The Lies in the Law

I guess that's the double edged sword of a centralized legal system. We're able to put away the "bad" people and keep the "good" people functioning in our well established societal orbit. But it's hard not to feel like the prison bars are holding only just the select 10% back.

I get it, that the legal system is complicated for a reason, that everyone deserves the right to a fair and speedy trial, yada yada yada. But what I can't seem to wrap my mind around is why money can allow you to cover you with enough sleaze to slip right through the prison bars. If you can buy a good enough lawyer, chances are you can buy yourself a ticket out. For a price, your crime no longer matters, because money matters more.

At sixteen, I'm realizing that this system wasn't created for me. My actions mean little, my opinions even less. For if I report a crime, I need to come with evidence. I need eyewitness testimony and factual, hard core, bulletproof data. I need to hand them the case on a silver platter, because I'm a teenager, and teenagers lie. Tell me, what teenager would willingly take time out of their lives to go to the police station and willingly receive hours upon hours of interrogation? Anything I say can and will be used against me in a court of law. Since when did the victims of the crimes become the aggressors?

If I report a crime, and there is reasonable doubt, why won't it immediately go to trial? Why have I been waiting for four days for a phone to ring when I know it never may. I was too scared to call the cops, too traumatized to open my mouth, yet the second I do the "right" thing, the legal system gives me a blindsided kick of reality. I'm a minor--the legal system was made to protect me. I'm a minor--the legal system discredits everything I will ever say. It's funny how our country can lock up 10% of it's people, yet you'll never spend a day outside of the picture perfect world you created during the destruction of mine.