Somebody call Reverend Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, The NAACP, The Panthers, SOMEBODY! This shit over here in America is getting sick!
Yet another outrageous perversion of so-called justice. I just signed into my Yahoo email, and this is the first thing that pops up”
Insight: Florida man sees “cruel” face of U.S. justice
Quartavious Davis was convicted of participating in a string of armed robberies in the Miami area in 2010. His accomplices testified against him, saying he carried a gun during their crimes and discharged it at a dog that chased them after one of their burglaries. But Davis was not convicted of hurting anyone physically, including the dog.
Davis would occupy no place at all in the annals of crime if not for his sentence. Now 20 years old, he was sentenced to 1,941 months – almost 162 years – in prison without the possibility of parole.
On the day of Davis’s interview with Reuters, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that life sentences without parole for defendants under the age of 18 constituted “cruel and unusual punishment” even in cases of murder. Unfortunately for Davis, he was 18 at the time of his crimes.
Understand this: Quartavious Davis received a harsher penalty than men who MURDER people. No one was hurt during his robberies. How does this crime justify OVER A CENTURY WITHOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF PAROLE!?!?!?
Im not one to justify committing a crime, but according to the article, this is a young man who was diagnosed with a learning disability (as so many Black students are, which is bullshit to the tenth power), who was totally disenfranchised, and who came from an environment that didnt necessarily pave the way to total success.
Rather than addressing the root cause of robbery, the great state of Florida imprisons this young man. “What else could they have done?!” Glad you asked. They could have given this man a job, training, opportunity. They could address the economic disparity between Blacks and Whites in Florida (which we know is abhorrent.). They could require he give back to the community that he took from. They could counsel this man.
But what do they do? Lock him up and throw away the key.
Im sick to my stomach with the devaluation of Black life in this country, and you should be as well. Im moved to perturbation as I type this, and you should be as well. What was that Martin said? “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”
What say you? Did Quartavious Davis get what he deserved?
Should his sentence be lighter? Is such a sentence an effective way of crime prevention?
Somebody let me know something in the comments section before I go off on one!
You can read the rest of this bullshit here if you want to: http://news.yahoo.com/insight-florida-man-sees-cruel-face-u-justice-050157061.html
Have You Read These Yet?
