Bye Dad, 
I'll see you
on
my 18th
Birthday.
Love Trent

 

US Justice System Legally Destroying Lives
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The state calls its own violence law, but that of the individual crime.

 


No Justice for All

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I
t is not a Justice System.
It is just a system.
~Bob Enyart

Bad laws are the worst
sort of tyranny.
~Edmund Burke

This is a court of law,
young man, not a court
of justice. ~
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.


 

 

 

 

 


Trent

Among the attributes
of God, although they are all
equal, mercy shines
with even more brilliancy
than justice.
- Cervantes


Steven with his dog Rocky he will never see again.

Let us be merciful as well
as just.

- Henry Wadsworth


 

Mercy more becomes a
magistrate than the
vindictive wrath which
 men call justice.
- Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow

One can not be just if one
is not humane.
[Lat., On ne peut etre juste
si on n'est pas humain.]
- Luc de Clapier de
Vauvanargues, Reflexions
(XXVIII)

In the Halls of Justice, the
only justice is in the halls.
Lenny Bruce

http://www.inthesetimes.com
/main/article/2797/


There can be no equal justice
where the kind of trial a man
gets depends on
the amount of money he has."
- U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Hugo Black, Griffin v. Illinois,
373 U.S.12,(1964)

,
THIS IS FUN    

"If the motto ‘and justice
for all’ becomes ‘and justice
for those who can
afford it’, we threaten the
very underpinnings of our
social contract."
- Chief Justice
Ronald George California
Supreme Court, Annual
"State ofJudiciary"
Speech, 2001

We love Martin McMahon

From TCPalm, Stuart, FL

Regarding Judge Larry
Shack and his ludicrous
statement; “I’m going to
hand out a million years
served before I’m off the
bench,”

What do we have  here? Premeditation and
prejudice — already
sentencing people before
their cases are heard. He
is an elected egomaniac.

Let’s get together and
vote, or force this “judge”
into another venue —
maybe flippin’ burgers at
a hamburger stand. Then
the “judge” can claim more
than a billion served.

Martin McMahon
Stuart, Fl



  
 

 

 

Steven with his son Trent



Steven & Trent

..... it is estimated that 70 percent of low- to middle-income citizens can no longer afford the cost of justice in America. What would our Founding Fathers think?

Our Constitution intended that only elected lawmakers be permitted to create law, 
yet judges create their own law in the judicial system based on their own opinions and rulings. It's called case law, and it is churned out daily through the rulings of judges. When a judge hands down a ruling and that ruling survives appeal with the next tier of judges, it then becomes case law, or legal precedent. This now happens so consistently that we've become more subject to the case ruling laws made by the lawmaking of judges rather than elected bodies outlined in our Constitution.....

That would be O.K. if the judges would read the facts of the case they are presiding on, and then make a decision. In most cases they do not read or listen but dozing on the bench, therefore they are making their ruling solely on the prosecutor's theory and base their opinion and ruling on it  bypassing  the  constitution.

....This case-law system is a constitutional nightmare because it continuously modifies Constitutional intent. For lawyers, however, it creates endless business opportunities. That's because case law is technically complicated and requires a lawyer's expertise to guide and move you through the system.

The judicial system may begin with enacted laws, but the variations that result from a judge's application of case law all too often change the ultimate meaning.

By John F. Molloy
.


http://floridajail4judges.
org/links.html


A senior editor of the US Executive Intelligence Review says the real  conditions of American  prisons are being
institutionally covered up.

During a Friday interview with Press TV's US Desk, Jeff Steinberg said that "if the world got a clear picture of just how horrific the situation is inside the  US penal system at the federal, state and local  level, it would leave a very, very deep scar on America's
reputation."

He went on to add that
those in charge of US detention centers have
"an institutional commitment" to keep that abuses taking place inside prisons from the public.

Steinberg said  overcrowding and lack of sufficient personnel were two of the main  contributing factor to the horrifying conditions of
 US prisons. He said according to The Crime Report's estimates, some 200,000 cases of sex abuses that take place inside prisons annually.

The Executive Intelligence Review says the US has been reported to have the highest incarceration rate among developed nations.

Back in 2009,  90 prison
staff members were
charged with sexually abusing inmates.
Prison inmates subjected
to sexual misconduct by prison
staff in the nation's  93  federal prison sites doubled between
2007 and 2009.

 

Justice is open to
everyone in the same
 way as the Ritz Hotel. ~Judge Sturgess

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 


16-year sentence for consensual  sex. Steven and his wife may have messed up but they handled the situation  better than the State of Florida and the US Justice system ever will. They were a family, something the US Justice system doesn't understand.  And what is most important they were happy together. The pictures don't lie. Until State of Florida,  Judge Larry  Schack & US Justice system destroyed this family on Jan. 09 2007 when they sentenced Steven to 16 Years prison time.  Prior to the legal system entering this picture, Steven, Tiffany and Trent stood a good chance of making it as a couple and a family. At the time of sentencing their third wedding anniversary was coming up.  

G
iven the facts that Steven was 27, his wife 20 and their son Trent 4 years old and that they are a family unit. How can the judge pass a sentence on Steven of 16 years for consensual relations with now his wife.

Why did Larry Shack gave Steven 16 years and at the same time allow another men who was charged with the same crime walk away with probation?

Here are a few cases tried around same time and one by the same judge,  Larry Schack.  

Port St. Lucie, Fl
Michael A. Brown 47 years old charged with  lewd and lascivious battery with 13 year old girl plus Grand Theft, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia ... got Time served in county jail (14 months) plus 4 year probation. 
Now, that is a pedophile and the judge let him walk.

West Palm Beach
Brian J. Taylor  (Teacher)
Had 2 year sexual relationship  with 16 year old student.
Case was dropped.

Martin County, Fl
Judge Larry Schack sentence
Ari Ravon Stanberry
for lewd and lascivious battery plus 3 prior felony to 2 years  Sex Offender Community Control and 4 year probation.

For the same thing Judge Larry Shack gave Steven a 16 year sentence.  After reading the full story below, can someone explain how that can happen,  explain  to his 5 year old son, Trent.

This case is a travesty of justice.   We are not endorsing Stevens' conduct.  What he did was illegal, and he deserved to be punished for it.  But the punishment has to fit the crime, and the punishment has to be proportionate to what any other person, similarly situated, would receive.

So was it just another selective enforcement of the law as well as cruel and unusual punishment contrary to the Constitution's 8th amendment?

And then the judge has the audacity to say this to Steven:


" I certainly hope this was worth it for you because it has destroyed your life, this young lady's life and caused permanent damage to your son."

What he meant by that we don't know. What we do know is his ludicrous out of courtroom statement:         “I’m going to hand out a million years served before I’m off the bench,” what do we have here? Premeditation and prejudice— already sentencing people before their cases are heard.
He is an elected egomaniac.

And what we do know is that he most certainly destroy Steven's life, his marriage, his child's relationship with him.  How has justice been served in this situation when everything around this case lies in tatters, lives ruined and torn apart.  Prior to the legal system entering this picture, Steven,  young lady and Trent stood a good chance of making it as a couple and a family.

Giving 16 years prison sentence to a man who had consensual relations  with his wife when she was almost 16 year old,  but not hearing witnesses or acknowledging what they have said about circumstances that surround this incident it is preposterous. That is when State calls its own violence law, but that of the individual crime.
The Judge must have been sleeping at the bench if he didn't hear what Steven has done for Tiffany and his son from early pregnancy.
She was " victimized " by the State of Florida childs welfare,  and the school system long before Steven arrived in her life. She drop out of Hi school at age 12 and no one did anything about it.  It was not at all as portrayed by prosecutor and Judge Larry Schack.   Steven in fact was a positive influence in her life. He encouraged her to get her life back on track and when she was with him she was on her way to a normal life. When Trent was born  no one cared except one man who realized that mistakes had been made and he accepted the responsibility of this from early pregnancy. He took Tiff to the doctor for checkups, he was at the hospital for the birth, he cut the umbilical cord. He put his name on the birth certificate without any proof at the time that he was the father.  He was helping and care for the boy until all came crashing down once the state got into it.  

This man went  through hell the past 4 years and has already served 4 1/2 years in jail.  After all, he is not just a number in the penal system,  he is a husband, a father of a 6 year old,  a brother and son to someone.  He will be the first to admit that he made a mistake and he did everything in his power to try and make things right afterwards. 

We realize that the penal system was setup to be punitive in nature and not remedial. But 16 years sentence is extremely excessive for the nature of the offense committed.

The disparity of treatment in these cases  as compared to the sixteen year sentence that Steven  received is blatant and very obvious.  How can this be explained with any cohesiveness and reason?  How can some people "walk" and some serve a good part of their lives behind bars?  Why is the judicial system not accountable for such disparity of sentencing and why isn't there more transparency in the system?

The individual state's need to revise their statutory rape laws to reflect what is going on in the twenty-first century and the sexual behavior of teen's and young people today.  From ABC morning news and talk show, Good Morning America   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj8p94a81ZE   Until that time comes,  sex education classes should be more all-inclusive in  explaining the legal consequences of premarital sex by teenagers not just the caveat to "use condoms".  There are many more legal consequences to teenage sex than just STD's and unwanted pregnancies.

Aside from the above consequences, spending many years in prison is one very big failure of the system.  IT SERVES  NO PURPOSE.  Few teenagers and their parents are aware that serious jail time is a very real possibility in underage sex.    Rather than changing the law in the failed system, the system is further punishing the offender.     In addition to jail time, as things presently stand, the offender, once released is put on a Sex Offender Registry and in a very real sense, this "sentence" lasts a  lifetime and its repercussions follow the individual for all of his life.    True pedophiles need to be put on such a list, not young people who are behaving in the norm for their age bracket by today's way of life. 

The State of Florida is a leader among other states in creating of social problems,  Tiffany for example, having her own problems,  she can't take care of  their child by herself she needs help from her parents who are presently taking care of their son.   And at the end Steven?  He worked hard full time, attend college at night and was attempting to run started up  "12Volt Fusion" an automotive audio-video business and was taken away from all this. Hi will be 41 years old when he'll get out of prison. No education, no work experience. Label of pedophile on his forehead that will have to carry for life. What will happen to him? Probably another social problem because it is a good  chance that he will not be able to get a job.  His parents  probably not going to be around anymore to guide him or help him.
Changes in sentencing law and policy, not increases in crime rates, explain most of the six-fold increase in the national prison population.  And “one size fits all" mandatory minimum sentences that allow little or no consideration for individual characteristics as in case above.  How many prisoners have been victimized with maximum or near maximum sentencing just for a prosecutor's career ambition to be furthered, mostly to become judges? They rack up convictions like scalps on an Indian's belt just to secure their career goals. The prosecutor in this case, Kathy Roberts of Martin County, has achieved her crowning goal and became judge shortly after she charge and prosecute Steven. Keri Smith took Roberts job so Stevens conviction become trophy on his belt and soon he will be joining the club of judges. 

Is that how we solving a problems? Is that right thing to do?  All the wrong choices. How can we be the leader to the world if we are becoming a laughing stock of the world.

We need to take a good look at the our own back yard our own living room our kids room. What do they see and read on the internet? Don't even go there. They are watching nip/tuck for breakfast, lunch and diner. The most sexual TV series I have ever watch on a regular TV channels. And then we are sending them to 16 years in prison for having consensual sex?    From ABC morning news and talk show,
Good Morning America   http://www.youtube.com/watch?

State Department also have the nerve to send out complaints every year to 180 nations abut human rights violation?  Mr. President, House of Representatives, Senators, the People of The United States,  take a good look in to our prisons and you will never again complain about human right violations. How sad!

 It is disgrace, that an 8-year-old boy from Arizona going to be charged with the premeditated murder of his father and his friend.  Police are pushing to have the boy tried as an adult even as they investigate possible abuse.  Since when an 8 year old can premeditate murder? And then be tried as an adult,  but 15 year old can't consent to have sex? What is wrong with you people?

It is a fact that 70-80% of US prisoners within one year are back in prison. In Europe for example the number is reversed, 80% of them get job and become normal law abiding citizens. Why is that?  And why is crime rate in Europe 10 times les per capita. Crime within the prisons is almost non existing.  They give prisoners some dignity, something to look forward when they get out.  Prisoners in Europe work in every prison, making furniture, sheet metal work, farming, teaching etc.  They feel productive, they are productive.  They learn new skills, develop working habit.
What comes out of US prisons?   Vast majority come out as poorly educated criminals, street fighters, drug traffickers and even murderers and they are back in prison within 6 to 8 months.
S
pending many years in prison is one very big failure of the system. It serves no purpose.
The United States is a nation of laws badly written and randomly enforced.
 

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Remember Genarlow Wilson case?
http://www.creators.com/opinion/matthew-towery/inside-the-genarlow-wilson-case.html

Wilson released after two years behind bars for teen sex conviction.
The judge courageously wrote:

If this court or any court cannot recognize the injustice of what has occurred here, then our court system has lost sight of the goal our judicial system has always strived to accomplish....justice being served in a fair and equal manner.

Steven’s punishment was excessive too,  and should be reduced just like Wilson's,  just like the prison sentence for former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, which was commuted  by President Bush.

Unfortunately, we cannot get the attention of civil rights activists as Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson or Attorney like B.J. Bernstein,  and it appears that without high-profile help, situations like this remain unknown and out of the public eye and without media attention people stay in prisons. 

As  Al Sharpton said  in Genarlow Willsons case.

“If he had a different complexion and a different connection, we wouldn’t be here today.” 

Neither would Steven if he had a different conection. And he doesn't have Al Sharpton on his side.  All he has, is this website and you!  

The state calls its own violence law,  but that of the individual crime.

And, lastly, why is it believed by a state that a fifteen year old is not mature enough to enter into consensual sexual relationship but yet in the same state is able to stand trial as an adult in a murder case as was the case of the thirteen year old boy who accidentally killed a neighbor friend in Florida? The state cannot have it both ways!  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj8p94a81ZE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ux5PBg4AXc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpI47yvLTBg&NR=1

After watching this reports on young people sexual behavior today, do you think 16 years prison time Steven got was  fair and just? 
 


Editors note.   Jan. 10. 2009 
All of the above I wrote about 3 years ago is now coming to light.

NEW YORK   States budgets in crisis, governors, legislators and prison officials across the nation are making or considering policy changes that will likely remove tens of thousands of offenders from prisons and parole supervision.
Collectively, the pending and proposed initiatives could add up to one of biggest shifts ever in corrections policy, putting into place cost-saving reforms that have struggled to win political support in the tough-on-crime climate of recent decades.
"Prior to this fiscal crisis, legislators could tinker around the edges — but we're now well past the tinkering stage," said Marc Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project, which advocates alternatives to incarceration.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28592088/

Trimming fast-rising costs
Policy-makers in Michigan, one of four states that spend more money on prisons than higher education, are awaiting a report later this month from the Council of State Governments' Justice Center on ways to trim fast-rising corrections costs, likely including sentencing and parole modifications.

In Florida, where prisons are so crowded that the state has acquired tents for possible use to house inmates, officials say 19 new prisons may be needed over the next five years. As an alternative, Corrections Secretary Walter McNeil told lawmakers they should re-evaluate the state's hard-line sentencing policies and look at ways to help released inmates avoid returning to prison.

California, 5 Aug 2009  Federal judges order California to release 43,000 inmates.  examiner.com California has to release up to 58,000 inmates, or roughly 40% of the total prison population, says a three-judge panel convened to deal with the state's massively overcrowded prisons. That's not really that much of a shocker -- the state is currently jamming its holding pens full of human bodies at roughly 200% of capacity, with the inhumane conditions you'd expect as a result. But who to release? The obvious answer, it would seem, is to start with California's sizeable population of people who shouldn't be behind bars at all those convicted of consensual "crimes" or drug related offenses.

"These laws have neither curbed drug use nor enhanced public safety," said Donna Lieberman of the New York Civil Liberties Union. "Instead, they have ruined thousands of lives and annually wasted millions of tax dollars in prison costs."

Probation & Parole supervisions are waste of time, waste of taxpayer's money as they DO NOT  function as intended and do not protect the community in anyway.  States where people on probation have to pay $30 to $60 in probation fees, makes it even more difficult for them to stay clean as the jobs they get as ex- cons pay minimum wages and the state takes almost half of their salary. In most cases they can't leave the area or state to look for a better job,  so 80 % of them are back in prison within 8 months average.
 
In many countries around the world where inmates on probation or out on parole are not monitored at all. In fact they have a simple process; if the parolees commit a crime or any offense during that period, they will be charged with the new crime plus violation of probation or parole and will serve time for both. This method does not cost anything and saves millions of taxpayers’ money. Ex-inmates find jobs much easier than their counterparts in the US because only the police and justice system know about their criminal record, unlike in the US where you can easily find a person's criminal record by just pulling their credit history. Best of all, the foreign system works; eighty percent of ex-offenders become good, law-abiding citizens. So wake up America; it is time to change our judicial system and reintegrate the nonviolent, ex-offenders back into society by giving them equal opportunities to succeed like other citizens--not the
second class citizenship that they currently have.

Here is what people of the United State think about US justice

MtMike-571674.newsvine.com
When did facts matter to a populace so brainwashed into thinking their government can do no wrong. This is America, use scare tactics.
When one is speaking of releasing prisoners early, it is the non-violent that heads the list to be released, not murders, rapists or robbers.
Law enforcement and the "penal system" operating in the manner they do, is just another government welfare program for those employed in these branches. A way to have a job that is not needed.
These people employed in law enforcement are not serving America, but are operating under a false sense of self importance. The real criminals are the DRUG WAR PROFITEERS who are fighting the war on crime/drugs, but not doing anything to win the war, just collecting their pay checks and inventing new criminals/crimes so they will stay employed.
Government is not a cure for all. Locking people up, forcing these people to behave as you think they should, will not save society from its own stupidity.

Linda Frazzetto commenting on to the TCPalm news paper article.
Another thing that really sticks in my craw is the labeling of Steven by the judge as a "child abuser" and "pedophile". Anyone reading what has been said about Steven by the Judge would jump to some pretty wrong conclusions without knowing all the facts, especially when the child was at the center of all of this when he was accidentally hurt. One would surmise from this that Steven abused his child rather than what we assume is the judge's assumption of Steven being a child abuser/pedophile for having sex with the child's underage mother. This is really over the top and a very bad disconnect in this case. And then the Judge ends his sentencing of Steven with "causing permanent damage to your son". What is one to assume from all of this? The words used by the Judge and not explained in the context of what he is saying is really a gross injustice to Steven. And then the newspapers pickup pieces of the story and without the whole reference of the case, cause even more confusion for the readers.

Needless to say, this is a very difficult time for all of us. It is pretty sad when a sixteen year sentence is given out so lightly, with little concern for the ramifications of such a sentence on all the lives involved.
 


Jordan Brown Superior Court Appeal: Will Pa. Boy be Tried as an Adult for Murder?
Only in the U.S. can an 11 year old be arrested and charged as an adult for murder and a 16 year old can't consent with 22 year old boyfriend,  what a
farce.


Jordan Brown Superior Court Appeal: Will Boy be Tried as an Adult for Murder?
Jordan Brown Mug Shot (APPhoto/LawrenceCounty Prison via Beaver County Times)  PICTURES: Kenzie Houk

 

 


PITTSBURGH (CBS/KDKA/AP)
Jordan Brown was only 11-years-old when he was arrested and charged as an adult for the murder of his father's pregnant fiance. A three judge panel of the Superior Court met in Pittsburgh Tuesday to hear from both sides as to whether or not the boy should in fact be tried as an adult, reports CBS station KDKA. Now 13, Brown is charged with shotgunning 26-year-old Kenzie Marie Houk, also killing her unborn son, in their New Galilee farmhouse in February 2009. A Lawrence County judge in March refused to move Jordan Brown's case to juvenile court. Judge Dominick Motto found that the boy showed no signs of remorse and did not take responsibility for his actions. How could he? He was 11, you idiot! Two judges questioned whether Brown has had his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination violated by Motto. Some of the appellate judges at Tuesday's hearing wondered whether Brown would be forced to give up his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent in order to be certified as a juvenile.Only the United States and Somalia have refused to sign the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which does not allow persons under the age of 18 to be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of release, reports the Guardian
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20029737-504083.html


Your Ad maybe posted here. Be the first to help.




Save Jordan Brown

Save Jordan Brown
 

 

Eleven-year-old 5th grader Jordan Brown is charged as an adult for a double homicide he did not commit.

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Under a Pennsylvania law aimed at urban street gangs, Jordan faces the prospect of spending his entire life in prison without the possibility of parole.

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Save Jordan Brown

Please Contribute Today. Jordan’s life and future depend on you!
To make a contribution by mail with check, money order, or credit card please contact us at:
The Jordan Brown Trust Fund
PO Box 1531
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An update, Tuesday, September 27, 2011 12:15 am | Updated: 9:30 pm, Mon Sep 26, 2011.

Jordan Brown juvenile trial delayed By Eric Poole Calkins Media Timesonline.com | 9 comments

NEW CASTLE -- The murder prosecution of Jordan Brown -- which has yet to begin more than two and a half years after the alleged crime -- will take a little longer.

A juvenile trial for Brown, scheduled for today, has been delayed pending an appeal by media outlets that petitioned unsuccessfully last week to have the hearing open to the public. Lawrence County Judge John Hodge, who will hear the juvenile trial, denied media petitions to have the trial in open court. Hodge released the decision late Friday afternoon without comment in a two-page order.

Pennsylvania Superior Court on Monday agreed to delay the trial until the court can hear emergency appeals to open the proceeding.

Lawyers for the media outlets have 62 days to submit other documents before the court assigns a three-judge panel to hear the request.

Brown is accused in the Feb. 20, 2009, murder of Kenzie Houk, 26, of New Beaver. Houk and her two children were living at the time with Brown and his father, Christopher, and the couple planned to marry. Houk was pregnant with Christopher Brown's child at the time of her death. The fetus did not survive. State police and prosecutors maintain that Jordan Brown killed Houk with a single shotgun blast to the back of her head.

Jordan Brown, now 14, was 11 years old when the slaying took place, but he was charged as an adult under a state law dictating that minors charged with murder be tried in adult court. The defense attorneys filed in late 2009 to decertify Brown and clear the way to move the trial into the juvenile system.

In March 2010, Lawrence County President Judge Domenick Motto ruled to keep the prosecution in adult court, but the decision was overturned on appeal by state Superior Court. In a new decertification hearing ordered by Superior Court, Motto ruled to have Brown tried as a juvenile.

Senior Deputy Attorney General Anthony Krastek is prosecuting the case. Nils Frederiksen, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, said the arguments over closing Brown's juvenile trial to the public centered on a state law that, in Krastek's interpretation, prohibits public trials for suspects who are younger than 12 when the crime is committed.

The attorney general's office had no objection to the juvenile trial being open to the media and the public, Frederiksen said, but conceded that state law doesn't permit it.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.


America's international standing as a fair and just country does not match its superpower status as the world's greatest democracy.
When it comes to basic human rights, it is there in the gutter alongside some of the world's most
toxic dictatorships and authoritarian regimes.
Having stepped inside US prisons -- both military and civilian -- I can tell you there is nothing
civilized about the penal institutions in the United States.

Four days of filming inside Guantanamo and half a day at one of California's largest young offenders prisons provided me with enough material to reach his conclusion, bearing in mind as a journalist I was just shown “the good bits”! Having also viewed CCTV footage of detainees in US institutions being stripped and cavity searched was equally traumatic and for those who showed the slightest resistance a procedure would follow which in my view is tantamount to gang rape.
Frankly, I was appalled by what I saw inside American jails and the interviews and research which followed did not make easy reading.

I wondered how the US could really describe itself as a civilized, mature democracy. And if you
doubt my judgment here are a few statistics to play with in a prison system
where 70 percent of the inmates are non-whites. The US has a higher percentage of its citizenry
in prison than any other country in world history.

25 percent of the world's prison population -- around 2.3 million -- are caged in America, as young as 11 year old are charged as adult and locked up with adults.The evidence is there for all to see -- America's human rights record is appalling, the prison system is a disgrace and the way it treats its own convicted citizens, let alone foreigners, is primitive.

Gareth Peirce, an internationally acclaimed and respected solicitor based in London, explains in her book Dispatches from the Dark Side, “Guilty pleas resolve 97% of US trials, an extraordinary statistic inevitably achieved by the defendant's apprehension of what lies ahead -- not just for the 'worst of the worst' - and a desire to avoid, at any cost, the US law's most extreme application.”

A number of her clients including Syed Talha Ahsan, Babar Ahmad, Adel Abdel Bary and Khalid al-Fawwaz have been held in British prisons for a record amount of years fighting extradition to the US.

All of these men protest their innocence and would welcome their day in court -- a British court. However the evidence against them is either so flimsy or nonexistent that police in the UK have no intention of wasting public money on trials which will end up being laughed out of court.

Which takes us back to the 2003 US Extradition agreement in which the Blair government tied the hands of the UK judiciary beyond sound judgment; now any slight allegation made by the US should be regarded in British courts as solid proof.

By the way, it's not a two-way system. Should the UK ever wish to extradite a US citizen, the evidence supplied must be well documented, concrete and factual and able to withstand the scrutiny of a US judge.

Britain's legal system became the basis for most others in the world. It is based on presumed innocence and a trial by a jury of one's peers which emanates from our rights as set out in the Magna Carta of 1215, a noble document which has stood the test of time.

The 2003 Extradition Treaty is a complete betrayal of those basic rights. A victim of the treaty faces being locked up without evidence and has no right to a trial by jury and gone is the presumption of innocence.

We cannot allow anyone in UK custody or under “house arrest” like Julian Assange to be extradited to the US. You just have to look at the treatment of America's own citizens to realize this.
Bradley Manning, the 22-year-old US Army Private accused of leaking classified documents to Wikileaks, has been held in solitary confinement for the last seven months, despite not having been convicted of any crime.

Manning has been kept alone in a cell for 23 hours a day, barred from exercising in that cell, deprived of sleep, and denied even a pillow or sheets for his bed. Unsurprisingly he now relies on anti-depressants to cope with the effects of isolation. No date for a court hearing has been set.
Make no mistake, this sort of treatment is torture and we, as a civilized nation, cannot send anyone into the hands of the US judicial system which openly tortures its own citizens as well as others.

But don't stop there! Every year the State Department of the U.S. sending a complaint letters to one hundred and eighty countries around the world reminding them of their human right violations.

Judges are but men, and are swayed like other men by vehement prejudices. This is corruption in reality, give it whatever other name you please.
~David Dudley Field

Laws: We know what they are, and what they are worth! They are spider webs for the rich and mighty,
steel chains for the poor and weak, fishing nets in the hands of the government.
~Pierre Joseph Proudhon, quoted in The Match!

 

 

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Stevens case number is 04-19-CFA.   Click on this link to the correction facility where he is being held.

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© 2007 WhatPriceJustice    WhatPriceJustice   P.O. Box 168  Vestal, NY 13851-0168    
Last update
01/25/11

It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive. ~Earl Warren


Trent

A good judge should never boast of his power, because he can do nothing
but what he can do justly:
he is not the master, but
the minister of the
law. Authority without virtue is a very dangerous state.
- Thomas Wils
on


Extreme justice is extreme injustice.
[Lat., Summum jus, summa injuria.]
- Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero


Steven & Trent 2003
Help Steven reunite with his child.



 
Changes in sentencing law and policy, not increases in crime rates, explain most of the six-fold increase in the national prison population.  And “one size fits all" mandatory minimum sentences that allow little or no consideration for individual characteristics as in case above.


People who love sausage and people who believe in justice should never watch
either of them being made. ~Otto Bismark


 Unfortunately, we cannot get the attention of Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson and it appears that without high-profile help, situations like this remain on the backburner and out of the public eye and without media attention. Are the scales of justice tipped in favor of celebrity and wealth? Where is the justice when the sentence is more criminal than the act?  
All we have is this website and you!   Please help.
Where is the justice when our children crying out for help and no one hears them.




It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive. ~Earl Warren


Steven and his Austrian friend Mgk write this song before he returned to the US and get himself arrested. Click here.
"So many broken dreams"


http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=Yj8p94a81ZE


Stevens case number is 04-19-CFA.   Click on this link to the correction facility where he is being held.



Please help Steven and
others fight this injustice.

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...it could happen in your life It could be your son, daughter,  brother or sister.

Please help Steven and
others fight this injustice.
Pleas visit our advertisers 
and help.


How much justice can
you afford? Will it cost an arm, a leg  or much, much more?
What is so good about a
"free" defense, when it takes a high  powered attorney to beat the offense. You get as much justice  as you can buy.And that my friends is no lie. Just visit a jail and you will see why. You get as much justice
as you can buy.     No money,  no justice,     
Is how it goes. A sad but true tale of woes.

Linda Frazzetto