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Title: The Police State Abolishes the Trial
Source:
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URL Source: http://lewrockwell.com/rockwell/police-state-end-the-trial191.html
Published: Sep 27, 2011
Author: Lew Rockwell
Post Date: 2011-09-27 06:52:05 by Ada
Keywords: None
Views: 444
Comments: 23
Several years ago, the police entered the office of a young professor at a reputable university and arrested him for an online crime. They took the professor away, booked him, and then offered him a deal: admit guilt and get off easy. The professor said to the few people to whom he was permitted to speak that this was crazy because he was innocent. His lawyer warned him: fight this and you could get life; admit guilt and you will get a suspended sentence. He took the deal. It was a trick. Now he languishes in jail, his life wrecked as far into the future as he can see. This doesn’t happen in America, does it? Yes, it does. Not only that, it is increasingly the norm. Those raised on a steady diet of courtroom television shows believe that they are true to the way justice is meted out. This is completely naive. Trials in federal criminal cases are rare. Nine in ten cases are settled in pleas like the above case. Only 3 percent of the cases go to trial. Among those that go to trial, the defendant wins once in every 212 times. What this means is that there is no way out for the accused. The prosecutors have all the power. Not even the judge has discretion because lawmakers have mostly taken that liberality away in the name of cracking down on crime. This happened all through the 1980s and 1990s, and the prosecutorial dictatorship has entrenched itself to become the norm since 2001. For the last ten years, the police state has had free rein. It was not "liberals" or "conservatives" who did this. It was both parties acting with massive support of the American public, as tyrants in the public sector licked their chops. This was a result of security-minded madness, and even now hardly anyone cares. Today, every single citizen, no matter how free he or she may feel in daily life, is in reality a sitting duck. You can be made to disappear. There is essentially no way you can escape once the feds sweep you into their net. There is no justice. The total states of the past used to pretend to have trial-based convictions. The total state of the present doesn’t even bother. It just puts a sack over your head and takes you away. What happens then? Your loved ones cry. They try to move close by to where you are holed up, typically several states away. They are bankrupted and ruined. And what of your coworkers, your friends, your social set? They might want to help. They might feel bad for you. But the fact is that you pleaded guilty, and you have not even a chance to tell your side of the story. For all anyone knows, you got exactly what you deserved. So they do the only thing they can do: they forget about you. And there you languish until the system decides you are taking up too much room. Perhaps it is ten years. Maybe twenty. At some point, the doors open again and you are free. But you are ruined: bitter, talentless, emotionally changed, physically debilitated, and – if you are young and slim – gang raped. There is no point in contacting the friends that abandoned you. Members of your family have moved on; they have lives, too, and had to live them out. In terms of employment, you are a washed up ex-con. The US has the largest prison population in the world – 2.3 million people. That’s more than 1 in 100 people. That’s more than the population of Latvia or Slovenia. That’s nearly the entire population of Nevada. That’s Wyoming, DC, North Dakota, and Vermont combined. If the prison population had Congressional representatives, they would have four seats. These people are politically, socially, culturally, and economically invisible. How many are actually guilty? We can’t know. How many could be let out today to make a wonderful contribution to building a productive society? We don’t know. How many are completely nonviolent, not even guilty by any normal standard of law but only guilty according to the letter of the current dictatorship? Probably a majority. Perhaps a large majority. In the New Testament, visiting prisoners is equated, as a good deed, to visiting the sick. And we do not think of the sick as guilty. Yet the rise and entrenchment of the American police state are rarely questioned. Public opinion is mostly happy with the whole thing. There can never be too much prosecutorial power, never too many police, never too many prisons, never sentences that are too long. No one says: "We should not be so tough." The entire ethos is the opposite. A rare story such as the one in the NYT recently is too little to wake anyone up. How could this have happened in America? Well, looking back, it seems that it all stems from a single flaw: the belief that the most essential institution in society is the state that protects us from criminality and must maintain a monopoly over justice. Some of the greatest defenders of freedom otherwise have been happy to make this one concession to the state. And this one concession is now a major source of our undoing as a free people. There are reforms that we can make. No more plea bargains in federal cases. Restore basic human rights. Give judges and juries back their discretion to evaluate each case, and permit them to rule on the merit of the law, too, in the common-law tradition. A push back to grant basic Constitutional protections would be a good first step. However, in the end, what is really needed is a fundamental rethinking of the notion that the state rather than private markets must monopolize the provision of justice and security. This is the fatal conceit. No power granted to the state goes un-abused. This power, among all possible powers, might be the most important one to take away from the state.
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#1. To: Ada (#0)
I wish he would have given links to the 2 cases he referred to, the professor & the NYT article. The problem he describes is good reason for those facing being railroaded to go on the lamb.
"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you". Sirach 4:28
Break the Conventions - Keep the Commandments - G.K.Chesterson deleted
The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one.
He did link the NYT article here: www.nytimes.com/2011/09/2...ted=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
That is proven over and over again.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. Lord Acton The human herd stampedes on the fields of facts and the valleys of truth to get to the desert of ignorance. Saman Mohammadi The only difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits. Albert Einstein "...if the military is going to defend our freedoms, then we need freedoms to defend. Our freedoms must be restored before the military can defend them..." Lawrence M. Vance Você me trata desse jeito só porque eu sou preto. Junior (my youngest son)
i think that if one thinks unconventionally, it wouldnt be so hard to live & remain undetected. its a big country with lots of places. occasionally youll see stories of someone caught after 30 years.
"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you". Sirach 4:28
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The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one.
Mexicans do it every day: arrested for DWI, run back to mexico, come back with another name and pick up where they left off. Their only risk is they have to avoid having their fingerprints run through the system a second time. Even if they get caught again, all they have to do is make bail and they're off and running again. It's a damn joke.
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The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one.
deleted
The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one.
Whitey is screwed because his mortgage is in his real name, along with his car, bank account, etc. Whitey can't fly over to England or Germany and come back with a new identity and start over in the same town as a day laborer.
Even then, with today's satellite imaging, infrared sensors, and UAV technology, it isn't so easy to hide really well in the woods anymore. And even IF you are able to leave the country, depending how badly they want you, they CAN track you down and find you. Look at Whitey Bulger for instance.
I found out that there is still an open case on me in Illinois. I asked the local police chief to get the the name and phone number of the court and he told me, "Just don't go to Illinois." Easy for him to say. ;)
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
I guess you're not on their "enemy of the state" list, yet... LOL
Then Whitey needs to look into Trusts.
Americans are a desparately dysfunctional society that mirrors a battered wife; too weak to fight back and beginning to enjoy the rush caused by the constant abuse.
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The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one.
He's a New England crime figure who they've been after for close to two decades. There were countless sightings of him all over Europe, then they finally nabbed him here after he decided to come back for whatever reason, haven't read the full story on exactly how that came about... deleted
The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one.
BWAHAHAHAHA!
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
Sounds like a mistake to come back. ;)
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
I was under the impression that in Illinois after seven years the case is dropped.
"Terrorism is when the innocent are murdered due to the evil actions of the guilty." -- Turtle
Don't think it's been seven years, yet. The memory isn't too clear with the meningitis and all. Think I can avoid Illinois for a while. Anyways, they give you 60 or 62 mph, except near the capitol city.
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
Springfield. I'm originally from Illinois. When you go through Springfield you go right by the State Police headquarters. I see they got you.
"Terrorism is when the innocent are murdered due to the evil actions of the guilty." -- Turtle
#2. To: Artisan, Ada, 4 (#1)
interesting site -
#3. To: Artisan (#1)
#4. To: Artisan (#1)
I wish he would have given links to the 2 cases he referred to, the professor & the NYT article
#5. To: Ada (#0)
No power granted to the state goes un-abused.
#6. To: Eric Stratton (#3)
#7. To: Artisan (#6)
#8. To: Eric Stratton, *The Border* (#7)
-Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
#9. To: X-15 (#8)
#10. To: X-15 (#8)
#11. To: Eric Stratton (#10)
-Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
#12. To: Eric Stratton (#7)
Granted, one could run to "the hills" and hideout, but what fun is that. LOL
"The real deal is this: the ‘royalty’ controlling the court, the ones with the power, the ones with the ability to make a difference, with the ability to change our course, the ones who will live in infamy if we pass the tipping points, are the captains of industry, CEOs in fossil fuel companies such as EXXON/Mobil, automobile manufacturers, utilities, all of the leaders who have placed short-term profit above the fate of the planet and the well-being of our children." - James Hansen
#13. To: FormerLurker (#12)
(Edited)
depending how badly they want you, they CAN track you down and find you.
#14. To: BTP Holdings (#13)
"The real deal is this: the ‘royalty’ controlling the court, the ones with the power, the ones with the ability to make a difference, with the ability to change our course, the ones who will live in infamy if we pass the tipping points, are the captains of industry, CEOs in fossil fuel companies such as EXXON/Mobil, automobile manufacturers, utilities, all of the leaders who have placed short-term profit above the fate of the planet and the well-being of our children." - James Hansen
#15. To: X-15 (#11)
Whitey is screwed because his mortgage is in his real name, along with his car, bank account, etc.
#16. To: FormerLurker (#12)
#17. To: Eric Stratton (#16)
Hadn't heard of Whitey Bulger though.
"The real deal is this: the ‘royalty’ controlling the court, the ones with the power, the ones with the ability to make a difference, with the ability to change our course, the ones who will live in infamy if we pass the tipping points, are the captains of industry, CEOs in fossil fuel companies such as EXXON/Mobil, automobile manufacturers, utilities, all of the leaders who have placed short-term profit above the fate of the planet and the well-being of our children." - James Hansen
#18. To: FormerLurker (#17)
#19. To: FormerLurker (#14)
"enemy of the state" list
#20. To: FormerLurker (#17)
finally nabbed him here
#21. To: BTP Holdings (#13)
I found out that there is still an open case on me in Illinois.
#22. To: Turtle (#21)
I was under the impression that in Illinois after seven years the case is dropped.
#23. To: BTP Holdings (#22)
Anyways, they give you 60 or 62 mph, except near the capitol city.
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