not sure how a kid can avoid associating with gang members when their neighbors and uncles and siblings and parents whom they live with are also gang members. What precisely is a teen supposed to do when their mom is the one driving them around town at night to do shit?
I had a student get arrested and incarcerated for months because his probation officer found a bag of thc candy in his room. We're in California; he shares a room with an older brother. Everyone in that house uses marijuana. And now this kid is shouldering all the blame and guilt for that.
I had a student get arrested for talking back and being 'disrespectful' to his probation officer. An angry, traumatized teenager shouted at his P.O. and the result was him getting hauled away from school in cuffs.
Two students at my school got into a mutual fight - no one was injured. One was on probation and one wasn't. The one not on probation was suspended for a couple of days, and when he returned he's enrolled in our anger managment group. The one on probation was hauled away in cuffs and now he will spend Thanksgiving and possibly Christmas in juvenile hall.
I dont know what I'm concluding with all this except, yeah...so many people get labeled as 'criminals' as kids and it is damn near impossible to shake off that label once it's been assigned. The system we have is horrifyingly unjust.
