Key TakeawaysĪfter the financial crisis of 2008, prosecutors opted for settlements and fines instead of jail time to punish major banks whose risky behavior caused the recession. However, the poor individuals who commit these errors receive harsh punishments while bank officials involved in large-scale fraud do not face any punishment at all. Undocumented immigrants are vulnerable to deportation if they are discovered, and politicians often focus on welfare fraud when looking for cases. However, these policies make life difficult for residents in high-crime areas as they’re often arrested on inflated charges just because they live there. The latter says that preventing small crimes can lead to prevention of larger ones. The former means that prosecuting minor offenders will catch more serious criminals. This is because the police department relies on stop-and-frisk and broken windows theory to fight crime. In major US cities, a lot of arrests are made for minor offenses.

One reason is a memorandum written by Attorney General Eric Holder which states that prosecutors should consider whether prosecution would cause too many lost jobs or too much financial harm to the company.

The author uses individual stories and cases to show how wealthy people are not held accountable for their actions, while small actors or companies that have been fined for their illegal activities face dire consequences.

The Divide by Matt Taibbi approaches the complicated topic of unequal treatment in the US criminal justice system based on wealth.