The greatest misconception in America today is that you have to be a bad person to go to prison.  If I had a nickel for every client and potential client that I have met, who has exclaimed “I am not a bad person” I would be a very rich man today.  By bad they often mean evil, sinister, corrupt, and devoid of all empathy for other human beings.  Only recently have I figured out why clients uniformly proclaim their disassociation from this nefarious group of ubiquitous bad people. There are often two different rationales, depending upon the type of charge and the plea offer from the prosecutor.

 First, there are the folks that are facing prison sentences.  They deny they are bad people because they mistakenly believe that the prosecutor would only recommend a prison sentence to a bad person.  The thought goes something like this:

The prosecutor, being a reasonable and intelligent person, must know that prison is a scary, dangerous and violent place where no thoughtful and caring human being would ever be able to survive.  The prosecutor, knowing the dangers of such a place, would never recommend that a good, thoughtful, Christian/Buddhist/Jewish/other person like myself should live in such a place for an extended period of time – a place where surely my humanity and compassion will make me a target and victim.  So, the prosecutor must not know that I am a good person.  I need to reemphasize, even to the point of contacting the prosecutor while I am represented by counsel, that I am a good person, or at a minimum “I am not a bad person.”

Second, there are the folks facing felony convictions without any prison time, who understand that a felony conviction will brand them in the eyes of the non-felony population as somehow less worthy -  less worthy of employment, less worthy of opportunities, less worthy of consideration.  In reality they fear the non-felons they will meet in the future, whether at a job interview or at a single’s bar - will look upon them with the contempt that they have looked upon other felons in the past.  They vehemently proclaim “I am not a bad person” because they do not want to be branded as less worthy .

                However, here is the first newsflash.  The prosecutor does not recommend a felony probation sentence or a felony prison sentence, because the prosecutor thinks you are a bad person.  The prosecutor gives absolutely no thought to whether you are a bad (i.e. nefarious) person or not.  The prosecutor does not care if you are in fact a good person.  The prosecutor constructs the sentence that he recommends, because on a particular day, in a particular county, you did a particular act, which has been deemed a crime, for which you must pay.  That’s it.  The terms of the recommended sentence are a function of your age, your prior criminal history, if any, the age/infirmity of the victim and the gravity of the offense. No thought of bad goes into it. 

 

Here is the second, and more important, newsflash.  PRISON IS NOT FOR BAD PEOPLE, IT IS FOR PEOPLE THAT CANNOT MANAGE THEIR LIVES.  It is not a coincidence that a majority of the population in prison have drug and/or alcohol addiction issues.  It is also not a coincidence that a majority of the population in prison are undereducated.  As would be expected, this is the population that would least be able to manage their lives – their sexual life, their financial life, their familial life, etc. 

                Let me be the first to announce: You will inevitably be going to jail, even if you have a good heart, IF:

(1)    You date, and subsequently fall in love with, a career stripper with a methamphetamine addiction. 

 

(2)    You date, and have a few children with, a woman whose lifestyle costs about twice as much as your earnings.

 

(3)    You routinely buy and drink a case of beer on a Tuesday night, just because it is Tuesday night.

 

(4)    While you appear to be performing fine on the field sobriety evaluations during the DUI stop, you blow a .229 on the breathalyzer. 

 

(5)    While you have no recognizable disability, you have been comfortably living with your  mother/aunt/grandmother for the last ten (10) years, since turning 21 years old.

 

(6)    You describe the purchase, prepping or consumption of drugs are something artistic and beautiful .

 

(7)    You think selling weed/coke/meth/heroin  is an acceptable way to make up the difference between what you earn and what you need to provide for your loved ones.

What do all of the aforementioned have in common?  Their lives are out of control.  They cannot take care of themselves and the folks that count on them.  They have addictions that run their lives, and in many cases ruin their lives. View:  

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/dui-driver-carry-picture-man-she-killed/nFPgY/

This young woman did not drive drunk for the first time and slam into this young man.  She blew a .229, which means she has had an alcohol problem for a while.  Is she a bad person?  Of course not, but she will spend the next few years in prison.  There is no mention of whether she is bad when the felony prison sentence is suggested.  So, if you see yourself, or more appropriately your behavior, on the list, get on top of your issue, or risk butting heads against a system that does not care if you are “bad person.”   

By Lawrence Lewis

Criminal Defense Attorney in Lawrenceville