Proposals Of Change For The Justice System In America

My concerns about the justice system (aside from small town corruption or corruption in general):

1. The right to trial is no longer a guarantee. In some cases where a jury should decide, there is no jury. I believe a jury should help decide dependency cases and any civil lawsuit which does asks for non-monetary "relief". Corporations who want to deprive someone of a jury trial and try to discredit someone can file a claim and, if they ask for "other relief" they know someone who is indigent will not be provided with representation. This often means trial will not follow as well.

2. Public defense should be provided for civil cases. Civil cases are as important as criminal cases and while conviction of a crime may land someone in jail, the inability to sue for civil rights violations leads to another kind of prison outside of the prison walls, and the damages may be as severe. Defamation, for example, if not fought, can lead to false arrest and convictions for crimes someone didn't commit, simply because their character was discredit and reputation tarnished and they were not able to fight it. That's a 2-step tactic plenty of lawyers employ. They know that if the person is too poor to fight back with a civil lawsuit, the next thing which could follow is their credibility is down the drain for everything else. This has happened to me and I haven't been cleared yet, nor have the proper people been held responsible.

3. Public defense attorneys should be held to standards of "reasonable counsel". There should be no excuse for the difference between PD and private defense. Public defenders should be held to a higher, not lower standard and should be recruited actively from the best law schools. In order for law students to take these jobs, law schools should be less expensive and those entering public interest law, should be ablet to state their intentions from the beginning and have a reduced tuition by at least half or more. Getting a license by reading of the law should also be allowed to avoid monopoly by the law schools and the bar associations, which are corporations themselves and money makers.

4. Summary judgement should be revised and have restrictions placed on it. The American judicial system is turning into the old fashioned legal system of 1800s England where the judge is superior to the jury and trials are rare. Judges should not be given the power to decide on the merits of a case by summary judgement, this was not the intention of those who drafted our first laws and bills, which were made to PROTECT the interests of the common by providing a trial by jury of their peers, not one judge who was also once a lawyer and has more in common with the attorneys than the common people.

5. Corporations need to have all of their privileges checked and reversed. The power corporations have gained has contributed to the inequal distribution of wealth in America and the weakening of the justice system. Corporations have more money and money has purchased our current laws and policies, which benefit the rich and corporations and harm the middle class and poor.

6. The right to file a lawsuit pro se and be given equal opportunity to access of justice should be encouraged. Anyone who files pro se and WINS their case, whether they are licensed or not, if they've filed on behalf of themselves and proved their case, they should have the right to receive compensation for their legal costs and expenditures because they never would have had to file and spend money to begin with, and waste their time, if the other party hadn't been guilty.

7. Laws which protect the common interests and the equal rights of all to civil liberities and justice, should be decided by the people, not the corporations and rich. It shouldn't take a Supreme Court lawsuit to change things, it should be possible to restrict powers of the corporation and introduce change in the justice system, by passing a bill through a majority vote of the common person.

8. Petty drug offenses should be decriminalized to free up PDs and the justice system from having to pack jails full of "dudes" with long hair. If someone wants to make minor drug use or possession a big deal, any and every person should be directed to rehab services or counseling, not the criminal system. Additionally, use of marijuana, in small amounts, should be decriminalized altogether as the health benefits for some far outweigh the risks and it shouldn't be made an issue that someone who needs medical marijuana can only legally obtain it, as it currently, from about 8 states in the union. It takes very little marijuana to control, for example, migraine headache, and prevent them, and the cost and labor benefit is great. The only people who lose out are pharmacuetical corporations who try to push all of 20 varieties of triptans instead, at $50 per migraine or more, or who push other meds as "preventative" treatments which cost an arm and leg, when marijuana can be grown for free and used in minimal amounts to not only prevent migraine, but abort it. The stigma should be removed for this reason.

9. Juevenile court cases should also be decided by a jury. A child or teenager should be respected and given the same equal access to the law as an adult. It is assumed the state will act in the best interest of the child, and this is not always true and some kids are railroaded or labled early-on. Kids and teens should be given a trial with a jury of their peers (teens and adults) because while convict
ions may not go on a permanent adult record, their liberty and civil rights are affected by any form of incarceration and forced treatment, if they are actually innocent. Kids from poor families are charged far more than kids from rich families, because rich families hire private attorneys to sway the judge. At the very least, kids should have the right to a jury, in order to have their case filtered through the eyes of many instead of one judge.

10. Government offices, state and federal, need more checks and balances by the public. The public needs more control over ethics complaints, misconduct, and other violations. Public offices who are supposed to serve the public should also be willing to be held accountable by the public.


There's more, but that's all for now.