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And that's my cue to not bother reading any further.
Yes, whatever makes you feel better so you don't have to look at the part you're playing in the big picture. with 5% of the world's population and 25% of the world's prisoners, what makes you think our system is so great? It's the worst in the world, but I guess it's like my opening statement says, you'll do anything to stroke your ego that you are not responsible for it. We are the world's largest jailer nation bar none, the fact that you chose to ignore it permits the corrupt system of ruining innocent lives to continue to fester and grow.
Cheers,
bolillo
Last edited by bolillo_loco; 11-10-2013 at 01:31 PM..
Reason: No Rhodes scholar here
We can find errors in the justice system. It is not perfect. But, it is better than many other countries.
As for making prisoners do work in the community, there is a problem, most of the people in prison lack a work ethic, making then do work is more work than you can imagine. For the most part, many are coming from homes that are career welfare, and criminal Subsistence. The entitlement mentality is entrenched.
I wonder what they will do to those who gave false testimony?
Well if they'll only give 10 days and a fine to the prosecutor who with holds evidence (sending an innocent man to jail for 25 years) , It shouldn't be much .
We could avoid many tragedies like this by doing a few things:
1. Taking a more active and aggressive role when we serve as jurors. Actually, applying the reasonable doubt standard in cases as opposed to simply thinking "the guy wouldn't be on trial if he wasn't guilty". Jurors should be particularly suspicious of cases that rest on eyewitness identification.
2. Paying for good representation for accused criminals rather than assigning the case to a public defender with 100 active files.
3. Being willing to reexamine cases that rest upon shaky evidentiary grounds.
4. Not allowing capital punishment unless a case can be proven to a "near certainty". This would mean either DNA, fingerprint evidence, or something else equally reliable.
5. Accepting the notion that sometimes guilty people have to go free, to keep other innocent people from being summarily sent away by the system for long prison terms.
6. Demanding top quality judges and prosecutors and giving them the independence to make decisions like dismissing charges and overruling a jury verdict where appropriate to do so.
The problem is that most people really don't want to pay taxes for most of these things. They assume the system will never falsely accuse them and other people (especially minorities) well, they just don't count.
Some good ideas there....not sure what no 5 means though...and no:6...If the judges and prosecutors were "top quality", they wouldn't need the "independence" to make those decisions would they?
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