Courts system in USA

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1. Do the rich have a different system of adjudication than the poor in the USA?

This question ties into the debate of the judiciary delivering justice differentially to people who are rich (corporate crime, referred to as 'white collar crime', CEO who hire the best lawyer, celebrities, to name a few) from those who a poor (blue collar crime, gang members, minority groups, etc.). In other words, the rich have a different system of adjudication (charged with misdemeanors versus felonies with more leniency; in the workplace, corporations have workers sign there rights away to a day in court, and which is supported by the Supreme court, etc.) than the poor (charged with felonies versus misdemeanors for the same crimes and given stiffer penalties) in the USA. Another factor that plays a part in the differential treatment that suggests that the rich have a different system of adjudication is that through hiring the best lawyers, they seem to win their case or get less severe penalties than do the poorer people convicted of the same crimes.

Adjudication is the responsibility of the judiciary, which is in a state of public disrest. The Judiciary, one of the three arms of state, is tasked with administration and delivery of justice for the state by way of adjustication and resolution of criminal and civil disputes that occur nationally, as well as, those involving international parties and litigants. It therefore plays a pivotal role in the promotion and maintenance of the law, which directly affects social and economic development and sustainability, good governance and security. However, the rich seems to have a different system of adjudication than the poor in the USA (see http://www.pacificplan.org/tiki-download_file.php?fileId=11).

See further discussion of the adjudication role at http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:NJGPnDSr8wAJ:www.biotethics.org/downloads/articles/Introduction%2520to%2520law.pdf+different+system+of+adjudication+Justice+system+USA&hl=en&gl=ca&ct=clnk&cd=16

See an article called "Business Crime, Fraud and Abuse Mean the Poor Still Pay More" (Nader, 2000) at http://www.karisable.com/extlnk/lnkframe.htm?http%3A//www.nader.org/interest/022200.html

This question also ties into racism as well, as many minority groups are also poor. For example, Gerafty (2003) reports:

Opponents of the death penalty have a lot of ammunition in their arsenals. This country's history of the administration of the death penalty is fraught with evidence of racism. Only in rare instances has anyone other than a poor person been executed. There is no evidence that the death penalty deters crime. The United States is the only western country that continues to execute. The United States is one of the only countries in the world that still executes juveniles, only recently having been prevented from executing the mentally ill. The Supreme Court and Congress have placed obstacles in the way of fair adjudication of capital cases that elevate procedure over substance to the extent it is not clear that our court of last resort would step in to save the life of a defendant whose innocence is substantially established. All of this despite the fact that we have come precariously close to executing innocent defendants. All of this despite the fact that other countries with well-established respect for human rights have either eliminated the death penalty or carry it out as punishment for only the most egregious of crimes. http://www.questia.com/PM.qst;jsessionid=GtNMYrxw9qygF6ntkL14pkYcJGXvpxdnm3HdshsHLjc1KN4RqZBQ!-325043583!377065349?a=o&d=5005888875

Corporate crime is perhaps a separate debate but ties into this question as well, because most corporate figures are also rich and often get special treatment from the Judiciary. White-collar crimes cost the United States more than $300 billion annually according to the FBI. White-collar crimes are fraud, bankruptcy fraud, bribery, insider trading, embezzlement, computer crime, medical crime, public corruption, identity theft, environmental crime, pension fund crime, RICO crimes, consumer fraud, occupational crime, securities fraud, financial fraud, and forgery. The tools of the trade are paperwork or through the computer. Performed by using paperwork or computers. White-collar crimes go largely undetected. http://www.karisable.com/crwc.htm
In 1939 Edwin H. Sutherland (1893-1950), a sociologist of the symbolic interactionist school, first used the phrase white-collar criminal in a December 27, 1939 speech to the American Sociological Association. In his 1949, he defined white-collar crime as "approximately as a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation." Symbolic interactionism, a sociological perspective, examines the creation of ...