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The law is not to be used for retaliation or carrying out grudges, but that is what it is used for, more often than we care to admit.
The law is meant to protect and serve both parties, to make sure justice is carried out – i.e., both sides satisfied with the fair outcome.
What is your definition of justice? The Oxford dictionary defines justice as a behavior or treatment that is right and fair; the quality of being right and fair.
Right and Fair.
Huh, what a concept. Is our justice system right and fair? Is it right? Well, here’s some questions to answer in that regard.
“There comes a time when one must take a position because it is RIGHT.”
The time is now that we make our justice system RIGHT. People call the law because of a grudge, they lie in court because of a grudge, they deny their wrong doings and continue their wrong ways.
Wrong thinking leads to wrong behavior.
When the players in our justice system approach these “criminals” with wrong thinking, the entire case turns wrong.
Police conduct little or no investigation and write a ticket. The ticket stands, no matter what the accused says.
Once the ticket is written it goes to the prosecuting attorney’s office (county or district attorney), and there is no way that ticket will be reversed. This is the office that calls the shots. If law enforcement has a problem with an arrest, they talk to the prosecuting attorney. This system seems fair, but in practice, if you’ve ever been involved with the law, you know there is nothing fair about it.
There are no checks and balances for prosecuting attorneys. There is no law to disbar them if they screw up. There is no one who checks their cases to be sure they are prosecuting the right people with the right evidence. We leave this up to the judge to sort out, but judges have no checks and balances, either!
When people in power can do as they please and know there is no one watching over their shoulder for accountability, we have incompetence and unfair practices.
Along with little accountability for the attorneys and judges, there are few checks and balances for police officers. Most states do not allow records of misconduct to be publicly revealed, so a bad officer is hired without the public’s knowledge of his past.
Ironic, isn’t it? If you are convicted with ONE ticket, the law follows you around for the rest of your life.
A bad officer gets fired from one job and goes on to the next, and no one is the wiser.
A fair system? When people can bend the rules because they carry a badge and a gun, that is not a fair system.
Do police officers intentionally retaliate? They may not see that word in their mind, they are carrying out their idea of justice, but it is just uncanny that once you have a record, you are targeted for life. If you have a record, you are more likely to be picked out in the crowd as the troublemaker, whether you had anything to do with the trouble or not.
That brings us to the question –
Why is the law so punitive in our small community?
It would be interesting to find out an actual number of people in this town that have been nailed by the law for silly things. Minor offenses. Lives ruined for what?
Retaliation? A police officer gets mad at you for one reason or another, and you can kiss your sweet freedom goodbye.
A neighbor doesn’t like the way you smell, wants you off the planet, a few coins change hands, you are arrested, and you are doomed for life.
It is impossible to get your life in order under these circumstances. You have great intentions of staying away from the law, but it seems the law finds you. The next thing you know, you are in front of the judge, again…
Whatever progress you’ve made in your life is now lost. The three steps forward you took to get your life in order are now pushed to five steps back, and you are in a worse position than you were before.
This is why the recidivism rates are so high. At first we thought it was from lack of rehabilitation and community entry services that caused the high rates of return to the system. But when a cop can pull you over for whatever reason he’s invented in his mind, just because he knows you have a record, it doesn’t matter how many community entry services you have participated in, once he writes that ticket, you are doomed once again.
Other countries do not carry past histories. In those countries, people do not have a criminal record. Once the time for the crime is over, the crime and the time is over. There is nothing to follow you around for the rest of your life, making it impossible to rent a house or to find a good job. There is no stigma, “Ooh, he’s a criminal, watch out, he’ll steal you blind!”
The answer in reducing these many ridiculous tickets the public receives is this:
We depend on attorneys to help sort things out, but most people do not see an attorney until they’ve sat in jail for two or three days until they see a judge who will give them an attorney. Well, that’s a little late, I think.
There should be an intermediary between the arrest and the jail.
A FAIR assessment of the ticket, and whether jail time waiting for the judge is a good option. Was the ticket rightfully written. Is there another option besides jail. Should the ticket be voided?
This would serve two purposes:
1) Reduce the crowding in the jails. Sixty-percent of people in jail are technically innocent, waiting for a trial.
2) Keep the police officers honest. If their tickets were questioned, they would be more apt to reconsider before they arrested someone.
Most people are not criminals. Most people try to do the right thing. When a person is falsely accused, they will do anything to be heard. They are not a flight risk, only guilty people flee.
So we punish the entire population because of a few. This makes no sense.
Do you like the police state we live in? Do you like the way you are treated, do you like having your rights violated?
Do you feel like the law is used against you as a retaliatory force in some way or another?
Let us know your story. Don’t be shy, tell us what you think.
