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no sources or citations needed just need questions answered

1. Misdemeanor punishments are not petty. People with minor arrests and convictions are jailed, fined, supervised, tracked, marked, and stigmatized. They can lose their jobs, drivers licenses, welfare benefits, child custody, immigration status, and housing. They can be disqualified for loans and professional licenses or sink into debt such that it ruins their credit. Sometimes these things happen even when their cases are dismissed, and they are never convicted. Discuss this.
2. Legislatures have not passed habitual offender laws for corporate crimes. If street criminals were guilty of so many repeat offenses, there would be calls for preventative detention, automatic add-on sentences for being a career criminal, and stepped-up enforcement efforts. Discuss this double-standard of justice.
3. Questions of guilt and innocence matter in serious cases (homicide, rape, etc.) – this is the lesson of the ‘innocence movement’. We’ve seen all sorts of innocence projects spring up in response and many prosecutor offices have developed integrity units to identify and prevent wrongful convictions. Unfortunately, there is no such concern of innocence in the misdemeanor system even though a substantial number of judges and lawyer realize that innocent people are routinely pleading guilty to petty crimes (and being subjected to serious punishment).