The Land of the Not So Free

As I prepare to make my trip abroad one thing I am hearing a lot is, “dont get arrested over there”.

Funny, not in a good way, but I point out to them that the truth is I’m a lot more likely to be arrested and jailed here.

America, “The land of the free” leads the entire world in the number of people, per capita who are incarcerated (1 in 99.1)

It’s something that we don’t give a lot of thought to, for most Americans jail is this nebulous place that they don’t have to worry about because they don’t “break the law”. Think Again. Ever hear of “Innocence Project?” They work very hard to free people who have been wrongly convicted of a crime. So far they have exonerated 242 people, some on death row, and they will be the first to tell you that 242 is just a drop in the bucket.

Most of the people wrongly convicted actually cooperated with police because they knew they had done nothing wrong, but instead they got ground up by a system and a prosecutor to whom innocence has nothing to do with it. Once they bring a charge its all about getting the conviction, even when the prosecutor KNEW the defendant was not guilty.  In way too many cases the prosecutor would hide or destroy exculpatory evidence.

Can you imagine being on death row for 24 years and suddenly being released because DNA testing that the prosecutor tried his best to prevent you from getting, exonerates you? So you get released and given bus money home, not even told hey we’re sorry.

It happens way too often.

And what about the people who actually did commit a crime, like possesion of a controlled substance? Is it not wrong when the punishment for doing a drug does more damage to the person than the actual drug does? A meth addict can get treatment and get clean tomorrow and in no time, become a productive member of society, if they werent already, but the instant they get busted for possession their life is ruined forever with a felony conviction, what chance do they have when they do thier time and come out?

Politicians live to get thier name on a law that turns more Americans into criminals.  What we need is fewer laws, laws stricken from the books and an adjusted legal system that once again operates on the predicate that someone is innocent until PROVEN guilty.

Prosecutors should be judged and promoted based on thier adjudication of prosecution, not on how many convictions they get.  Dropping the case on a person they know to be innocent should outweigh successfully prosecuting ten people who aren’t.

One Nation, Under Surveillance