The American criminal justice system is run by lawyers, largely for lawyers. Lawyers love to drag things out; it gives them more billable hours. For instant the Boston Marathon bomber was sentenced to death five years ago. He is still alive, in jail, with lawyers arguing the rightness of his sentence. He will probably die in prison of old age. The lawyers have collected five years worth of billable hours.
Reforms we ought to make:
1. Prosecutors should only be allowed to charge a criminal with ONE offense for each arrest. Right now the lawyers charge the criminal with half a dozen crimes, some more serious, some less serious. Then they say “plead guilty to this lesser offense. If you insist on going to trial we will prosecute you for this really terrible offense that has a mandatory 20 year minimum sentence.” This is plea bargaining and most American criminal cases are settled by a plea bargain. It’s cheaper than a trial. It’s not very fair.
2. We ought to go over our criminal statutes. There has got to be a whole bunch of offenses from the old days that nobody cares about in the 21st century. Remove them. Decriminalize possession of pot. I see no reason to jail people for mere possession. Rewrite what is left using plain Standard English, no Latin, and no lawyer gobble de gook.
3. Forbid no knock raids. Bust down someone’s door at o’dark thirty, and they will shoot, every time. A no-knock raid is just provoking a gun fight in which some one gets killed. Not good law enforcement.
4. Justice delayed is justice denied. I think one year is plenty of time for lawyers to run off a trial, yielding a sentence or an acquittal. If the lawyers cannot get the lead out, the defendant should be acquitted after one year from his arrest.
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