The Book: "Ordinary Injustice: How America Holds Court"
An interesting article passed on to me today from the Town Crier, March 5-7, 2010 edition, written by Lucille Povero.
Here is the article as written:
Systematic Injustice In Our Courts
After graduating law school, Amy Bach, from Rochester, NY, took on a project as a court observer. What she saw so shocked her she wrote a book titled "Ordinary Injustice: How America Holds Court."
Bach documents case after case of judges who don't judge, prosecutors that don't prosecute, defenders who don't defend, because the overwhelming number of cases are plea-bargained away or never go to trial.
The consequences of "copping a plea" are rarely explained to the helpless victims of a broken system until they try to get a job or apply for a loan. It's then they understand what it means to "have a record."
But the "good old boys" who run our courts could care less. Their job is to protect their own. This sort of cronyism is only interested in who you know, not what you did. The poor, minorities, or those outside the inner circle of political toadies, need not apply for justice.
Of course, there are the occasional "show trials" acted out by the courtroom pros to a well-rehearsed conclusion - a made-for-TV sham aimed at appeasing a growing public disgust at a dysfunctional justice system where punishment almost never fits the crime.
Bach's book is a wake-up call for all true Americans to re-assert our Constitutional right to a "speedy trial by an impartial jury of our peers."
Plea bargaining has filled our prisons with non-criminals, while the real criminals generally go free. The time is long overdue to clean up our dirty criminal justice system so that real justice will be served once and for all.
The book Author's website: http://www.ordinaryinjustice.com/site/contact.html
Here is the article as written:
Systematic Injustice In Our Courts
After graduating law school, Amy Bach, from Rochester, NY, took on a project as a court observer. What she saw so shocked her she wrote a book titled "Ordinary Injustice: How America Holds Court."
Bach documents case after case of judges who don't judge, prosecutors that don't prosecute, defenders who don't defend, because the overwhelming number of cases are plea-bargained away or never go to trial.
The consequences of "copping a plea" are rarely explained to the helpless victims of a broken system until they try to get a job or apply for a loan. It's then they understand what it means to "have a record."
But the "good old boys" who run our courts could care less. Their job is to protect their own. This sort of cronyism is only interested in who you know, not what you did. The poor, minorities, or those outside the inner circle of political toadies, need not apply for justice.
Of course, there are the occasional "show trials" acted out by the courtroom pros to a well-rehearsed conclusion - a made-for-TV sham aimed at appeasing a growing public disgust at a dysfunctional justice system where punishment almost never fits the crime.
Bach's book is a wake-up call for all true Americans to re-assert our Constitutional right to a "speedy trial by an impartial jury of our peers."
Plea bargaining has filled our prisons with non-criminals, while the real criminals generally go free. The time is long overdue to clean up our dirty criminal justice system so that real justice will be served once and for all.
The book Author's website: http://www.ordinaryinjustice.com/site/contact.html
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