American Injustice System, part II

Previously on bokeen.com: American judges handed down puny sentences for horrific crimes. An NFL player was sentenced to 24 days in jail for killing a man in a drunken car accident. A Chicago cop walked free after viciously beating a defenseless female bartender. Jack Bauer narrowly escaped after being captured and tortured by terrorists. Read part one for the full story.

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In February, four bicycles were stolen from outside of a hotel in Santa Rosa, California.  The bicycles in question were not the caliber of a bike that you or I would ride; they belonged to Kazakh cycling Team Astana, which was competing in the Tour of California. 

Sacramento resident Lee Crider pleaded no contest to charges of burglary and theft in the case.  He will be sentenced to three years in prison. 

One of the bicycles belonged to legendary cyclist Lance Armstrong.

Armstrong is the record-setting, cancer-surviving, single-testicled, Livestrong-bracelet-wearing athlete that has dominated sports reports on summertime newscasts for a decade.  He is also a giant piece of steaming shit.

Lance Armstrong set the cycling world afire (yes, that is possible) between 1999 and 2005 with his absolute dominance of the Tour de France, cycling’s premiere competition.  His story spilled over to the mainstream media and he became an American hero.  He was named the Male Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press four years in a row.  The harrowing tale of his battle with cancer and subsequent rise to the pinnacle of athletic achievement became an inspirational narrative that enamored the media and received ceaseless coverage.

Somewhere along the line, another narrative threatened the mythology of Lance Armstrong.  In 2004, a book alleged that Armstrong was a steroid user.  Over the next few years, others latched on to the storyline, claiming that the world-renowned cyclist’s success was actually a product of the use of performance-enhancing drugs.     

Naturally, Armstrong has vehemently denied the allegations, despite an increasing amount of evidence of his drug use. 

I have said before that I am in favor of athletes using steroids to enhance their performance and, in turn, the entertainment value for viewers.  However, I do take issue with the portrayal of Armstrong as a hero who defied all odds by beating cancer and rising to the top of his sport.  If steroids played a role in Armstrong’s ascension to the peak of his profession, his story is not one of human triumph over adversity, but a testament to the transformative power of chemicals and their ability to unnaturally produce superhuman freaks.

Likewise, I find the iconic yellow “Livestrong” bracelets so detestable that the mere sight of one inspires me to sear my corneas with a hot soldering iron.  The campaign has raised millions of dollars for cancer research, which is laudable.  Yet the program leverages the trite storyline of Armstrong as a victim when it is entirely possible that his cancer is the result of years of drug use. 

I do not consider Lance Armstrong a hero, but a drug-using fool who mortgaged his health to become a champion. 

Lee Crider is a true hero for stealing Armstrong’s bicycle.  For a decade, the mass media has been polluted with hackneyed stories about Armstrong’s fight with cancer and subsequent rise to cycling glory.  The campaign is a complete injustice, and retribution is in order.  Crider simply struck a tiny blow against Armstrong for the millions of people that are tired of the Lance Armstrong narrative. 

Yet Crider is not celebrated as a hero.  He will not be honored with the ticker-tape parade that he deserves.  Instead, he will spend three years in prison.

The harsh penalty is in part due to the value of Amstrong’s bicycle the Crider stole; the Trek Livestrong 1274 bicycle is allegedly valued at $10,000.

I find such a claim absolutely absurd.  Under no circumstances is a bicycle worth $10,000.  My truck isn’t even worth $10,000, and it is equipped with a motor and a gas pedal so I don’t trouble myself by pedaling to get from one place to another.

Even if a bicycle was constructed from a space-age metal recycled from the body of a NASA space shuttle, was equipped with a seat covered in all-natural alligator skin, had a fiber optic braking system and was decorated with the skull of Abraham Lincoln himself that shot laser beams out of the eye sockets, it wouldn’t be worth $10,000. 

Crider understood the true value of a bicycle; he later sold the bike for the reasonable black market price of $200.

The court was wrong to accept the assertion that the bicycle was worth $10,000, as this is not the fair market value of the item.  Like in any subculture, a cycling enthusiast values a bicycle differently that a sane and rational individual.  For example, to a collector, a rare Beanie Baby stuffed animal may be worth $500; to the vast majority of people who do not collect Beanie Babies, the animal-shaped miniature bean bag is worth no more than 50 cents at a garage sale.

I suspect that if I were to report a stolen bicycle, the police and the courts would find my claim that the bicycle was worth $10,000 laughable, even if I was able to produce a receipt.  Were the thief caught, he would be rightly charged with a petty misdemeanor, as the legal system would recognize that bicycles truly are not very expensive to manufacture or purchase.

However, I am not an international superstar like Lance Armstrong.  American courts will only accept such an absurd claim when it pertains to a famous person’s property. 

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Due to the differing nature of the crimes, it can be difficult to compare the fairness of the penalties.  Though it would appear that the courts’ rulings are incredibly inconsistent and not an accurate reflection of the severity of the crimes.

Since criminal penalties escalate based upon the severity of a crime, one could attempt to quantify the wickedness of a crime and impact on its victim based upon the associated penalty.  

Donte Stallworth will serve 24 days in jail for killing a man, while Lee Crider was penalized with a three-year sentence for stealing bicycles.  Crider’s sentence is more than 45 times longer than Stallworth’s; this would indicate that the courts believe that three bicycles are 45 times more valuable than the life of Mario Reyes.

Likewise, if one assumes that the three bicycles stolen by Crider were valued at $10,000 each, one could extrapolate that the value of Reyes’ life is 1/45th of that of the bicycles.  Using this logic, the courts appraised the value of the 59-year-old man’s life at $667.

Anthony Abbate received a negligible sentence of two years probation for senselessly beating Karolina Obrycka.  While America courts place a great deal of value in overpriced bicycles, Obrycka’s emotional pain is considered worthless. 

It is no secret that the American judicial system has long favored those of wealth or privilege.  However, the discord between these three crimes and their associated penalties are indicative of a system that has spun out of control as judges haphazardly hand out sentences, completely discounting the severity of the crimes.   

When a judge’s decision is skewed in favor of a famous bicycle over a regular citizen, there is a serious problem.

one response to 'American Injustice System, part II'

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1. it really does make you sick doesnt it

   tanja

   07.12.09 06:15 AM

    

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