Guilty Until Proven Innocent
Our Justice System is corrupted. Guilt or innocence is not important. What is important for the prosecutors is convictions. Here is an example:
“We now have an incredible concentration of power in the hands of prosecutors,” said Richard E. Myers II, a former assistant United States attorney who is now an associate professor of law at the University of North Carolina. He said that so much influence now resides with prosecutors that “in the wrong hands, the criminal justice system can be held hostage.”
How does this work?
Cases like Florida v. Shane Guthrie help explain why. After Mr. Guthrie, 24, was arrested here last year, accused of beating his girlfriend and threatening her with a knife, the prosecutor offered him a deal for two years in prison plus probation.
Mr. Guthrie rejected that, and a later offer of five years, because he believed that he was not guilty, his lawyer said. But the prosecutor’s response was severe: he filed a more serious charge that would mean life imprisonment if Mr. Guthrie is convicted later this year.
Because of a state law that increased punishments for people who had recently been in prison, like Mr. Guthrie, the sentence would be mandatory. So what he could have resolved for a two-year term could keep him locked up for 50 years or more.
Of course I have no idea if Guthrie is guilty or not. But let’s say for the sake of a discussion that he is innocent. He knows that if he pleads guilty he gets 2 years. If he fights the system, and loses, he gets 50. When you enter a court room the outcome is not known or knowable. I have been to court a few times and have never been able to predict the outcome. A prison alumni is not going take the risk. He really has no choice, as guilt or innocence is not important. Even if he has a 90% chance of acquittal, he should take the deal. Looking at it purely from a game theory perspective you get this: 10% of 50 years is 5 years, or twice the plea agreement.
Surely this is rare?
“How many times is a mandatory sentence used as a chip in order to coerce a plea? They don’t keep records,” said Senior Judge John L. Kane Jr. of United States District Court in Denver, who believes that prosecutors have grown more powerful than judges. But it is very common, he added. “That’s what the public doesn’t see, and where the statistics become meaningless.”
I think we often do not care what happens to these people. Neither Mr. Guthrie nor his girlfriend are sympathetic figures. The jury may feel that they are safer with this kind of man in jail, and they may be right. Justice takes a back seat—I am not sure it is even in the same car anymore.
I remember the one time I visited someone in prison. He was really the only person I ever knew who went. (Apart from a guy I would not visit who tried to make a fertilizer bomb.) Often the authorities make it difficult to visit someone by purposefully incarcerating him far away from his friends and family. The trip to see him was several hours. I forget why he was there, but I do remember the second time he was in prison. He got three years for driving without car insurance.
Lew Rockwell tells us the fate of such people:
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.
Matthew 25 tells us about how we as Christian should act.
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.
I think that most Christians are lacking in this area. We tend to be the "put them in prison and throw away the key" types.
I used to reason that a man was innocent until proven guilty. Now, I am not so sure-with Babylon the Great guilt and innocence lose their meaning.
Reader Comments (2)
There is another injustice done in the financial field -- white collar crime -- where prosecution by the Justice Dept. is deferred. Then the statute of limitations goes in effect, so the case is never prosecuted, even though there may already be some admission, or good evidence, of guilt. It's not what you know, it's who you know, and maybe who you made a political contribution to. Now in addition to Too Big To Fail we have a new category: Too Big To Jail.
Guilt or innocence do not matter as much as rich or poor.