Ah yes, the academic angle. How many angels and so forth.
And then we get into the obvious fact that judges are not uniform, law is not uniform, some people get preferred treatment, and all the other warts.
But, we pretend the skin is blemish free. Mostly the legal system pretends. Meanshile, get on with the black market and figure out how to evade the law.
Your a pretty jaded individual. With regard to the courts, I am as well, but I know a good lawyer makes all the difference because they speak the courts language. Much as I hate that it’s an industry that feeds on victims in many cases, a good lawyer would have presented arguments that would have kept her out of jail. Self representing is less costly but much riskier. You have to be well read in the process, and most are not.