Justice and Public Safety

The following articles focus on justice in America. I find myself feeling disheartened and dismayed by the inequities in the criminal justice system, and concerned about the toll our "lock 'em up and throw away the key" mentality will have on our society, our economy and our future.

Many of these articles show how common sense and fairness have been thrown to the winds by those who covet power and control over others. The cost to individuals and our society will be incalculable.

It is especially disconcerting to ponder that those who have done great damage to this country by contributing to the near collapse of the financial system may never be brought to justice, while so many individuals who are not financially privileged lose their liberty because of a system that has lost (if it ever had) any semblance of fairness.

The vast majority of people believe that if a prosecutor files charges against you, you must be guilty of something, that a completely blameless person would never be arrested for anything. However, casual samplers of the media now come across colossal injustices and failures in the U.S. justice criminal system every two weeks or so. Yet these stories...seem never to elicit any particular public response or gain any traction for review or reform. The legal profession seems almost as adept at creating products and collecting fees as the financial sector. 
Prosecutors Gone Wild: How Many Wrongful Convictions Will the Public Stand For? by Conrad Black, The Huffington Post.

It makes economic sense to look closely at the incarceration rates in this country, even if we assume that everyone in jail is guilty of the crime for which they were convicted. A coalition between liberals and conservatives gives this pragmatist hope that we can follow a different path to a safer society with more productive citizens.
Liberal Academic, Tea Party Leader Rethinking Crime Policy by Andrew Romano, The Daily Beast and Newsweek.

There are so many things wrong with the "war on drugs." This is an example of how criminalizing relatively low-level behavior (which is legal in some states) has nothing to do with public safety and everything to do with lining private pockets. It's hard for me to understand how taxpayers don't realize that a law and order by harsh punishment mentality is ultimately costing them dearly.
Indiana Governor Rewards Private Prison Lobby with Draconian Marijuana Punishments by Grizzard, The Daily Kos 

The numbers are chilling, the corruption and inhumanity behind wrongful convictions is deeply disturbing, and the personal toll for those lives affected is incalculable. For those who seem to be satisfied by closing a case, I have to wonder why they don't care if the guilty parties go free.
10 Astonishing Cruel Tales of the Exonerated in America by Kali Holloway, Alternet  

Chuck Pillon is a retired Seattle Police Officer and Public Safety Advocate who has ruffled many feathers with his unconventional civil disobedience and refusal to tow the line. Just because he is politically incorrect (some might even say offensive) doesn't mean he is wrong. Seattle continues it's pathetic decline because of lack of real leadership, and Chuck's proposal makes sense to me.
Seattle Needs to Crack Down on Street Crime with More Police by Chuck Pillon in The Seattle Times

The meanness of spirit that seems to be increasing and codified in this country is not just disheartening, but appalling. Not only have we turned our backs on the poor, including children, we have created an increasingly punitive responses to minor infractions. his article is just the tip of the iceberg.
5 Ways it's Become a Crime to be Poor in America, Punishable by Further Impoverishment by Terrell Jermaine Starr, Alternet

The large media companies are a joke when it comes to actual reporting and investigative journalism. The militarization of police forces across America should be of grave concern to all of us.
Here is the REAL Protest in Baltimore the Mainstream Media Won't Show You by Joe Fletcher, Addicting Info

WTF is happening with out of control cops in this country? And people claim we are living in a post-racial world?
Missouri Cops Lock Newly-Elected Black Mayor Out of City Hall by Omar Rivero, Occupy Democrats
Newly-Elected Black Mayor Locked Out of City Hall by Police - Updated by Karoli, Crooks and Liars

The rise of police power has been accompanied by lack of accountability and rampant trampling of our constitutional rights. And yet there are many who reflexively assume that someone who is abused by the police had it coming. That the hospital went along with such grievous mistreatment is in itself criminal, yet everyone involved apparently will get to keep their jobs and suffer no consequences. Whether or not the man had a prior criminal history, nothing in the law or basic human decency can justify this. When you read the article it may also cross your mind that this man was given a procedure that without proper dietary preparation could have had severe consequences. What a sick, sick society we have become.
Absolutely unimaginable that this could happen in America by Jen Hayden, Daily Kos  

This could easily belong among the horror stories of  standardized testing, but I place it here because it makes comparisons between behaviors that are criminalized and those that are not. This article makes comparisons with Big Pharma, but I think even worse is the lack of prosecutions in  the financial sector for crimes against the economy and the significant human toll that accompany them.

Why are Atlanta teachers being charged with racketeering for falsifying student grades when BigPharma scientists never get charged for faking "scientific" studies? by Jonathan Benson, Natural News

More to come...