Imagine being in the midst of a calming Sunday drive with your old lady when you're pulled over for some bullshit, then arrested for something else that you didn't even do. This could be an unfortunate reality if you're in Los Angeles County and have a common name like "Chris Smith."
The Los Angeles Timesrecently discovered that hundreds of people have been erroneously imprisoned in the area over the past few years, with some being forced to do weeks in the slammer for crimes they did not commit (it's not exactly sweet in some of those places either, look at the pic above). What's truly alarming, however, is that mistaken identity is the trigger.
It's crazy to imagine that nearly 1,500 people have been locked up in the county over the past five years for having the same names as criminals or were the victims of identity theft. It's equally insane that this is a pretty common occurrence-it happens about once a day.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca (pictured above) is on a mission to right these wrongs, but he'll have to start at the top. It's the courts who are issuing warrants for the wrong people, which is just flat out sloppy. It's pretty comforting to know that your future could be in the hands of a group who can't even identify the correct person, right?
Here's a new drinking game: take shots for the flaws of the criminal justice system. Nobody'll make it out of the house.
[via Los Angeles Times]
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