Is the justice system broken?

The distinction between legal and justice system is important. If you look to our legal system to deliver justice you will often be disappointed. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpkE5Ee3AOo"]YouTube - ‪Reba Mcintyre - "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia"‬‏[/ame]
 
Orion said:
It's possible that the homeless man in the story probably wanted to go to prison. Some get a much better life in there then they do outside. But 15 years is ridiculous, I wonder why he got such a heavy sentence?
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Nooot really...it may seem so, because of the health care and some such. But you have no rights, no freedoms, nothing. And it's rough in there. You can lose your humanity very quickly in prison, and then when you get out you often can't get a job and if you have a felony you can never vote. Once you're in prison you almost need to stay there, because even if you're rehabilitated there's nothing you can do once you get out. No one wants to hire an ex-con.
 
Lerxst said:
It works well if you're that guy who robbed a bank to get free medical care and plans out getting out in time to collect social security. Oh wait. No... that's still broken, isn't it?
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He'll be 69 when he's out, I somehow doubt he'd be claiming for long.
 
Orion said:
It's possible that the homeless man in the story probably wanted to go to prison. Some get a much better life in there then they do outside.
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Here's a bizarre twist. I've heard several times of criminals here turning themselves in to the authorities to get affection! Turns out their families visit them in prison and ignore them otherwise.
 
Orion said:
It's possible that the homeless man in the story probably wanted to go to prison. Some get a much better life in there then they do outside. But 15 years is ridiculous, I wonder why he got such a heavy sentence?
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perhaps if they have a detox center at the prison he went to, because the story stated that he needed the money to pay for staying at one
 
aerosol said:
perhaps if they have a detox center at the prison he went to, because the story stated that he needed the money to pay for staying at one
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Yes; I remember a thread a couple weeks ago from here about a guy who intentionally "robbed" a bank just so he could get medical treatment.

I suppose a partial argument rectifying the difference between the CEO and the bum is that the CEO committed a non-violent crime which I guess might be rectified by insurance or a government bailout of some kind (FDIC?). The bum directly threatened the life of a person; gun or mere hand in pocket, the threat remained subjectively the same to those in the bank.

Something else to consider:

There are complaints that the system is unfair. I agree. Now -- do you want good prosecutors who get criminals behind bars for as long as possible (for now, let's set aside other solutions to crime)? Or, at least, all else being equal, do you want the prosecutor who can, on average, put defendants behind bars for the longest period of time, or the prosecutor who can put defendants behind bars for less time on average?

A second thought:

Now, assume you have just been accused of a felony. Wouldn't you want the best lawyer you can find and afford? Now, if you were a lawyer, won't you want to be paid as much as possible for your skill? Shouldn't the CEO deserve to hire the best lawyer he can find who will get him off? Also, this country already has minimum standards (public defenders, Miranda warnings, due process, etc.), which are a lot better than many other legal systems' guarantees to individuals. If we raise the bar, it'll also cost a lot more money.
 
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Satya said:
What do you think?

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Lert me just say, I'm from this area where the homeless guy robbed a bank.

This is Louisiana we are talking about, everything is backwards and screwed up.

The only people that get away with crime here are the politicians ; )


***

In an unrelated failure of justice, due to lack of evidence, my brother's murderer's charges were dropped from 2nd degree murder to 4th degree assault, even though he gave a full confession from the get go. Homey better be glad I live 3,000 miles away cause I don't play with a full deck either and if I saw him walking down the street....
 
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aerosol said:
gosh, the homeless man story breaks my heart
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Yeah, can you imagine how disappointed he was leaving that bank with only $100?

He could have done better at a convenience store or a hotdog stand.

I also like the dichotomy between internet crimes and other crimes. If you try to hack a corporation's servers, or do some type of denial of service attack and get caught, or write a good virus, you'll serve hard time. Why? You hurt corporate money.

That defines our legal and legislative system today, and probably since the founding of the country. Whatever policy favors big business and those in charge of it is the policy of the US of A. Fraud in your financial statements? Lying to investors? Bah! That's nothing since it's those big corporations funding political campaigns.

If that homeless man could cast a vote worth 100,000 votes, do you think he would be in prison 15 years? 15 months more likely.
 
I think this scene from the Law Abiding Citizen captures why exactly our justice system doesn't work.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgXjNkwVyeE"]YouTube - ‪Law Abiding Citizen (Court scene)‬‏[/ame]
 
88chaz88 said:
15 years?

15 years!?

Jesus why don't you just burn people for stealing potatoes.
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Well, now that you mention it, in my workplace, it's a cardinal offense to steal a potato, since we put super intelligent computers in our potatoes. It's mandatory to force the offender to eat one of our combustible lemons on PPV.
 
Razare said:
Yeah, can you imagine how disappointed he was leaving that bank with only $100?

He could have done better at a convenience store or a hotdog stand.

I also like the dichotomy between internet crimes and other crimes. If you try to hack a corporation's servers, or do some type of denial of service attack and get caught, or write a good virus, you'll serve hard time. Why? You hurt corporate money.

That defines our legal and legislative system today, and probably since the founding of the country. Whatever policy favors big business and those in charge of it is the policy of the US of A. Fraud in your financial statements? Lying to investors? Bah! That's nothing since it's those big corporations funding political campaigns.

If that homeless man could cast a vote worth 100,000 votes, do you think he would be in prison 15 years? 15 months more likely.
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the new story states that he was given more money but gave it back to the bank teller
 
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/07/michigan_woman_faces_jail_planting_veggie_garden.php?fb_comment_id=fbc_10150253469533550_17527881_10150254007308550


speaking of which... while exxon mobil delays paying fines for disasters they cause for decades, and who the heck knows with the anthony case, some woman goes to jail for having a vegetable garden. The real motivation here is profit, of course... if the idea of supplementing your diet with home grown food caught on, then biggies like Monsanto and food commodity speculators would lose too much influence over the cost of food (since it would go down as a result.)
 
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