The Human Face Of Overcriminalization By Derrick Hollie

In his article “The Human Face of Overcriminalization” (2016), Derrick Hollie argues that the United States criminal justice system is wildly subjective and is most of the time unfair. Hollie uses tone, anecdotes, and pathos to sufficiently argue against overcriminalization. Hollie’s goal with his editorial is to convince the public that overcriminalization is prevalent in our society in order to hopefully fix this issue. The audience intended to be reached by this editorial is all American citizens affected by the American government. In the beginning of his editorial he starts off with an anecdote where we look into the life of a young man being incarcerated after selling marijuana to make money for his struggling family. After serving his time in prison he leaves with a record that will follow him forever. This makes it difficult for him to find jobs and provide for his family, therefore he will probably return to selling drugs not out of pure desire, but it’s the only outlet he can find to make money. This saddening story of a soon to be broken …show more content…
Everyday more and more people are turning to small crime to make ends meet or just survive. This brings his discussion to the main point- how often overcriminalization occurs. He describes overcriminalization as convicting criminals who have committed nonviolent crimes in prison sentences that will damage the rest of their futures. He stresses that he realizes that any form of crime is still unacceptable but wants the readers to understand how unfair the judicial system can be. People who are committing these minute crimes would surely like to put it behind them and move their way back up in society, our incarceration system won't allow that to happen. Nobody wants a criminal working for their business. The writer uses pathos to make the reader empathize with the idea of one’s future ruined by one small