Dear Future President,

"Why do we hate? We hate because we're taught to hate . We hate because we are ignorant. We are the product of ignorant people who have been taught an ignorant thing, which is that there are 4-5 different races. There are not 4-5 different races. There's only one race on the face of the earth, and we are all members of this race, the human race "

(Jane Elliot)

Race and punishment, two things that you would've thought to be completely different, yet now a days seem so dependent on each other. In the city of Baltimore, which is where I live, many people get convicted for many crimes, but they all have unrelated consequences. Yet this doesn't only happen in Baltimore.. This is also not a recent problem. Cases in which white defendants get easier consequences than black defendants have been a reoccurring problem. It is clear tat there is prejudice in sentencing, and no one has yet to anything about it. Something has to give..

According to a survey done by The Sentencing Project in 2013, 63% of white people support the death penalty for persons convicted of murder vs 40% of Hispanics and 36% of blacks. As for the support of various punitive measures for thee strike laws, 70% of white people support .vs. 52% of black people. 60% of white people support trying juveniles as adults over 46% of black people. I believe this is because most common juvenile crimes are done by those of color (Hispanics, Blacks, Etc). So most Caucasian people don't worry about their children being at risk of going to jail or receiving a serious charge.

As a child myself, this is a scary reality. These things could happen to people I know.. They could make a mistake and receive a bigger punishment than what they did.. Thank you for listening to me .. but before I go, please just think of it this way.

Imagine if your children were young again, and on their walk from school, they want to stop by the corner store to get candy but they don’t have enough money. So in the heat of the moment, they steal the candy.. BUT, they get caught. All of a sudden the police are being called, and your kids get taken away. You get a phone call saying your kids are in big trouble for stealing a candy bar. By big trouble I mean like they're going to jail... for a candy bar.

Think about that.. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Keishla De León