| We here in America have worked hard to have not only the
highest incarceration rate of any country on Earth,
but
also the
largest number of prisoners in absolute terms (we
almost have as many prisoners as China and Russia combined). Our
incarceration rate is almost five times greater than yours. We couldn't
possible maintain these record breaking rates if we gave everyone a "speedy and
public trial, by an impartial jury." Plea bargains are
essential to keep our
system running efficiently.
Our entire prison industrial complex is based
on stripping
everyone but the rich of their Constitutional rights. If we
gave
everyone the kind of treatment they get in the UK then
it would eat up all the
profit. Thirty years ago, people wanted to be in the US so they could fight
extradition to countries with unfair legal systems
filled with corruption.
Nowadays people are fighting
tooth and nail to avoid extradition to the
United States. This is a clear demonstration of how much
our efficiency has
improved over the past few decades.
And as Wol mentioned, our system has the
added feature that
only poor (and now middle-class) people get sent up
the
river. The poor and middle-class act as
whipping boys for
the rich. They suffer for our sins
so we don't have to. I don't think you
should complain
about the massive miscarriages of justice in the US legal
system
until after you have caught up to our incarceration
rates. You should not judge
a man until you've walked a
mile in his shoes.
---
Our job is to
remind ourselves that there are more contexts
than the one we’re in now — the one that we think is reality.
-- Alan Kay [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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