Wrongfully convicted for the first time, D’Juan Collins was branded a “guilty” in the eyes of the law.
That label “impacts everything,” says Collins, a paralegal and advocate who focuses on mass incarceration at the New York social justice organization VOCAL-NY.
“This label is really a blacklist, like I’ve been blacklisted from some of the opportunities that other citizens might have,” he says. Independent.
“And that leaves me in poverty,” he says. “If I can’t find a job, if I can’t find decent housing, then how do you expect me to survive and thrive in the society we’re supposed to be in?”
But for former president Donald Trump, who was able to use his wealth, power and influence to avoid consequences for the white-collar crimes that threatened the 2016 election, that “criminal” label helps him make millions of dollars.
For anyone convicted of 34 felonies, being labeled a “criminal” for life can threaten access to jobs, housing, health care, child care, and the right to vote, let alone a path to the presidency.
Through his fundraising campaign, Trump even branded himself a “convicted felon” on June 1, two days after he was convicted in the New York hush money case, and then again on June 7: “THEY MADE ME A POLITICAL CONVICT. A CONVICT.” CRIME!”
“How is this possible?” Collins says. “Why doesn’t a president have the same limitations?”
The Democratic National Committee has called Trump “convict” and “guilty” dozens of times since the ruling, in statements and press releases supporting President Joe Biden and other Democratic officials.
The DNC also purchased billboards in Phoenix that read “Trump had already attacked Arizona democracy,” written in English and Spanish. Now he is back as a convicted criminal. He seeks revenge and vengeance. Trump: unfit to serve.”
Trump, meanwhile, commemorated his Georgia mugshot on T-shirts, Christmas wrapping paper, sweaters and gift credit cards, and leaned on his convictions, indictments and a narrative that casts him as the victim to raise millions of dollars for his legal defense.
His campaign said it raised nearly $53 million in 24 hours after a Manhattan jury found him guilty of falsifying business records in connection with a hush-money scheme involving an adult movie star and a conspiracy to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election.
On May 31, a day after the verdict, Biden’s campaign released a statement calling him “convicted criminal Donald Trump” for the first time.
“Look guys, this campaign has entered uncharted territory. Last week, for the first time in American history, a former president was convicted; a convicted criminal.
Last year, two political action committees backing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee spent more than $55 million on his legal bills; More than half of this money was spent in the second half of the year.
“When you have a legal team like Donald Trump spending millions of dollars on his legal defense, it makes you wonder what this system is really all about,” Collins says. “It’s all about greed, and if you have the money to build this greedy system, then justice will be provided to you.”
Republican strategists have also dubiously suggested that Trump’s felony convictions could even be used to win over Black voters fed up with the criminal justice system; It was a message in which he mocked President Biden, saying he was “peddling lies and stereotypes for your votes so he can win.” not for you.”
Other GOP allies also hope the decision could boost Trump’s support among Latino voters by tying the accusations against him to Latin American regimes targeting his political rivals.
Republican parties in at least two states—Vermont and Nevada—explicitly prohibit the promotion of candidates convicted of felonies. Vermont was the only state Trump failed to win during the presidential primary, but party officials now appear to be trying to figure out how to accommodate Trump after he officially receives the Republican nomination in July.
And GOP officials in Nevada have gone so far as to change their charter to support Trump.
“The Nevada GOP shamefully admits that they knew all along that Trump would be convicted and that they removed the ‘convicted felon’ clause from their platform to make an exception for him, showing Nevada voters that there was no end to their corruption.” to DNC spokeswoman Stephanie Justice.
But for the nearly 20 million Americans convicted of felonies, being labeled a criminal is today’s “red letter,” says Ed Chung, vice president of initiatives at the Vera Institute of Justice and a former federal prosecutor in the U.S. civil rights division. US Department of Justice.
“People who don’t have power or are not as famous as Donald Trump; the impact of that can be life-changing and affect everything from employment to housing to social relationships,” he says Independent.
Carroll Bogert, president of the nonprofit criminal justice publication Marshall Project, wrote in an op-ed. washington post It was titled “Don’t call Trump a criminal.”
Branding Trump a “criminal” is trying to “take down the nail, labeling Trump as no better than a common criminal,” he wrote.
“That’s the problem,” he added. “Most people in prisons and jails in America come from a life of poverty and discrimination. Labels such as ‘criminal’ or ‘convict’ contribute to their exclusion from society.”
Trump’s conviction “serves as a powerful reminder that responsibility should convey no status or privilege,” according to David Ayala, executive director of the Movement for Formerly Incarcerated, Convicted People and Families, which urges the media and others to avoid using the word “criminal” by name.
Ayala said the statement only serves to “dehumanize and generalize by perpetuating harmful narratives that distort the treatment and perception of individuals in our community.”
Chung said the former president was “frankly not a typical person in the criminal justice system” Independent; He’s a billionaire with a multi-million dollar legal campaign that spanned several jurisdictions, kept him out of jail, and helped get him elected to the White House to insulate himself from criminal prosecution.
But campaigns promoting the “criminal” label keep alive “a stigma that in many ways cannot be overcome.”
“It’s something that applies regardless of who the individual defendant is, it’s something that applies regardless of what political interest you have and the repeated use of it, and building it into our lexicon is something I think we want to avoid.” Chung says. “The fact that this is even an issue that people are talking about in relation to Donald Trump shows how important language is.”