Yet Another Case of Legal Corruption!

[Avi]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090211/ap_on_re_us/courthouse_kickbacks

This is just disgusting... I had a brush with juvie when I was 14, and trust me... I'm glad I got a fair hearing, because I hadn't done something nearly as serious as what I had been accused.  Lots of kids weren't so lucky, and apparently some of them were sent there by these assholes... Thoughts?

[consortium11]

It's actually a difficult case for me because all of the punishments given were within the jurisdiction and discretion of the judges. They may have been incredibly and unnecessarily harsh in the sentances they gave, but the saying "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime" comes to mind.

That said, that arguement would be used if there was no corruption and it was just an ironfisted judge, not a currupt pair who were doling out those sentances only for their own profit. The corruption here is disgraceful and while I generally believe in private over public when it comes to services, exposes the problems with private prisons (especially if seen in the light of recent stories about the sub-standard services in private prisons). Just as disgraceful is after pocketing this money and ruining so many people's lives they'll almost certainly keep the money and serve what, 3 or 4 years in jail all-in? I'm not even sure a civil case from the victims would be successful for the reasons given above... the judges did have the right to impose those sentences (although those who weren't informed of their right to legal representation may have a case), so they get to walk away with a decent amount of money.

Just as interesting is to consider this while at the same time Cali may be releasing a third of it's prisoners due to over-crowding... it's a strange world...

[The Overlord]

It's actually a difficult case for me because all of the punishments given were within the jurisdiction and discretion of the judges. They may have been incredibly and unnecessarily harsh in the sentances they gave, but the saying "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime" comes to mind.

While normally true, if these judges were truly taking kickbacks, any pretense of morality by the system is gone. At this point it's only about control and the perks derived from it.

If they truly took the money, having these judges pay somehow to reconstruct the live of the kids they sent to jail or to reimburse the tax money spent in the upkeep and persecution of the wrongfully accused may not be practical. Pumping their heads full of bullets, however, may be. These pigs should be shot like dogs and left to decompose in the gutter.

[OldSchoolGamer]

I'm not surprised.  The prison-industrial complex in America is definitely beginning to take on shades of the Gulag Archipelago the Soviets ran for much of the 20th century.

We incarcerate a much higher percentage of our population in American than the Russians do. 

Fortunately, most state governments in America--the primary architects of our Gulag Archipelago--are approaching bankruptcy themselves.  Hell, here in California, where state-sponsored sodomization is one of the biggest growth industries, the government is functionally bankrupt, and in no small part due to its militant nanny statism.

[SomethingWycked]

Its been a long time coming that more and more people realize just how bad the system has become. The country that made Militia the superstars of the world, defeating the British military machine in the 1700s, has now degenerated so far that 'militia' means a fringe fanatical group that the System must keep tabs on... for public safety, of course.

"Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence." -Thomas Jefferson