Dion Dawkins Talks About His Brother

[Ann]

No idea where to put this, so I started a new thread...

The picture of Dion as a little kid with his finger up his nose made me

Now onto a serious topic...
 

I Want to Talk to Y’all About EMPATHY for a Minute
 

Most people don’t know that I have a brother who is incarcerated in South Jersey.
 

His full name is Eric Kirit Dawkins, but everyone just calls him Kirit. I haven’t talked much about him publicly, because to be honest it’s just not something I’ve felt like hearing people’s opinions on. I’m not trying to have a “debate” with anyone about this. It’s not just some fancy argument to me. That’s a real person, locked up in there. That’s someone I love, you know what I’m saying? That’s my brother.
 

</snip>

 

[B-Man]

 

 

What a read.

 

Thanks for posting.

 

 

 

P.S. New Jersey gun laws suck.

 

 

 

[Alaska Darin]

I'd go so far as to say "The legal system sucks."  I don't know the circumstances he was arrested under and I don't know the power of DA's in New Jersey but gun charges are often the first tossed aside...unless you're a person of color.  I used to know the statistics but it's been awhile.

 

Mandatory minimums for gun crimes  are a really awesome tool when wielded appropriatly (like to get people to roll on worse offenders), but far too often people who shouldn't be in jail for long stretches are placed there because they're "caught" carrying a gun without whatever stupid government rule being followed to the exact letter.  The right to defend oneself is as fundamental as any other right, and people in the worst areas are affected more acutely by this government overreach than most people can even understand.

Imagine being afraid to walk outside your home at night just to look up at the stars...

 

Politicians are a disease.

[Koko]

I'm not a fan of mandatory minimum sentences on most crimes - especially for first offenses. You can't have justice when there's no consideration of the circumstances of the individual at sentencing. What someone did is important, but the bigger sentencing question is why. What led to the person putting themselves in that situation; was it just an isolated bad decision, or is the mother&#%$er just plain evil? If it's the former, is there a better way to address the underlying issues so that they don't reoffend?

 

Let the judge decide if a particular person needs to have the hammer dropped on them at sentencing, not some douchebag politician in the legislature/congress. That's literally what the judge gets paid to do.

 

Obviously, we don't know the circumstances of the brother's case/history, nor is Dion going to be a reliable reporter of either, so it's hard to tell if his brother's bid was just or not. Regardless, his point is valid: most forget that inmates can reform, they can change, and they are, in fact, still people with families who love them.

[Boyst]

I get his plight, it was a good read. But I don't think I ever met an innocent inmate, just those who got justice someway or somehow for their mistakes. 

[PromoTheRobot]

21 hours ago, Boyst said:

I get his plight, it was a good read. But I don't think I ever met an innocent inmate, just those who got justice someway or somehow for their mistakes. 

 

Every one of us have broken a law at some level. But how hard the system comes down on you is the difference.

[Alaska Darin]

On 3/2/2021 at 6:36 PM, Koko said:

I'm not a fan of mandatory minimum sentences on most crimes - especially for first offenses. You can't have justice when there's no consideration of the circumstances of the individual at sentencing.

Mandatory minimum sentences exist because of garbage judges who can't easily be removed.  I completely agree with your point and the only way around it is to completely revamp the legal system.  There are regularly cries for independent review boards for police conduct but they're more necessary to keep overzealous district attorneys and judges in check.

 

Lawyers have essentially removed common sense from the system because they've been allowed to essentially do whatever they want without truly having to answer to the citizenry.  Legal precedent is a fancy term for "our shit don't stink" - except it totally does.

[Boyst]

1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

Every one of us have broken a law at some level. But how hard the system comes down on you is the difference.

That and as I learned from someone it is also how far your hand was in the cookie jar and what's in your other hand when you're caught.

 

Of course, that guy had a loaded handgun on the seat next to him, has just mugged someone, and has a couple ounces of coke on him. He served 7 years, it was his second offense