no agreeing but need help justifying it

[kimba1]

it`s now been brought up that police should not charge people for resisting arrest since some are not really being arrested. I can`t really agree with that but dang it can`t think of why.

[sirs]

There is none.....if a person is not in the process of being arrested, they can't and shouldn't be charged with that.  Now, if there's other charges pending, and a person is not complying with the officer's instructions, then there can be a lawful detainment.....remember the Jhango gal?  But that's not resisting arrest either.  I think its the verbage being used, that makes all the difference, Kimba

[Plane]

  If someone was mistaken for someone else , and a policeman were trying to arrest the wrong guy , could there be a charge of resisting false arrest?

[Xavier_Onassis]

If the police tried to arrest the wrong person, this would be grounds for a lawsuit.
If the person they were trying to arrest wrongfully were White or influential, their chances of winning that lawsuit would be greater.
Odds are a poor person would not sue unless  some lawyer af=greed to take the case on a contingency basis.

[sirs]

The key isn't the color, its the money.  A black influential person is going to be far better off at winning some lawsuit, than some poor white person

[Xavier_Onassis]

So what?

Since the average Black family has less than a dime of assets for every dollar that an average Black family has, it all comes down to the same thing: different standards of justice for Blacks than for Whites.

[sirs]

So what?

So what is that here again, you inject race, into something that has nothing to do with race.

[Christians4LessGvt]

If the person they were trying to arrest wrongfully were White or influential, their chances of winning that lawsuit would be greater.

True...but also true pretty much anywhere in the world.
Privilege is common all over the globe.
Not saying it is right, but it is and always has been...a fact of life.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Of course it has a lot to do with race.

There is not much social mobility in this country. The only two recent candidates for presidents that were even middle class were Bob Dole and Bill Clinton.

If you start out rich, you have all sorts of obstacles removed. It multiplies your possibilities manyfold. Most Black people are poor, so they do not enjoy the delight of growing up rich.

[Christians4LessGvt]

There is not much social mobility in this country.

Uh?
The US has huge upward mobilty compared to most places on earth.
And that's why so many millions and millions want to come here to get a fresh start at a chance to move up the ladder.
Hell tens of millions of people on earth still live in slavery...India, China, Pakistan still have millions living in slavery today in 2014.
Minority populations in the US are all over television, in movies, etc...thriving in the medical profession...etc...
My close friend from Morocco tells one thing he really loves about the US is the frredoms for any background.
He says "if I save up the cash I can walk into the finest 5 star hotel and get a room and be treated like royalty".
Back home in Morocco not so much.
Of couse as I stated previously privilege exists everywhere....but much less in US than most places on Earth.

[sirs]

Of course it has a lot to do with race.

Of course, it doesn't.  No one is discounting if you happen to be born in wealth, there are more options available, but that again has nothing to do with race.  You can be dirt poor, and still make something of yourself, white or black.  There is no right to equal outcomes.  People have choices, and they have whatever motivation they wish to apply to those choices.  That also includes poor choices, such as having children out of wedlock, with no father figure to instill a sense of morality & focus

All this is race neutral.  A poor white kid is not going to have the same options as a rich black kid.  Nor is it the function of the Government to try and give the poor white kid's parents more of the rich black kid's parents tax dollars, just because they have more.  That removes incentive, and perpetuates the status quo of an ever widening income gap between the rich and poor.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Upward mobility is greater in nearly every nation in Western Europe.
People try to get into the US because it is (a) easier to get here from the rest of the American and (b) it is simply a lot larger a place than most other immigrant countries.
The Republican'ts are currently ranting about the 5 million or so who would never have been deported anyway, being assured that they will have three years or so during which they might not be deported if they fit all the criteria.

We USED to have greater upward mobility, at least for White people. This is no longer the case.

In most of Western Europe the government pays for education through the postgraduate level.
In the US, many who graduate do so with a huge and crushing debt.

[Plane]

In the US, many who graduate do so with a huge and crushing debt.

That is a troublesome point.

I know firsthand it is true.

What would improve this situation?

[sirs]

In the US, many who graduate do so with a huge and crushing debt.

That is a troublesome point.

I know firsthand it is true.

Ditto.  I came from a poor white family, heavy in debt, and had to live off welfare for many years, as my mom raised 3 kids alone.  Yet she worked her ass off to get OFF of welfare, and succeeded.  Not just in that, but instilling in the rest of us a "we can do it" mentality.  I graduated with my own mountain of debt.  Took over 2 decades to pay it off.  It's not easy, but no one said life was easy.  And you don't punish those who's life wasn't as hard as some others like myself.  That's not fairness, that's jealously/envy. 

Government can't placate the human condition.  When that becomes the end-all game, where Government takes the place of individual choice/morality, then we cease to be the America that our Founders & folks like MLK envisioned

[Plane]

  There may be in some measure a technical fix.

   You can get some real teaching on your computer and internet , sometimes free sometimes just a tiny fraction of the cost of university.

   I am polishing my math a bit with Khan Academy, I am enjoying it a lot and it is completely self paced.

     In Georgia we have the HOPE Grant which I have used a bit , which uses lotto money to subsidize students who can maintain a 3.0.

     The change needed is greater availability and lesser cost for ever more needed useful education.  Part of this is making it more availability at low cost  , part of the solution is for greater enthusiasm on the part of students .

    If better education is thrown at them , that does not make them soak it up.