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:
The Unites States incarcerates more of its population than any other nation on Earth, developed or undeveloped. That fact, combined with minimum mandatory sentencing laws, coerced or false confessions, the War on Drugs (victimless “crimes”) and an ever-increasing police state dynamic means that innocent people are far, far more likely to be falsely imprisoned than the actual guilty party is. “It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer” William Blackstone. That is the foundation of our Justice System, and today that concept has long lain in the rubbish heap of history.
that is what happens when you have a ‘failure to appear’
Thankyou for sharing.
The perps accept the plea deals to greatly reduce their time behind bars. They are still guilty.
Plea bargains are, plain and simple, a strong arm tactic. If someone has done something so bad they need to be locked up, they need FULL due process. Even innocent ppl knuckle under to plea deals bc to defend yourself, you need a LOT of money that most ppl do not have.
“It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer” William Blackstone
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Plea Bargain..for a lessor sentence.
95% plea to a lessor charge
If they are so dangerous they need to be locked up, then they need a trial. I doubt it you would be OK with it if it was you. You get charged with a crime and it’s up to you to prove you are innocent. DAs have virtually unlimited resources and you have very little due to the high cost of mounting a defense. Saving millions of dollars would be a lot less attractive to you then, I’m sure. I’m sure we could save millions of dollars by not incarcerating as many as possible which seems to be the goal.