Our Broken Judicial System - What to do about it? and How?
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Posted: Wednesday, March 30, 2005
by Carolyn SOhopeful
SOhopeful International Inc.
There is too much injustice in the American and Canadian judicial systems. Fully 95% of all crim
There is a group, SOhopeful International [www.sohopeful.org], which is an advocacy and political action group working to educate the public about how the Megan's law registries have been ineffective because the brush has been painted too broadly and proposing effective, viable and fiscally responsible alternatives- the attention is on all rather than the ones who really need it, and the really dangerous ones fall through the cracks, which justifies even more stringent restrictions of liberty on the majority who are just trying to put their lives in order. We realize the ridiculous amount of innocents who are put in prison and want to gather individuals and organizations to collaborate and unite. I am constantly appalled by the many stories I read from those who are too frightened and beaten down to get involved and work for changes. They are afraid of retaliation, and rightly so.
Plea deals are one of the roots of the problem, as well as Public Defenders who are massively overworked and are merely negotiators they all exert pressure on the accused to accept a plea. If even 50% of all those charged with any crime went to trial, the legal system would come to a grinding halt, because the entire system depends on pleas to keep the momentum.
The court is just one of several inter-dependent industries that have inherent conflicts of interest:
Legislative Industry includes:
- legislators,
- staffers,
- lobbyists,
- PR agents/agencies,
- campaign staff,
- part-time workers,
- volunteers
Must keep making and amending laws to have continued existence.
Trying to close Law libraries to citizens.
NO ONE HAS A GRASP ON ALL THE LAWS, BUT WE NEED STILL MORE LAWS TO TELL YOU WHAT YOU CANNOT DO
Law Enforcement Industry includes:
- police,
- sheriff,
- FBI,
- DEA,
- DHS,
- INS,
- parole & probation departments
Must have more and more laws to break to ensure adequate amount of law-breaking [or innocent] citizens to find, capture and arrest to have continued existence.
YOU MAY SOON NOT BE ALLOWED TO SEE THE EXISTING LAWS, BUT IGNORANCE OF THE LAW IS NO EXCUSE
Judicial Industry inlcudes:
- judges,
- lawyers and legal staff,
- court staff
Must have more laws made, more laws to break, more citizens to be charged with breaking the laws to prosecute to have continued existence.
IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU ARE INNOCENT - YOU WERE CONVICTED OR PLEAD GUILTY/NOLO CONTENDRE ON ADVICE OF COUNSEL
Penal Industry includes:
- Department of Corrections,
- guards,
- inmate package companies,
- food vendors,
- companies who contract with states for prison labor.
Must have more laws made, more citizens charged and convicted to punish to have continued existence.
IT DOESN'T MATTER THAT YOU SERVED YOUR TIME - YOU STILL BELONG TO THE STATE -or- YOU ARE DAMAGED, YOU NEED US TO HEAL YOU AND TELL YOU WHAT TO THINK AND DO
Testing/Treatment/Therapy Industry includes:
- polygraphers,
- therapists,
- labs,
- counselors,
- treatment facilities [committment centers or mental institutions]
Must have more laws, more citizens convicted and punished, their families ripped apart or kept apart - children growing up fatherless and court-mandated testing/treatment contracts to have more patients to have continued existence. All of these industries have massive bureaucracies except for the Testing/Treatment/Therapy category, although they do have professional associations and lobbyists.
There is no -ONE- cause or one root to attach onto, but understanding the interplay between valid and needed areas of government authority is paramount to being able to view the myriad social ills within the bigger picture and devising any semblence of workable solutions.
What is needed are comprehensive changes. For example, therapy should be completely independent of the law enforcement, courts or parole/probation departments. Paid expert witness practices should be halted. Plea deal practices must be eradicated. Lobbying by public agencies using taxpayer's money must cease. Real studies by independent organizations/associations must be conducted and sound scientific methods must be used to study proposed methods/practices for legislation. [Evidence-based programs]
More effort must be put into rehabilitating our incarcerated citizens and reuniting families as opposed to the current revolving-door/vicious cycle in place now.
Carolyn Ferguson
Executive Director
SOhopeful International, Inc.
www.sohopeful.org
Resource Library: www.sohopeful.org/forum
International HQ snail mail address:
1900 NE 181st Avenue, Suite 111
Portland OR 97230 USA
212-714-7061
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Top-level comments on this article: (6 total)The really scary thing about this is that it is all too true. America better wake up soon or many more of us, or should I say, you, will be waking up on the other side of the cell door.
It would be easier to read if it was in paragraph form rather than all in one paragraph.
Sad but true story...The US judicial system has and is currently failing in its purpose. Its purpose
I was convinced to plead guilty to a crime that I wasnt sure was a crime. Now the appellate court has ruled in another case that what I did was not a crime. Lawyers continue to tell me I cannot appeal a guilty plea! The problem with our judicial system is that there is no mechanism for fixing mistakes.
Sure there are many people who may be pressured into a plea by being confused as to whether or not a mistake they made was indeed a crime, or perhaps they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. The problem I see with the statements above is that those that are actually guilty of crimes will use these arguments as a shield. Our government is definitely not perfect, and in some ways even corrupt, but to make such a bold blanket statement is a dangerous thing.If you were accused of say sexually assualting a child which does not neccessary mean you raped them it could simply mean in some states that you touched them inappropriately and that child's parents can automatically have all school and medical records sealed to protect the child's innocence on advice of the DA... Making it a he said she said- how would you defend yourself? NO witness on either side...in these instances the child doesn't need them. Would you take a no contest (nolo contende) plea bargain where you could possibly be out it 3-5 or face 30 years in prison? Thousands of people mostly men do for just this reason. Prosectuing attorneys no longer have to fully prove anything. They just have to scare you into it, you may a well be a Salem Witch.unless you have been in and experienced how dirty the judicial system is you don't know how much pain waking up everyday is .. you are destroyed for being prssured to plead on unreal stuff your life is over and then these dirty dogs want you to pay fees ..i @#$@#&* on american it is not my country i just live here
Many valid points, but one glaring strategic omission: The news media has perpetuated this witch hunt, and consequent public perception that has fueled the broad-stroke blood-lust for anyone labeled "sex offender." Lazy journalism (always an easy story,) the "Oprahs" of the world with personal axes to grind, etc., have whipped the masses into the fervor that has generated most of what you speak of. Change will only come through public education, which is virtually impossible to accurately achieve, due to conflicting and insufficient research. Or, the hard way, as it seems now, when enough families and individuals are violated, make their voices heard, and force lawmakers to revamp the existing oxymoron we call the criminal justice system. Steve... Phoenix
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