Guilty until proven innocent...
observations on this life
Just watched a Court TV program about five men and one woman wrongly convicted of rapes and murders who spent up to 22 years, in the case of one man, on death row. All were found to be innocent through DNA testing or new trials, or confessions of the actual person (s) who committed the crimes. As somone who does not understand the concept of murdering murders, I'm especially repulsed by how many innocent people have been locked up in violent institutions for crimes they did not commit. Why is there not a constitutional admendment that allows for reparations to be paid to these people for all the time they lost in the world. Everything else in our society has a price. What is one day on death row worth? What kind payment is fair for someone who sat in a cell the size of most people's closets and had that knowing that one day they would come for you and take your life?
I say one million dollars from the state for every year they sat and waited to die or to be set free. They should be provided with any kind of counseling or therapy they want or need to make themselves somewhat whole again. They should be given a house and a car and a free college education at any school in the state system not only for them, but for their children, and their children's children.
An eye for an eye is an old proverb and needs to be ignored.... We are much more intelligent creatures than the ancient tribal people who wrote that.....
posted by jaibone @ 1:32 PM
1 Comments:
This has often crossed my mind.
Having been a police officer (formerly... I resigned to pursue a lifestyle that more closely matches my temperment and spirit....) I often saw situations in which I had doubts about whether the right person was being arrested and charged for a crime as opposed to a 'convenient' person...
I can say that I went to great lengths to ensure that I was making the proper decisions... but the reality is that folks who deliberately do wrong and commit crimes are generally smart enough to cover their tracks, have a story already mapped out, and are able to present themselves with a certain presence of mind that can fool even the most cynical of people...whereas the innocent have not gone to any lengths to document their whereabouts, may not have an alibi or 'story' and can easily find themselves in a great deal of trouble simply for looking the way that they do or being where they happen to be....
The reality is that you simply cannot know whether someone is guilty or innocent unless you witnessed the crime yourself. Period. People make accusations falsely, they make mistakes, they accuse others to protect themselves or their loved ones... when a crime is particularly horrific, there is a general feeling in a community that someone has to answer for it... unfortunately, that someone may not be the person who committed the crime.
I pray that I have never wrongly accused anyone... and am grateful that this pressure no longer falls on me...
I think that your idea of reparation for the wrongly accused is dead on... at the very least, the possibility of being compelled to make huge monetary reparations would give pause to any municipality that is prosecuting someone for having committed a crime.. I think that they would be more likely to check themselves and make sure that they are making decision based upon facts rather than on predjudices or groundless accusations...
I don't know that thier is any correct answer to this issue... I know that if I put myself in the place of someone falsely accused, in my mind, it makes me ill to think that my entire life can be forcibly taken away from me and that there is no recourse at all if I am not financially well off enough to hire an expensive attorney... justice for the rich... and what about the rest of us??
Thanks for the post... I'm with you on this one.
Bear
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