Scottie Scheffler & I Have Two Things In Common ⛳️⚖️

Scottie Scheffler got arrested this week. While it provided one of the  most entertaining days on Twitter ever , for 99.9% of Americans, those charges would end their life as they know it.
For Scottie? It was a minor inconvenience on his way to shooting a -6 at The PGA Championship.
But it exposes some deep flaws in our Justice system.

Context:
If you’re unfamiliar, Scottie Scheffler is the #1 Golfer in the World. He won the Masters a couple months ago, had a baby last week and was on his way to contending for another Major Championship on Friday morning. He’s a devout Christian, the nicest guy on tour, fights against childhood cancer and has the cleanest reputation in all of golf.
During a traffic jam early Friday morning, in the dark rain, confusion abounded.
Scottie was told to go down one road, while another officer didn’t hear that instruction.
From this point, the officer was so invested in stopping Scottie, he decided to jump onto the car. He fell off, and injured his knee, thus prompting him to arrest Scottie and charge him with FOUR charges, the most severe being ASSAULT on a Police Officer.

It’s hard for me to explain to people who don’t have involvement with the Criminal Justice system, but Assault on a Police Officer is the kiss of death, sometimes quite literally, for most folks. But, for Scottie, it was just a misunderstanding on his way to a golf match.

You see, Scottie and I now have a couple things in common. We’ve both been to jail and love golf. Only one of us has won The Masters though…twice.
I recovered from heroin addiction after a year of incarceration 20 years ago. I was arrested for the first time at 14, again at 19, by 23 I spent a year incarcerated. By 27, I spent nearly half my life on probation.
I barely escaped this system, but I’ve been able to build a beautiful life once I did. I’m passionate about trying to help others escape this system. And many would get caught up for YEARS with those charges facing Scottie. It exposes a couple issues in our justice system.

Class:
Bryan Stevenson, founder of Equal Justice Initiative, says "It's better to be rich and guilty than poor and innocent in America."

This statement sounds pretty crazy on the surface, but upon further examination, Scottie may exemplify the former. The harshest & saddest realities are the latter. But the most common reality is in between.
While most of us give Scottie the benefit of the doubt, and the media has generously been using his description of the events, “a big misunderstanding”, many people aren’t given that benefit of the doubt. For years, up until the last couple, the media has accepted the police report as gospel. But there’s always been two sides to a story.

We saw this tragically from this same police department in Louisville in the senseless & tragic killing of Breonna Taylor. We didn’t get the other side of the story for years and it took a complete and thorough federal investigation.

But, even when we can trust police reports, our Cash Bail system goes to work. This states that a judge sets your bond amount, and if you can pay it, you can go free. Sounds simple enough on the surface, but a close examination and reinterpretation shows that Fines, Bail or Lawyer Fees are just tolls that the Rich can pay to break laws. The average bond is about $10k and black people face 25%-50% higher bond amounts amongst many other challenges. Since 57% of Americans can’t afford a $1k expense, this proves catastrophic.
Poor people only have their time to serve, and this is where compounding issues come in. Scottie was a new father. Many other people are new fathers or mothers as well. When they have “a misunderstanding” with a police officer, they may not be able to return home to their kids, or report back to their job, or be a contributor in a household. For someone who couldn’t afford bond, they now face a mountain of other issues that become very hard to climb out of, whether they are guilty or not.
Other countries use sliding scales for fines or tickets.

Courts:
And if they finally make it to their court date, (Scotties is a month from now) one might think they get a fair trial by jury. But no, 98% of charges in the US are settled by Plea Bargaining. Since Courts & Jails are overcrowded and understaffed, one of the quickest ways to settle cases is to stack charges: example- Scotties entanglement racked up FOUR charges! When they stack charges, the total punishment looks very severe, but in the face of that mountain people will often settle for a guilty plea, or no contest of one or two of those charges, and settle lengthy probation and fines, or a shorter prison sentence in order to get back to life outside. 
To the system, one more is processed. But to a child, mother, or spouse, their loved one is gone, their finances are strained, and the future is darker.
But, it doesn’t have to be this way.

Second Chances:

I’m passionate about second chances and many companies have joined forces to try Second Chance hiring. Many courts are trying innovative programs. Some police departments are trying. But, at the core, the system has fundamental flaws and we are still suffering from the reverberations of Mass Incarceration.
The media and the public can treat more people like Scottie. Giving the benefit of the doubt and waiting to find out more information, unless unwarranted.
Police need help. They are sent to be our traffic enforcement, domestic violence mediators, bike thief reporters, school protectors, conflict therapists and many more things. Many of their jobs could be redeployed to other very capable people, so they can focus on, Oh I Don’t Know, stopping actual violence or catching dangerous people.
People deserve consequences for their actions, and some people require incarceration, but we’ve over used these tools
Our jails & prisons are filled with potential.
As my friend Brittany Barnett describes it, “By locking the potential and ingenuity of [people], we shackle America’s future.”
I love our country. I want better for it.
But, it will take all of us.


Education:
If you made it this far, thank you. You can see more about my story here.

And if you’re wondering when I’ll go back to discussing Marketing, I will. But as I showed you, I care & talk about 3 things: Sports Marketing, Golf & Criminal Justice. This happened to overlap with my passions.
I break that down here:

You can download that One Page Personal Brand Map here.

Blessings:

Who might you give a second chance?

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