(08-02-2020 03:25 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  I think the education you are talking about is often called "street smarts", or maybe just "common sense".

Or maybe just 'not fried out after years of meth' or 'functioning' well enough to have a better lawyer.

I'm not knocking the people, nor am I suggesting that 'the system' is the issue. I am merely suggesting that some people know how to, or can afford people who know how to stay out of trouble, and some don't. The big criminals are often incredibly smart people who could have done lots of things. When the left says 'the rich get away with it' they're often talking about the entitled frat boy who does coke vs the homeless guy doing crack... but it's also true (and in many ways, more true) of the gang leader/major drug dealer

When I watch COPS, some of those guys I want put away for a long time, but a lot of them seem just too messed up and fried out to get out of their own way. Some of that stuff is REALLY bad.... not just for the high it gives you, but what it does to your brain chemistry in the long term