#Justice system

[theivorybilledwoodpecker]

^^This.

What bothers me about the focus on rehabilitation over punishment (in terms of violent crime) is that it treats the victims lives cheaply while treating the perpetrators as victims.

(And I'm not talking about nonviolent offenses. I agree that people who commit nonviolent crime can be rehabilitated and that this is preferable to lengthy prison sentences.)

But I've heard people argue that murderers and rapists should be given a second chance because prison won't undo the crime. I've heard people label punishment for these crimes as "revenge."

It's as though these people hear about violent crimes and rush past the victims and their families to comfort the criminal because, in their mind, the fact that these criminals committed the crime means they must have been through an awful ordeal at some point! And the victims...well, they're just there.

I believe in what some would call prison abolition, I believe in rehabilitation instead of prison in some cases, I believe in decriminalizing drugs, I hate how American prisons are a for-profit business, I think the American justice system is racist, classist and needs serious change, I am against cops.

That being said, there is a huge disconnect between that and fully getting rid of prisons as a barrier between violent criminals and the public, which is necessary for a functional society. I have seen some prison abolitionists say that this is unnecessary, that child molesters and other sex offenders can be rehabilitated and put back into society. I saw a Vice documentary advocating for just this, "Why Some Sex Offenders Never Get Out of Prison", where it showed the lives of rapists that have been let out of prison in an incredibly sympathetic light. In it, it argued that being let out of prison isn't enough help for rapists, and that they need more support and forgiveness.

Why are these resources that they want for rapists not being used to help victims? Victims lives are arguably more affected than just being put in prison, and they receive almost no government support. The obvious answer is that sex offenders (almost entirely men) are being prioritized over victims (majority women). Rapists, domestic abusers and serial killers should be put away until they die, because they have a significant chance of re-offending and because it is absolutely what they deserve. Full stop. And saying otherwise is putting the lives of these men over their victims and future victims.

It is infuriating being a female leftist and seeing how men, even ones that agree with you, are so willing to throw you under the bus. Believing in complete prison abolition is an entirely conceptual wish that makes the other leftist arguments against the American criminal justice system look like a joke.

[texas-gothic]

This Luigi business has, I think, really exposed something we all knew about in the US justice system, but has for so long been pretended to not exist by all of this country's communication and media controllers.

Despite the fact that we are all meant to be private citizens, all held within equal respect by and to the law, there are some very different classes of people as far as courts are concerned.

If Luigi Mangione had shot some middle class, pencil pushing office schlub or retail salesman, there'd have been a however temporary stink made about on the television. And if they ever did catch him, he'd be dragged through the courts, and maybe become the center of a "shame on you" piece on the 6 o'clock news. But in all likelihood they never would have bothered to catch him. They'd say "we're doing our best" and they'd forget about it. No manhunt, no media circus, no $60,000 bounty put on his head by the FBI.

If Luigi Mangione had shot, say, a black man, nothing would have happened at all. It's unlikely we would even have any inkling of it.

But Luigi Mangione didn't kill someone from the lower class, he didn't even kill someone from the middle class. He killed Bryan Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, a Fortune 500 company. He killed a nobleman. And that means he's to be dragged into court surrounded by a small army of guards, charged with crimes wholly unrelated to whatever he's allegedly done, and before all of that, made the subject of a national manhunt.

If nothing else, it's become abundantly clear just who the courts consider to be worth their time.

[thoughtportal]

[reality-detective]

Remember this? (1999)

“Paula Jones is paid a $850,000 check from President Clinton, bringing an official end to the four-year saga spurred by her allegations of sexual harassment.”

When does the trial for Bill Clinton begin? 🤔

[reasonsforhope]

Note: They're saying "alleged" because that's what journalists are supposed to do until there's a conviction. ABC isn't trying to cast doubt, they're trying to follow professional standards and also not get sued for libel.

"Former President Donald Trump, bent on staying in power, undertook a sweeping "criminal scheme" to overturn the results of the 2020 election, including repeatedly pushing lies about the results despite knowing that they were correct, and doubling down on those falsehoods as the Jan. 6 riot raged, a sweeping federal indictment alleges.

This is the third indictment faced by the former president, who -- as the Republican frontrunner in the 2024 presidential race -- continues to insist that the vote was rigged.

Prosecutors say the alleged scheme, which they say involved six unnamed co-conspirators, included enlisting a slate of so-called "fake electors" targeting several states; using the Justice Department to conduct "sham election crime investigations"; enlisting the vice president to "alter the election results"; and doubling down on false claims as the Jan. 6 riot ensued -- all in an effort to subvert democracy and stay in power.

The six alleged co-conspirators include several attorneys and a Justice Department official.

The sweeping indictment, based on the investigation by special counsel Jack Smith, charges Trump with four felony counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights...

In the history of the country, no president or former president had ever been indicted prior to Trump's first indictment in April."

-via ABC News, August 1, 2023

WE FUCKING DID IT

[fuck-u-maga]

[toontuska]

Two tier justice system

[rabbits-of-negative-euphoria]

gotta say I'm with the pilgrims when it comes to domestic abuse. men who beat their wives should be publicly flogged.

[thashining]

Call Gov Parson 417-373-3400

[allthecanadianpolitics]

The Supreme Court of Canada is being accused of engaging in anti-Black and anti-Palestinian racism. Three Black delegates were invited to the Supreme Court as a part of a delegation presenting to clerks of the court about the 2022 Halifax Declaration for the Eradication of Racial Discrimination and anti-Black racism in the justice system. The delegation had been organized by former governor general Michaëlle Jean. Three members of the delegation, El Jones, Derico Symonds and Benazir Erdimi were told only hours before the meeting that they would no longer be allowed to attend. The reason given by Supreme Court Registrar Chantel Charbonneau was because of “controversial” social media posts made by these three members of the delegation.

Continue Reading

Tagging @politicsofcanada

[deathtoallbillionaires]

For the record, I wish we lived in a country where Brian Thompson was spending his life in prison without the possibility parole instead of dying on the street. Unfortunately, that was never going to happen.

Our government repeatedly fails to prevent mass death and suffering at the hands of ultra-wealthy and powerful people. I would rather Brian Thompson be dead than permitted to continue taking innocent lives through profit-driven negligence.

Still, his death will only matter in the grand scheme of things if it inspires more victims of corrupt systems to retaliate. Peaceful protests have failed us. I believe that America needs to go through its own version of the French Revolution. Billionaires should fear for their lives if they allow the preventable death and suffering of thousands.

Call this a radical take, but they started killing first.

[kitty-pelosi]

The state of Missouri is executing an innocent man tonight, his name is Marcellus Williams. The prosecutors that convicted him do not even have faith in their rulings and do not want him to die. The court and the governor of Missouri want him to die.

None of his DNA can be tied to the crime scene. Fingerprints from the scene were destroyed by police. The DNA from the scene is not his nor the victims. The only evidence used to convict him and sentence him to death is an apparent eyewitness account from two witnesses who also received a $10,000 reward for participating in the investigation.

The courts, police, and Governor have functionally paid $10k to two people tangentially related to this man so that they can clean up an unsolved case and murder this man.

[reality-detective]

Major breaking: A juror allegedly leaked the verdict in Trump's bogus misdemeanor- turned-felony on a "novel legal theory" trial, where a conviction can be made on a federal crime in a state court with just a few jurors agreeing on the crime...despite those crimes not being argued.

Mistrial inbound.

If that Facebook comment from one of the juror's cousin is confirmed, a mistrial must be declared immediately or the justice system's credibility is FOREVER damaged. 🤔

[mimi-0007]

The family of Dexter Wade is calling for justice after the 37-year-old man was allegedly fatally struck by a Jackson, Mississippi Police Department cruiser in March and later buried in a potter's field without his family knowing.

[thecaptaintrout]

https://bsky.app/profile/blubonic.bsky.social/post/3lewnml7gtk2p