The conclusion “Unequal wealth means unequal criminal justice”. is the perfect description of the illustration on the cover of the book. We can see the scales of justice where one of the weighing platforms contains some people and the other is full while some struggle to get on it, others don't even make it and fall. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay This is because Lady Justice is blind and can't handle scale well. A scales of justice is the symbol of fairness in a legal process indicating that both sides of the case must be considered in court. This illustration perfectly shows how the government reacts during the legal process. As Lady Justice, the authorities are blinded by the defendant's wealth. If one side is richer than the other, it is certain that they will succeed while the other will be punished. An example in the book that illustrates this is the arrest of Tory, a half-homeless man, walking the streets in a dirty suit. I wait. He was “stopped and searched” by the police, a method begun in 1991 that gave the police the right to stop and search anyone. They found half a joint of marijuana in his pocket and he was later sent to the most dangerous prison on Rikers Island. In 2005, HSBC fed drug cartels in Mexico and Colombia with billions of dollars and hid banking transactions for terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda and Russian gangsters totaling $20 billion worth of transactions. But guess who got punished? Tory Marone, for smoking the products they financed. As Taibbi said “A homeless man with half a joint in his pocket gets a bigger fine than a bank that launders millions of dollars. HSBC got fined, homeless man goes to jail." If the police had caught a wealthy person smoking marijuana, they wouldn't have made a big deal. At least they wouldn't be taken to prison. “Poverty has been criminalized, while wealth has been given a free pass.” To criminalize something means to make it illegal by law or to turn someone into a criminal if it refers to a person. Money has always been synonymous with power, a tool with which one can get away with any situation, including crime. These cases are perfectly illustrated by Taibbi in The Divide where we can see how wealth uses money as a “free passport”. to avoid criminal justice. In the introduction to his book, Taibbi states that poor people spend time in prison for “the most minor crimes imaginable” that “rich people commit at some point in their lives” and this is the closest he gets to statement “Poverty has been criminalized, while wealth has been given free access.” In this country, as long as you are rich, white, and more specifically American, you do not have to fear the authorities because you fit into the “norm.” Rich people in rich neighborhoods never get stopped for smoking a cigarette or being drunk. If they are arrested by the police, the latter will speak to them with respect, not humiliating the suspect like when the police spoke to Maria Espinosa threatening to take away her son if she didn't leave her boyfriend (which she could have done) what not to do due to lack of financial resources). A perfect example that illustrates this statement is the story of Andrew Brown, a man who had a rather unhappy childhood. He never had a stable family. His mother had to go to rehab and left him and his sister alone with their aunt. Please note: this is just a sample. Get a personalized document now come on..