#12 Tennessee Sentenced a Woman to Six Extra Years in Jail Simply Because She Was Pregnant

In this article written by Amanda Marcotte, she tells a story about a pregnant women in prison who was sentenced six extra years in prison because she was pregnant. Lacey Weld, the criminal, was caught manufacturing methamphetamine plant. When she was caught, and put into court, s he cooperated with all the decisions that were made in court. She was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison and 5 years of supervised release. Six of the years from her 12 years were added only because she was pregnant at the time. The justification to this act was because her manufacturing of meth could put her son in “a substantial risk of harm.” Weld did not smoke but only manufactured. She was pressed charges because she apparently used drugs while pregnant, but in Tennessee, drug use is not a crime. Weld was not sentenced because she was manufacturing meth, but because she was put in prison for victimizing her son that wasn’t born. So the extra 6 years she has for manufacturing drugs are simply a ignorant act. Weld’s son was born sick, and Weld was paying for what she had done in the prison, but she didn’t have to stay another six years because she made a “crime” which is not even considered a crime in Tennessee. Also, the child would not have his mother around for 6 years making more harm. Weld was put in jail for a unhealthy and unwise choice and not because of a illegal choice while pregnant.

In this article, Marcotte is trying to pass a strong message about the law and justice in United States, especially with this specific lady. She uses formal but not to formal language in order to engage with the readers and at the same time showing how serious this case is. She uses strong tone of voice in order to get to her point and tell the readers what she thinks about this ridiculous case of this pregnant women, how injustice of the government was. Also, she made it simple and short, giving right amount of information. At first she explains the case, then throughout the essay, she gives her personal opinion trying to persuade the readers in order to “think” like her. 

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2014/10/13/lacey_weld_case_tennessee_woman_gets_six_extra_years_in_prison_for_being.html