"Generally, overzealous law enforcement delivers its heaviest blows on communities of color and..."

Generally, overzealous law enforcement delivers its heaviest blows on communities of color and poorer folks. Unfettered and often racist police forces come down hard on specific neighborhoods, and sometimes, in the event of New York City, appear to just stop every Black and Hispanic person they see and pat them down. The imprison-at-all-costs mentality has made Oklahoma in particular famous for having the highest female incarceration rate in the entire world.

This kind of self-destructive zeal usually remains below the surface, something very real in some communities, but not those the popular press particularly cares about. In the past few days, however, an exception has emerged. The high-profile suicide of the computer programmer and internet activist Aaron Swartz — committed it appears in response government prosecutors threatening 50 years of imprisonment for downloading millions of JSTOR articles — has even the Wall Street Journal writing pieces about prosecutorial overreach.

Of course when someone of Swartz’s status faces unconscionable levels of prosecutorial grandstanding, the resulting life-devastating consequences become national news. That’s how things go. It deserves pointing out however that unbelievably harmful police, prison, and justice system mistreatment are everyday realities for certain segments of the US population, generally those less able to capture top stories in the country’s best newspapers. Jamie Lynn Russell was one such person, and unless things dramatically change, we can expect many more victims to come.