Thread by @ArashKolahi

The primary systemic function of the US criminal “justice” system is to control & criminalize black, brown & poor people while serving the interests of corporations & the wealthy. 1/14

Every person regularly breaks laws (either knowingly or unknowingly) – an estimated three times a day, on average.

However, the particular communities & the specific laws that are heavily policed, prosecuted & criminalized are along highly racist & classist lines. 2/14

And the communities & laws that are heavily policed, prosecuted & criminalized are neither the deadliest, the most harmful, nor the highest financial cost to society.

The only common thread is that they are those that control & criminalize black, brown & poor people. 3/14

Take, for example, Wage Theft, by which, we don’t mean capitalism’s inherent theft of equitable wages. It's failing to pay even the pathetically minimal required by labor laws.

Wage Theft is the largest type of theft: larger than ALL street, bank & store robberies COMBINED! 4/14

So literally the single largest category of theft, conducted by CEOs & executives mostly against working-class people, doesn’t warrant policing or criminalization.

Their neighborhoods are not disproportionately policed. There are no no-knock warrants for these ‘criminals.’ 5/14

What about the bankers who illegally defrauded millions of people, causing 10 million people to lose their homes?

Not one ended up in jail. 6/14

The single largest category of tax cheats are the 1%, costing the government billions in losses.

This is on top of the thousands of *legal* tax loopholes that only benefit the wealthy.

This illegal tax cheating is largely unpoliced. 7/14

Corporations regularly break already weak environmental laws, causing immeasurable health, life & environmental damage to our communities & planet.

When was the last time you saw police break down the door of one of these corporations and start arresting those responsible? 8/14

There are numerous other examples of crimes committed by corporations & the wealthy where the victims are primarily the poor & working-class – and there is a clear systemic bias of non-policing & non-criminalization of these ‘crimes.’ 9/14

The ‘justice’ system is also highly racialized with communities of color disproportionately policed, disproportionately arrested, & disproportionately prosecuted for disproportionately lesser crimes.

Recall, the average person breaks three laws a day. 10/14

Every layer of the ‘war on drugs’ is highly racialized: From the types of drugs with the harshest penalties, to the neighborhoods that are targeted.

In wealthy, white neighborhoods drug abuse is treated as a health issue. In POC neighborhoods it's treated as a crime. 11/14

For example, marijuana use is about the same across racial lines.

Yet *every* level of the ‘justice’ system treats African American marijuana use radically different: higher arrest rates, higher prosecution rate & higher incarceration rates. 12/14

While corporations & the wealthy shuffle trillions in capital across borders to illegal tax havens (resulting in trillions in lost tax rev), these ‘criminals’ toast their mimosas with no concern for repercussions, all while ICE terrorizes & traumatizes immigrant communities 13/14

The problems of the criminal ‘justice’ system are not about a few ‘bad apples.’

The problems are the *systemic* criminalization of black, brown & poor people while serving the interests of corporations & the wealthy. 14/14