America absolutely loves to lock up its citizens, and thereby leads all other western nations by a considerable margin in doing so. In consideration, then, that America is also the richest nation in the world, one might expect then that the prisons, thereof, would also have a fair representation of very rich people that are actually incarcerated, as well, but this isn’t true at all. In fact, we read at prisonpolicy.org, that “…in 2014 dollars, incarcerated people had a median annual income of $19,185 prior to their incarceration, which is 41% less than non-incarcerated people of similar ages.” In other words, the people that are incarcerated, are mainly those that are poor, disadvantaged, less educated, and pretty much un-championed.
None of the above should seem all that surprising, because even the most cursory of looks at those that are incarcerated, makes it pretty darn clear that those so incarcerated, appear visibly to have the distinct look of the underclass, which is, in the scheme of things, true. Yet, to believe somehow, that all the crime and bad deeds that are done in America, are always done by that same underclass, is belied by all of the white collar criminality, which seems to be not only systemic in America, but absolutely relentlessly persistent. That would seem to suggest that all those that decry that we need more law and order, should probably want to do more investigation about what actually constitutes a criminal act that thus mandates a corresponding prison term.
While there are myriad differences between the rich and the poor, when it comes to those bad deeds, which are inimical to a good society, the way that the poor conduct their criminal enterprises, is often constrained by the tools of the trade that they readily have to avail themselves of, taking in fair consideration their social position, knowledge, and networking connections. In other words, the underclass, typically commits those crimes that are classified as “blue collar” crime, not really because that would be their preference, bur rather because that is pretty much the only real option that they have, based upon who and what they are in reality. On the other hand, greedy rich people, or amoral clever people, are a whole different breed of enterprising criminal, and hence what they want to take isn’t going to typically come about from strong-arming anyone, but rather is more a game of subterfuge, misdirection, lying, cheating, and double-dealing. This essentially means that those that are rich are a different class of criminal, and being of a different class, are subject thereby to different rules.
Those that make the rules that, in theory, apply to everyone, equally, are typically the well-educated, the elite, and the politically astute. While these type of people may indeed be upstanding citizens, it has to be said, that a meaningful portion of them, actually are not. In fact, the most shrewd rule makers, know who they really are at their core, and hence they make sure that the criminal codes as enforced, or even what is considered to be a crime, necessitating incarceration, is circumscribed by the knowledge that those of their class, do not ever go to prison, because prisons are for “commoners;” whereas, the rich and clever folks are only considered to be in bad form for having been caught or overly greedy, and thus are properly subject only to a brief “time-out”, or a monetary fine, or perhaps a social scolding, and nothing much more.