#legal injustice

[incognitopolls]

The Scottsboro Boys were a group of nine Black teenagers who were accused of raping two white women in Tennessee in 1931. They were given multiple unfair trials in Alabama and are a major example of legal injustice in the US. One of the alleged victims later admitted that the accusation was false. You can read the details on Wikipedia.

–

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[manie-sans-delire-x]

Jodi Arias: young woman who passionately murders her on/off again boyfriend who had a pedo fetish, for cheating and raping her while she slept

The law: life sentence, no parole

The comments: omg shes so evil and psycho!! Female ted bundy! She could have just left!

Young woman with no motive or prior behavior experiences actual drug induced psychosis and kills her boyfriend, stabs herself in the neck with a bread knife multiple times, and their dog

(from high potency weed he gave her, allegedly pressured her into consuming a large amount) (bf had anger issues and had been abusive during intimate moments in the past, he laughed when she asked him to help her when she felt sick from all the weed he made her smoke)

The law: all professionals agree it was legitimate psychosis, so no jail time

The comments: omg this proves the law is so soft on women!! Women never held accountable! Men oppressed victims! Im going to keep using this case as a weapon now because I didnt bother reading the case details, only the incendiary headline! No excuse!! "Psychosis" yeah right! She should be killed! Psycho!! I guess murder is legal now!

This ugly fat fuck (Carey Birmingham): old man who calmly murders his long term wife and mother of their daughter on video, for cheating and stealing money/giving it to her bf

The law: meh 10 yrs I guess but the judge is sympathetic

The comments: omg women are never held responsible, she deserved worse! This is a crime of passion! This is psychosis!! She literally took his life!! He seems like a good man and shes clearly abusive! (thats somehow the conclusion I reached from this 10 sec clip of her getting murdered)

(How the comments would have been if it had been sex swapped:

- Cheating is no excuse for murder!! She ruined their daughters life too!

-Hahah who wouldnt cheat on that?? I dont blame him! *insert lots of insults and sexual degradation*

-Ladies if you dont want your man to cheat, you have to take better care of yourselves lol!

-Even if she was abused its no excuse, women!! You can divorce and leave! Your choice your fault she should choose better

-Eww lol thats not a woman thats a whale!

-Look at her, just totally naked and exposed in their public neighborhood shes so gross! You can tell what kind of woman she was, clearly a gross slob and whore anyways

-Poor guy had no choice but to cheat haha!)

[gay-baby-brig]

Still inordinatly salty about that time I said I was so proud of Izzy’s character development and a thousand people jumped on to say "uuuuh cute that you just now noticed how funny and kind he is but there was no character development, he was always like that. Real Izzy fans know."

Sweetheart, babydoll, cute pie, sunchild, I am BEGGING you to understand that character development does not just mean a character who hated pudding in season one changed their mind and learned to love pudding in season two.

Character development also means a character loved pudding in season one and wasn't brave or comfortable enough to show how much they loved it until season two. That is the development of the character.

[jimmyspades]

[aronarchy]

I don’t believe in “international law.”

“Abolish the courts” applies to both “domestic” courts as well as foreign/global legal bodies. I’m not sure how any reasonable and compassionate person can look at, for example, some panel of privileged adults judging a child or teenager on whether they should be locked up for killing their abusive parent, that they have the power to do so, that the survivor’s revictimization or freedom depends on the feelings of these remote privileged adults and not feel that this entire system and this entire notion of “judging” is a sham, is inherently a risk to the autonomy of the vulnerable and oppressed. How arrogant is the presumption that some outsider, merely because they have power and respectability and legitimacy, can have the full picture of the interiority of an oppressed person who’s been through and/or going through hell, who should be the foremost expert on their own situation and the epistemic authority regarding themself, as if their experience of “abuse” or “oppression” cannot be considered “real” until some outsider validates it first?

And likewise I found it deeply depressing and cruel that the Palestinians or their allies have to go to a court in an entirely different country to argue and plead for Palestinians’ basic rights and persuade a group of privileged people to acknowledge them, hinging their prospects on which ruling they would decide on, when they should not have to do that in the first place, and they should have autonomy and not be beholden to the potentially negative, oppressive judgment of some outsiders in the first place! That is a travesty.

I don’t say this to imply that the efforts of lawyers defending the oppressed in front of a court are easy, unimportant, irrelevant, entirely unimpactful, or callous, or that there is no context where invoking the language of “illegal under international law” or “war crimes” is useful or helpful in discussions or raising awareness; they are working within an unjust system trying to give the victims the best chances they can have in it, and preventing things from being even worse. Likewise, I respect lawyers who defend child abuse victims or adult domestic abuse victims or sexual violence victims etc. But we should interpret such situations with a basic understanding that that is not all activism can offer, nor should trying to game the system more in our favor be the ultimate end goal.

I also don’t say this to imply that international law/the UN and individual nation-state law/state governments are identical. There’s a key difference in that the former lacks the same kind of enforcement power the latter has, and is not set by a single cohesive entity with unilateral interests and power to wield. But the other similarities are there. (“International law” derives its own legitimacy from the consent of nation-states which sign on to it, which in turn derive their own legitimacy in doing so from the purported consent of their governed, which is necessarily invalid.)

[commonsensecommentary]

“I have no idea who will win the 2024 election, but I can guarantee that, as of this moment, the Democrats have, due to their blindness regarding the side effects of their legal bludgeoning of Donald Trump, turned him into a more formidable candidate by turning him into a martyr in the eyes of many, one who deserves both their sympathy and support.”

[inamindfarfaraway]

The only correct Waylon Jones characterization is him being an ardent supporter of human rights, with focus on Black Lives Matter, homeless people, prisoners and people with criminal records and abused children, even as he commits gruesome murders. Especially as he commits gruesome murders.

[dykeogenes]

“what to tell a doctor to get an autism diagnosis” “here’s what i learned from realizing i was autistic at 40″ “i would never want a professional diagnosis” “person first language is so regressive” “autism symptoms are only a problem because of ableism” “we dont need treatment” “no autistic person wants a cure” “four doctors told me i couldn’t be autistic so i found a fifth” “autism is an invisible disability” “dont disclose your neurodivergency to employers” “i/dd and autism have nothing to do with each other” “nt parents/advocates have no place in autism communities” “of course im autistic have you heard me talk about horror movies” babe i have nothing in common with any of you

[perikrone]

One thing that gets me about systemic transphobia is how much of it requires an understanding of bureaucratic structures and norms, the ability to code switch to a White Professional persona, and some computer literacy to get around.

Like, even in the South, decent transition care is *kinda* available, and access to legal transition is *kinda* a thing. If you're in or near a big city, are reasonably quick and autodidactic, and modestly resourced, then there are options.

But my heart breaks to see so many trans folks in local support groups and forums who can't muster the code switch, can't understand the Structure of A Thing, or aren't great with computers who lose access to care for that!

In my state, changing the gender marker on your driver's license isn't technically impossible, but it involves finding out what documents you need (10 yr passport, no secondary documents with the incorrect gender marker on them), what office to go to (some are known to let you change it more often than others), and being able to speak Bureaucrat well enough to convince the clerk to do it. I managed to get my gender marker changed, and it felt like I rolled a 19 on a Persuasion check.

My doctor isn't anyone special, and works in a practice that is connected with a religious institution that doesn't speak too kindly of trans folks, and most of his patients are queer. He got me on informed consent HRT on Day 1, and has been a small but consistently encouraging force. Genuinely, I do not feel gatekept by him in the least. But I knew where and how to find him.

Getting my name changed wasn't a difficult process, and I got my paperwork back silly fast, but it took forever to figure out what forms to file where in what order. I could even get the court record sealed if I wanted to! (Although I still haven't gotten a bill from one of the offices that was supposed to send me one. Got the name change papers, though, what are they gonna do, take my name back?)

Look, are there worse and more urgent injustices? Absolutely. But these are tiny and needless, and I think that's worth mourning a little.

[bronanlynch]

so dgs2 sure is a video game huh. anyway here are my lawyer file clerk rankings (this one is more unhinged than usual I’m so sorry I played most of dgs2-5 in one day and I think my brain kind of melted)

ryutaro: I do generally have a ‘no working for teenagers’ rule in these but honestly ryutaro does seem to be the best boss of any of the teenage lawyers, and at least knows what it’s like as the person doing the admin stuff and therefore wouldn’t be too annoyingly demanding abt it. 6/10, would generally prefer as a coworker rather than a boss

auchi: sure seems like he’s going through some stuff and taking it out on everyone around him which would make him unpleasant as an employer. also I would not be able to keep up the polite conversation where every single day he expects me to tell him how much his hair has grown back and every day I have to pretend that it’s grown at all. 2/10, no thanks

ryunosuke: last time I said that because he has susato he wouldn’t necessarily need another file clerk but reforming the entire japanese legal system would create a lot of paperwork so I am now fully on board with working for him. he meets so many of my standards: he consults his notes in court which means he needs his files done correctly, he’s polite to the people he works with, he believes in truth and justice and making the world a better place, and his cases are always absolutely fucking wild so the documents I’d be filing would be interesting to read. also, if he’s doing for mikotoba, with his government connections, presumably he has access to some decent government funding which probably means decent benefits for me. 10/10, I am emailing him my resume as we speak

van zieks (with masked apprentice): I’ve got to be honest with you, if I show up to my first day of work and my boss is like “so this is your coworker, he’s not allowed to talk to anyone and he has to wear that mask at all times, it’s not punishment” I am going to think that I’ve just accidentally joined a cult, and I will immediately be turning around and asking the non-existent hr department to assign me to literally any other prosecutor. no, learning that it’s my boss’s boss’s idea would not make me feel any better. might be convinced to stay if I see my new coworker uncork a wine bottle with a sword because seriously how is he doing that. .5/10, for sheer morbid curiosity

van zieks (post-game): so obviously there are still a few drawbacks here but honestly, on the whole, after he goes through his character development, I think he’d be a pretty decent option. partially this is because of what kazuma says about how when he’s especially picky abt something he just does it himself, which I appreciate in a boss, because it means he would rather do something himself than expect me to do something impossible and then yell at me for failing to live up to his expectations. (yes kazuma was talking abt van zieks organizing his wine collection for that bit, but shh I’m extrapolating) anyway, it would be hypocritical to dock points for him being a neurotic perfectionist so there’s that too. I do also appreciate how much he hates rich people who get away with shit because they’re rich. me too, buddy. like I’m still fundamentally opposed to carceral justice systems and think that while putting rich people in jail for their crimes may appear to present a short-term solution (and I suppose if I had to choose, it is preferable to putting poor people in jail for crimes that they’re driven to by unjust societal pressures & are more likely to receive harsher punishments for) it will not provide a long-term answer to the overarching problem of uh. having an aristocracy let alone a monarchy. but. there are worse people to work for. 6.5/10, would prefer not to be affiliated with the british government but

stronghart: including him because he was previously a prosecutor and tbh even setting aside the blackmail and the murder conspiracies, he just seems like an absolute fucking nightmare to deal with. if I asked my boss a simple question abt information I needed in order to do my job and he responded by telling me exactly how much time down to the second that he was going to let me speak for or exactly how late to his next meeting he is, I would lose my fucking mind. also, he constantly has people doing shit that is just simply not their fucking job. why was van zieks preparing the meeting room for the forensics conference! I hate people who think they’re too good for that sort of work but it is quite literally not his fucking job. 0/10, please I can give myself enough time anxiety without a boss doing it for me

klint van zieks: now. listen. please see my rating of byrne faraday for my known weakness for prosecutors who do vigilante shit bc they know that the courts are rigged and will never convict the wealthy & powerful. I’m including him for completeness’s sake but I fully do not think I can be objective here because unfortunately I cannot blame him for thinking that the british aristocracy is an evil institution (see above). anyway. Idk. everyone who worked with/for him seemed to respect him a lot so like, I’ll believe that he was a pretty ok boss. 5/10, loses points on principle for being a british aristocrat himself, sorry :/ (and also lack of data)

kazuma (post-game): I love him, is the thing. I am even less capable of being objective abt kazuma than I am abt anyone else. he is literally just the perfect man. he’s competent, he’s rude to people who deserve it but he doesn’t seem like he’d go out of his way to be rude to like, innocent minimum wage employees, and he seems reasonably organized without being overly demanding abt it. I think my one caveat here is that I’m honestly not sure how long he lasts as a prosecutor for the british government before realizing that no, the system is still bad and wealthy/titled people still can cause harm without facing consequences, and that’s the point where he either quits his job or decides that maybe murder is the answer after all, and neither of those are great for long-term job security as his employee. to be clear, I support him fully in either endeavor. 10/10, my roommate was right I’m glad I left him room to improve his score

(previous games here: aa1 | aa2 | aa3 | aa4 | aai | dgs1 )

[learningfromlosing]

sometimes, you've been through enough to take it to legal channels. sometimes, doctors don't have your best interest at heart. sometimes, people do things on purpose. sometimes, there's no way to justify their actions, even if they're a friend or a parent. sometimes, people don't realize the people their fucking over are already at their limit. sometimes, people don't know who they're fucking with. and sometimes, it's their own fault. sometimes, you have to take legal actions because we no longer have parents to ground us, and we still need reparation and justice. sometimes, people need to learn hard lessons because we are adults who should know better, and they did, and did it anyway. sometimes, we have had enough for so long, you have no idea what you're walking into, doing these things on purpose. sometimes, they have no idea, when they should have some by paying attention to the situation. but they will learn soon. sometimes, it doesn't matter if it takes years. sometimes, it doesn't matter if it's right away. sometimes, we can wait for you to burn. and wait we will. you will be a warm person again soon, even if that means the warmth is from standing near you while you are engulfed in the flames you brought on yourself.

[ushypocrisy]

Uvalde massacre survivors fight to hold system accountable

Uvalde massacre survivors take the system to court December 13, 2022 Picture from LAtimes.com Originally posted on LiberationNews.org Survivors of the horrific massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas that left 19 children and two teachers dead and 17 others wounded have filed lawsuits to hold the agencies they say enabled the massacre accountable under the law. While it was…

[justia]

Should Prosecutors Worry About Having Jewish People on Capital Juries?

17 MAY 2024 | AUSTIN SARAT

On May 13, the New York Times published a story about discrimination in jury selection in death cases that was shocking, but not surprising. The story recounted longstanding efforts by prosecutors in Alameda County, California, to prevent people from serving as jurors in death penalty cases based on their race, gender, and religion.

Last month, a federal judge ordered an inquiry into those allegations. As the Times explains, “The inquiry, which may involve as many as 35 cases from as far back as 1977, is just getting underway. But the district attorney’s office says it has already found evidence that the discriminatory practice was widespread for decades and involved numerous prosecutors.”

The Times article highlighted and paid particular attention to the systematic exclusion of Jewish people from death penalty juries.

Read More Here

[dorianbrightmusic]

man, reading this much about Magnus Hirschfeld's life and work shouldn't be making me feel this emotional