#us legal system

[dankmemes23]

That bitch needs to recuse herself for an obvious conflict of interest

[bluebyrd-screaming]

It's so hard to want to be a lawyer in today's fucked up legal system

Like, what's the point of wanting to be a civil rights attorney with a focus on protecting people and having a deep understanding of the constitution if judges just don't give a fuck about the any of it and precedent no longer matters

[baronfulmen]

Holy shit it just keeps getting worse with every paragraph. I was expecting it to be bad but YIKES.

[justletmeon12]

My mom used to be a public defender. She worked appellate, so everyone she defended had already been convicted, and she took violent felonies because she found them interesting.

I don't think in 20 years she ever defended an innocent person, but she sure as hell defended some people who'd been royally fucked by a system invested in dehumanizing, torturing, and abusing them.

The point of getting rid of the death penalty isn’t that there are some innocent people on it. The point of prison abolition isn’t that there are some innocent people in prison.

The point is that the state shouldn’t have the power to kill people. The point is that the prison system commits systemic abuses of human rights, doesn’t reduce crime, is deeply racist, and doesn’t take the desires of the victims into account. To argue about whether one individual on death row or with a life sentence is innocent or guilty is just a distraction from the central issues, which is that these institutions are unjust and should not exist

[pathetic-gamer]

favorite hobby: getting blindsided by raw one-off lines in academic journals

(source)

[captain-kit-adventuress]

This article is a great look at why equality laws often fall short of their stated aims, through the specific lens of feminism. I adore the idea of using an unjust enrichment framework to remedy these issues legally, rather than passing anti-discrimination laws, because they essentially achieve the same thing but don't rely on changing hearts and minds, they just...make it the law. Also enrichment as a whole is a really interesting and complex framework through which to view human rights, and I encourage anyone who wants to explore other ideas of how to legislate social change to give it a read. I will note it's pretty long, but I think it's worth the time, especially if you're frustrated with the current pace of social change in America.

[inexable]

Trump Golf Club Shooting Incident Sparks Legal Questions

With federal charges filed against Ryan Routh for illegal firearm possession near Trump's golf game in Florida, the criminal complaint stops short of labeling it an assassination attempt. Should the Justice Department have pursued more severe charges based on the FBI's initial investigation? What does this say about the legal system’s handling of high-profile incidents? Share your thoughts!

[mel-155-a]

Disallowing felons the right to vote was the greatest fucking trick the devil ever pulled man. Do you even know what a felony is? Here in my state of Washington it's this: "A crime is a felony if it is so designated in this title or by any other statute of this state or if persons convicted thereof may be sentenced to imprisonment for a term in excess of one year." Source: https://leg.wa.gov/CodeReviser/RCWSelectedTitles/Documents/2020/9A.pdf You are a felon if you get sentenced to imprisonment for more then a year OR if the state decides that a particular thing you are convicted of is a felony. That's it. As far as I know, most if not all of the other states use the same definition. "Well, I just won't commit any crimes!" You say, being very smart. Except that the state can also just fucking make-up crimes, and then declare them a felony! You can be made a felon for shoplifting in Washington state, provided that the store you are stealing from has previously "trespassed you" (said you aren't welcome on the property anymore) and they can then catch you stealing something. People have been made felons for repeatedly getting caught sleeping outside or peeing because there isn't any public bathrooms any more. And then you start getting into highly surveilled populations (so, basically any minority), and shit gets fucking insane. Seattle Police Department is notoriously violent and racist, we literally had a bicycle cop just going up and down a particular road where a lot of black people tend to gather and hand out citations and tickets to random people because he suspected they might be doing, selling, or even just holding drugs. Good luck proving to a court that he was in the wrong, and if you get enough of these, guess what! You're a felon now! The whole system of "felony" vs "misdemeanor" is an arbitrary bullshit game that our extremely fucked justice system has invented so that it can do whatever the fuck it wants. Are you a middle class or better cis het white guy with a DUI? Misdemeanor. Poor black queer who got arrested at a protest for "assaulting" a police officer because some of your blood got on his uniform while he was hitting you? Felony. Hate this fucking stupid shitty country so much.

[unpredictablestuff]

The US has this fascinating legal system where all laws are applied to you whether or not you know about them, but many rights are only granted to you if you know about them and demand them.

[randomguy0ntumbir]

friggin fire

"I’m very concerned about my client’s right to a fair trial in this case.  He’s being prejudiced by some statements that are being made by government officials. Like every other defendant, he’s entitled to a presumption of innocence. But unfortunately the way this has been handled so far his rights are being violated. And as you know, Your Honor, there’s a wealth of case law guaranteeing his rights to a fair trial, but none of the safeguards have been put in place yet here — in fact it’s just the opposite of what’s been happening. 

He’s a young man, and he is being treated like a human pingpong ball between two warring jurisdictions here.

These federal and state prosecutors are coordinating with one another at the expense of him. They have conflicting theories in their indictment, and they are literally treating him like he is some sort of political fodder, like some sort of spectacle. 

He was on display for everyone to see in the biggest staged perp walk I’ve ever seen in my career. It was absolutely unnecessary. He’s been cooperative with law enforcement. He’d been in custody for over a week. He waived extradition. He was cooperative at all accounts. There was no reason for the NYPD and everybody to have these big assault rifles — that frankly I had no idea it was in their arsenal — and to have all the press there the media there. It was perfectly choreographed. 

And what was the New York City Mayor doing at this press conference, Your Honor? That just made it utterly political. And as your honor knows under Loro v. Charles, the Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit has held it to be clearly established that these staged perp walks to the media unrelated to a legitimate law enforcement objective is unconstitutional. And I submit that there was zero law enforcement objective to do that sort of perp walk. There’s absolutely no need for that whatsoever. 

And frankly, Your Honor, the mayor should know more than anyone about the presumption of innocence that he, too, is afforded dealing with his own issues. And, frankly, I submit that he was just trying to detract from those issues by making a spectacle of Mr. Mangione. 

And there are consequences to this. 

He has a right to a fair trial. And I just want to put on the record statements that the mayor made publicly about my client. Nothing saying “alleged” for example. And he said “I wanted to send a strong message with the police commissioner that we’re leading from the front. I’m not just going to allow him to come into our city. I wanted to look him in the eye and state ‘You carried out this terrorist act in my city, the city of New York that I love.’” And he wanted to show symbolism. 

Your Honor, he’s not a symbol. He’s somebody who is afforded the right to a fair trial. He’s innocent until proven guilty. And the mayor was talking to jurors — future potential jurors that elected him. Those are the people that elected him that he is talking to and calling this man a terrorist.

So, Your Honor, I just want to make a record of this and put everyone on notice that this has to stop, and my client is entitled to a fair trial and the presumption of innocence."

[reasonsforhope]

Article | Paywall Free

"Maryland Gov. Wes Moore issued a mass pardon of more than 175,000 marijuana convictions Monday morning [June 17, 2024], one of the nation’s most sweeping acts of clemency involving a drug now in widespread recreational use.

The pardons forgive low-level marijuana possession charges for an estimated 100,000 people in what the Democratic governor said is a step to heal decades of social and economic injustice that disproportionately harms Black and Brown people. Moore noted criminal records have been used to deny housing, employment and education, holding people and their families back long after their sentences have been served.

[Note: If you're wondering how 175,000 convictions were pardoned but only 100,000 people are benefiting, it's because there are often multiple convictions per person.]

A Sweeping Act

“We aren’t nibbling around the edges. We are taking actions that are intentional, that are sweeping and unapologetic,” Moore said at an Annapolis event interrupted three times by standing ovations. “Policymaking is powerful. And if you look at the past, you see how policies have been intentionally deployed to hold back entire communities.”

Moore called the scope of his pardons “the most far-reaching and aggressive” executive action among officials nationwide who have sought to unwind criminal justice inequities with the growing legalization of marijuana. Nine other states and multiple cities have pardoned hundreds of thousands of old marijuana convictions in recent years, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Legalized marijuana markets reap billions in revenue for state governments each year, and polls show public sentiment on the drug has also turned — with more people both embracing cannabis use and repudiating racial disparities exacerbated by the War on Drugs.

The pardons, timed to coincide with Wednesday’s Juneteenth holiday, a day that has come to symbolize the end of slavery in the United States, come from a rising star in the Democratic Party and the lone Black governor of a U.S. state whose ascent is built on the promise to “leave no one behind.”

The Pardons and Demographics

Derek Liggins, 57, will be among those pardoned Monday, more than 16 years after his last day in prison for possessing and dealing marijuana in the late 1990s. Despite working hard to build a new life after serving time, Liggins said he still loses out on job opportunities and potential income.

“You can’t hold people accountable for possession of marijuana when you’ve got a dispensary on almost every corner,” he said.

Nationwide, according to the ACLU, Black people were more than three times more likely than White people to be arrested for marijuana possession. President Biden in 2022 issued a mass pardon of federal marijuana convictions — a reprieve for roughly 6,500 people — and urged governors to follow suit in states, where the vast majority of marijuana prosecutions take place.

Maryland’s pardon action rivals only Massachusetts, where the governor and an executive council together issued a blanket pardon in March expected to affect hundreds of thousands of people.

But Moore’s pardons appear to stand alone in the impact to communities of color in a state known for having one of the nation’s worst records for disproportionately incarcerating Black people for any crimes. More than 70 percent of the state’s male incarcerated population is Black, according to state data, more than double their proportion in society.

In announcing the pardons, he directly addressed how policies in Maryland and nationwide have systematically held back people of color — through incarceration and restricted access to jobs and housing...

Maryland, the most diverse state on the East Coast, has a dramatically higher concentration of Black people compared with other states that have issued broad pardons for marijuana: 33 percent of Maryland’s population is Black, while the next highest is Illinois, with 15 percent...

Reducing the state’s mass incarceration disparity has been a chief goal of Moore, Brown and Maryland Public Defender Natasha Dartigue, who are all the first Black people to hold their offices in the state. Brown and Dartigue have launched a prosecutor-defender partnership to study the “the entire continuum of the criminal system,” from stops with law enforcement to reentry, trying to detect all junctures where discretion or bias could influence how justice is applied, and ultimately reform it.

How It Will Work

Maryland officials said the pardons, which would also apply to people who are dead, will not result in releasing anyone from incarceration because none are imprisoned. Misdemeanor cannabis charges yield short sentences and prosecutions for misdemeanor criminal possession have stopped, as possessing small amounts of the drug is legal statewide.

Moore’s pardon action will automatically forgive every misdemeanor marijuana possession charge the Maryland judiciary could locate in the state’s electronic court records system, along with every misdemeanor paraphernalia charge tied to use or possession of marijuana. Maryland is the only state to pardon such paraphernalia charges, state officials said...

People who benefit from the mass pardon will see the charges marked in state court records within two weeks, and they will be eliminated from criminal background check databases within 10 months."

-via The Washington Post, June 17, 2024. Headings added by me.

[kinsey3furry300]

Recent or current US bills being debated to be signed into law by mostly republican state governments in 2023.

South Carolina: wants to make a woman seeking an abortion a capital offence. Not the only state considering this.

Minnesota and Iowa: wants to deal with workers demanding higher wages by lowering the definition of an “adult” worker to 14, allowing 14 year olds to work as delivery drivers, in construction, mining, ranching, or in meat-packing plants to get around labour shortages.

Idaho: wants to have a ban of drag performances that is so vague, that anyone or any gender wearing any makeup or “Glamorous clothing” while publicly performing in any way could be arrested and added to the sex offenders register. Montana, Arizona, Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia are also seeking drag show bans.

Florida is considering giving courts “Emergency powers” to forcibly take children into care if any adult in their household (including older siblings) comes out as trans or genderfluid. It’s also considering legalizing parental abduction allowing Floridians to cross state lines to kidnap their children if they are receiving gender affirming care in other states, even if they no longer have legal custody over said children.

Texas is trying to block any and all gender affirming healthcare or cosmetic procedure, including reconstructive surgery for after mastectomy on trans Texans, for residents of the state, even if they go out of state for said treatment.

And getting in on this republican madness, Democrat Massachusetts considered letting prisoners sell organs or bone marrow in exchange for sorter sentences. Just... like.... fucking hell.

 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/21/anti-drag-show-laws-bans-republican-states

https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/2023-02-26/child-labor-violations-are-on-the-rise-as-some-states-look-to-loosen-their-rules

https://www.businessinsider.com/south-carolina-gop-state-bill-make-death-penalty-punishment-abortion-2023-3?r=US&IR=T

https://xtramagazine.com/power/politics/florida-bill-trans-custody-247101

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-bill-ban-gender-affirming-care-transgender-adults/

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2023-02-09/massachusetts-bill-would-let-prisoners-donate-organs-in-exchange-for-shorter-sentence

https://www.npr.org/2018/08/03/635203037/allegations-of-sexual-abuse-surface-at-arizona-shelters-for-migrant-children

[fostertheory]

The largest form of theft in the US is wage theft; Disney is not unique in this.

And it is pretty uniformly treated as a civil, not criminal, matter.