It is statistics like this that makes it abundantly clear that the criminal justice originally envisioned by the Founding Fathers has become a farce, a parody of what it used to be. A horribly unfunny parody at that.
There are 2.2 million Americans currently behind bars, for whatever reason, today. While such a statistic might be read as indicating 2.2 million criminals are imprisoned, consider this: out of these 2.2 million, around 2 million have never received a trial, fair or unfair, for their alleged crimes.
That means that only 3% of the people in American prisons have actually been found guilty before their peers of breaking the law. The rest, only God and the government know because they’ve never been brought before independent juries and judges.
It is entirely possibly that some, or even a lot of the people currently being held without trial have committed crimes, but this is exactly why the Constitution guarantees the right to a fair and speedy trial. That way, the guilty are punished and the innocent are protected, instead of having the innocent lumped in with the guilty and treated as such.
Read more about this appalling development on the next page:
Wynn Ho
Your lucky you didn’t do that time in jail . That is normal .
It’s seem these days one MUST prove their innocence. Accusations can be made without evidence .
I know a guy doing 5 years cause his disgruntled wife said he molested their daughter . He didn’t but couldn’t afford an attorney . He went to trail with a public defender . In less then an hour it all over without a fight . He went to jail and she got to keep everything including their child that he has been ordered to never see again .
This happens too often in today’s world .
The system is broke !
Not true. They had a trial and did a plea deal.
They pled guilty.
This is because they were pushed into a plea because the prosicution had a loosing case and they were scared to death of the system.
Hans Johsens yes hence I put “others were scared into their decisions.” my point is, the title of the article seems to suggest you’re simply rushed to prison without a trial, thus it’s misleading. the strong arm tactics are dead wrong, but a different subject
The system is not broke…!
Mr. Rodger…..you do not know if that person molested his daughter…..!
You were not there….!