# Here's what's wrong with the world... **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 10, 2000, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-whats-wrong-with-the-world/19069 "2000-05-10T02:30:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![andyroo010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e5b9ba/32.png) [@andyroo010](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andyroo010)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2000, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-whats-wrong-with-the-world/19069/1 "2000-05-10T02:30:36Z")
A man in Texas steals a King Size Snickers candy bar. He is sentanced to 16 years in prison. Meanwhile, three cruise line operators dumped pollution into the Alaskan Island Pasage from a Holland America cruise ship. All three were fined $1000 and put on probation. O.J. Simpson murdered his wife and walked free. Sorry to cut this short but I need to vomit now. The poor can’t afford justice… ---
**Author:** ![Argeable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5ac83/32.png) [@Argeable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argeable)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2000, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-whats-wrong-with-the-world/19069/2 "2000-05-10T02:42:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > The poor can’t afford justice… > \*\* So? No, just kidding. That’s not what’s wrong with the world, that’s what’s wrong with us. It’s different elsewhere…you know, in erehwon…so wouldn’t that really have belonged in mipsm’s? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2000, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-whats-wrong-with-the-world/19069/3 "2000-05-10T03:00:05Z")
Andyroo, The candybar thing fellates with great allacrity as does the pollution thing. With Simpson, as much as I hate to, I must trust a jury’s decision. I also heard of a street person breaking into the basement of a church that fed the homeless and stealing food. On one of those three strikes and you’re out deals, he got some serious time. The church didn’t want to prosecute him, but the state did. Sounds like a Great Debate to me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![hightechburrito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f6c823/32.png) [@hightechburrito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hightechburrito)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2000, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-whats-wrong-with-the-world/19069/4 "2000-05-10T07:21:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > A man in Texas steals a King Size Snickers candy bar. He is sentanced to 16 years in prison.\*\* If you are stupid enough to do _anything_ illegal with two strikes on you, then you are the scum of society and don’t need to be on the streets. That is another debate: the logistics of the three strikes law. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2000, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-whats-wrong-with-the-world/19069/5 "2000-05-10T12:50:19Z")
I think the guy was hungry. ---
**Author:** ![Smartass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@Smartass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smartass)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2000, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-whats-wrong-with-the-world/19069/6 "2000-05-10T12:55:30Z")
**andyroo010:** I take it that you are posting examples of injustice. Do you want to argue -whether they are examples of injustice? -whether injustice exists? -how to prevent injustice? -whether injustice only happens to poor people? -something else entirely? And, just for the record, what exactly _are_ you saying is wrong with “the world”? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2000, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-whats-wrong-with-the-world/19069/7 "2000-05-10T14:02:25Z")
How about the homeless guy who got beaten to death by a police officer in front of the tony Shed Café in Montreal because he was bothering the patrons? Or the new law in Ontario making it illegal to sleep in a park, beg for money, or clean windshields (à la Anatole France)? ---
**Author:** ![JDeMobray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@JDeMobray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JDeMobray)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2000, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-whats-wrong-with-the-world/19069/8 "2000-05-11T03:50:19Z")
Well, it was a **KING-Sized** Snickers bar. He probably would have only been sentenced to twelve years for a regular one. Maybe a cite? ---
**Author:** ![hightechburrito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f6c823/32.png) [@hightechburrito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hightechburrito)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2000, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-whats-wrong-with-the-world/19069/9 "2000-05-11T07:48:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > Well, it was a **KING-Sized** Snickers bar. He probably would have only been sentenced to twelve years for a regular one. > > Maybe a cite? > \*\* I’ve heard the same story elsewhere, but would like to see an actual cite as well. But the basic story is this: Someone with two strikes on them go and steal something petty, (like the Snickers bar, or a pizza) and are sentenced to life. Not too hard to believe. I see people in my grocery store run off after having stolen something petty, wouldn’t suprise me at all if they had priors. ---
**Author:** ![douglips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@douglips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/douglips)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2000, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-whats-wrong-with-the-world/19069/10 "2000-05-11T23:33:55Z")
Salon article: [Rolling Back Three Strikes](http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2000/05/09/three_strikes/index.html) It describes the case of a man who steals a $300 bike, and gets life. **In addition:** > [@](#): > > One of the most disturbing three-strikes cases in California involved Ricky Fontenot, whose parents came up from Southern California for the Capitol rally last month. > … > Growing up in Los Angeles, Fontenot got mixed up with some rough kids, and he made more than his share of youthful mistakes. His role in a robbery landed him in the California Youth Authority. A purse snatching brought him another felony and more juvenile jail time. > > Then, his parents said, he grew up. At 39, he was a partner in a successful limousine company and was married with three kids. But he ended up with a life sentence five years ago because he was in a car with someone who had an unlicensed gun, McFarland said. **and** > [@](#): > > A small-time hood and his girlfriend killed themselves after being busted in Sacramento County for pot and methamphetamine possession. Just a day before their double suicide, the Sacramento district attorney’s office notified Steven Davis it had discovered two prior felonies on his record for armed robbery, dating back more than 20 years in Maryland. Instead of 120 days in jail in exchange for a guilty plea, as he had been promised, Davis was suddenly facing life without parole under three strikes.