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Dead Constitution See other Dead Constitution Articles Title: Charles KochÂ’s views on criminal justice system just may surprise you After studying the U.S. criminal justice system, Charles Koch concluded that there are too many laws and too many prosecutions of nonviolent offenders. (May 22, 2012) ›‹ After studying the U.S. criminal justice system, Charles Koch concluded that there are too many laws and too many prosecutions of nonviolent offenders. (May 22, 2012) Of all the contentious history between Koch Industries and the U.S. government, the Corpus Christi, Texas, case from 1995 is the one that Charles Koch remembers most vividly. A federal grand jury indicted his company on 97 felonies involving alleged environmental crimes at an oil refinery. Prosecutors dropped all but one of the charges six years later, after the company spent tens of millions of dollars defending itself. Ultimately, Koch Petroleum Group agreed to pay a $10 million settlement. Related Koch gives $11.25 million to Wichita State Liz Koch: Maker space at Wichita State is ‘human ingenuity at work’ Koch the primary donor to sales tax opposition group The Kochs' quest to save America “It was a really, really torturous experience,” said Mark Holden, Koch’s chief counsel. “We learned first-hand what happens when anyone gets into the criminal justice system.” Holden said Charles Koch wondered afterward “how the little guy who doesn’t have Koch’s resources deals with prosecutions like that.” No one at Koch wants to re-litigate the Corpus Christi case, Holden said. But it prompted Charles Koch to study the justice system – both federal and state – wondering whether it has been over-criminalized with too many laws and too many prosecutions of nonviolent offenders, not only for him but for everybody. His conclusion: Yes, it has. Ten years ago, he began giving money to support efforts by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers to help train defense lawyers and reverse what some see as a national trend to get tough on crime, which has resulted in the tripling of the incarceration rate since the 1980s and has stripped the poor of their rights to a legal defense. He’s going to give more to that effort, he said. “Over the next year, we are going to be pushing the issues key to this, which need a lot of work in this country,” Koch said. “And that would be freedom of speech, cronyism and how that relates to opportunities for the disadvantaged.” The nation’s criminal justice system needs reform, “especially for the disadvantaged,” Koch said, “making it fair and making (criminal) sentences more appropriate to the crime that has been committed.” Holden said legislators in recent decades drifted into a habit of adding more laws every year and taking stands to show themselves as “getting tough on crime.” It has gone too far, Holden said. The weight has fallen most heavily on minorities, Holden said. It has festered in neighborhoods and fostered the anger of people protesting against police actions in Missouri and New York. And, Holden said, “It definitely appears to have a racial angle, intended or not.” The Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that one in three black men will spend time in prison. The impact Among the concerns, Holden said, of federal and state governments are: ▪ Too many nonviolent offenders have been sent to prison for too long. The United States incarcerates 2.2 million people. Another 65 million – one in four adults – now have criminal records, according to the defense lawyers association. “We have more of America now in prison than they ever did (in South Africa) in apartheid,” Holden said. “Let that swirl around in your head for a while.” ▪ The economy has been damaged by making it difficult for offenders to get jobs once they are out of prison. The social stigma and routine background checks, according to the association, “has made it all but impossible for a person with a criminal record to leave the past behind.” ▪ Millions of former offenders have been denied voting and other rights long after they have paid their debt to society. ▪ The Sixth Amendment right to an attorney has been impaired by allowing public defender offices to be underfunded and overwhelmed, including by government prosecutors with more far more resources at their disposal. The Corpus Christi case led Charles Koch and his company to give money, starting about 10 years ago, to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. The company and the association would not say how much Koch has given, but the amount totals in the seven figures, Holden said. Campaigning against overcriminalization has prompted Koch to form unofficial alliances with people and organizations that usually champion liberal causes, including political activist George Soros and the American Civil Liberties Union, who are also campaigning for a reduction in prison populations. Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/news/special- reports/koch/article5050731.html#storylink=cpy Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Ada (#0)
That may not be possible for many reasons. First most people agree with authority. Therefore, when, as usual, the judge favors the prosecution, the jurors go along with the judge. Second when someone is on trial there is a presumption that he is guilty by the jurors. They are well schooled in the presumption of innocence that they can quote but don't really believe. That was clearly stated by one juror who also said, "Where there is smoke, there is fire." Finally, jurors believe most guilty go free so they want to do their part to rectify it by finding defendants guilty. That was the purpose of the for putting the O.J. trial on TV. They let him go free to reinforce to the public that the guilty go free. No other criminal trials are on TV. Our masters don't want the public to see just how unfair most criminal trials actually are.
Good observations. For the most part the public is getting the type of justice they want. (When either a conservative or a liberal becomes its victim, they change their tune mighty fast.)
At least it is what they are taught by mainstream media to believe they want.
Well, the ongoing trial to determine her punishment is not being shown live but Jodi Arias first trial was live. I saw more of that one than the jury did. And they saw more than enough that this second trial should not have been necessary. They correctly found her guilty but couldn't agree that the psychopath needed to die. So that is why they are having the second trial. Americans who have no experience with, or knowledge of, tyranny believe that only terrorists will experience the unchecked power of the state. They will believe this until it happens to them, or their children, or their friends. Paul Craig Roberts "When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it." Frederic Bastiat
I was wrong in stating that no other trial (besides OJ) are televised.
Well, you probably can't remember them all (none of us can). I remember Jodi's because I watched a lot of it and wondered, and still do, how anyone could do what she did to Travis Alexander, a man she claimed to love. I reckon he was lucky she didn't hate him.
Americans who have no experience with, or knowledge of, tyranny believe that only terrorists will experience the unchecked power of the state. They will believe this until it happens to them, or their children, or their friends. Paul Craig Roberts "When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it." Frederic Bastiat
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