Can This Be Right?
by bobby jennings
 The Judicial system in the US has been often criticized for
providing "justice" according to what one can afford.
For anyone who has been victimized
by Local, State, or the Federal Governments, they know that the cost of defense
is sometimes worse than the penalty for minor infractions. But when the penalty
is steep the cost of defense can be insurmountable.
For those innocent and unable to pay the price for defense, they
must rely on the police departments and prosecutors not to accuse without substantial
evidence
Consider that it has been estimated that around 75%
of the black male population in the US has been or is under some sort of Judicial
supervision. Or even more stunning a statistic reported recently in Time
Magazine regarding the fate of "death row" inmates.
One would think that folks that have been sent to death row
would have had some reasonable protection under the laws of this country. We
should expect that the police departments and the prosecutors would take extra
care with someone's life. But that doesn't seem to be the case.
In
Illinois alone 11 people on death row have been exonerated of all charges and released in the
last 21 years In that period of time the same number (11) were executed. A statistical fluke? Then consider
this. Of the 139 people executed in Florida, Illinois, Georgia, Arizona,
Okalahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana, California, and Ohio another 62 were
exonerated, nearly 50% of the total. I chose to disregard Texas in this
calculation as they have really been busy
putting to death nearly 1 1/2 times as many people as the other states combined.
Using the "war on
drugs" as an excuse, the governments of
the US are assaulting the population. Once
revered in our society, property rights are
eroding rapidly. Many governments have passed
or are considering legislation allowing the confiscation
of property not only without out conviction
but without even charging the owner with a
crime.
I shudder to think how many
innocent, or only marginally guilty people,
there are serving time in prison, having had their
property confiscated, or been harassed by
their governments. If one just takes the 50%
of innocent people on death row these past 21
years as reported by Time, the numbers could
be staggering.
The people of the US have
surrendered their hard earned liberties for a
little feeling of safety. I dare say that the
drug problem in the US could be solved very
quickly if there was a comprehensive plan with
all working in concert. It doesn't take putting
such a large portion of the "poor"
population in jail.
It used to be said that "
better that ten guilty men go free than
convict one innocent man". Are these figures
being reversed? Perhaps it's time to take
another look before it's too late.
RECOMMENDED BOOK:
"Lost Rights: The
Destruction of American Liberty"
by James Bovard.
Info/Buy this book.
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