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Readers' forum: Corrupt legal system

Don't have to talk to me about our legal system. It bankrupted me as I was nearly charged in a case with no witnesses, no evidence, and no crime. Just one person saying I did something. After a run though the system, I was left bankrupt. Our legal system is unethical. Prosecutors and investigators don't look for the truth, and are rewarded for gettting convictions. Moreover, it's guilty until proven innocent. It's letting rapists out to imprison someone who did drugs, etc. It's lying to people who pass polygraphs in order to coerse confessions, etc. The police and everyone else involved will lie to you, bully you, etc. Now they charge you for finding you. The system is disgusting although some fine people do a good job such as many of our police. Too bad so many don't

So much for equal protection under the law. Those who preach the rights afforded under the Constitution don't really believe it, except for themselves.

Prosecutorial immunity has become much abused. Its time to revamp it, and allow some recourse for victims of bad apples.

"Charging a fee for discovery is the capstone of a corrupt legal system."

I would disagree with you - sentencing people to death is the capstone of a corrupt legal system. Charging a fee for discovery and rewarding people for lying are the foundations. Not paying public defense attorneys fair wages and overburdening them are support pillars. Honoring prosecutors and judges for quantity instead of quality is a fine gloss to cover the rest of the rot.

Boy you are just starting.
My experience is that the police, prosecutor,and judge all work together.
The first thing they do is freeze all your accounts and seize all your assets. You get this back if you can be proven innocent.
But you can not afford a good attorney with no money.
I now keep a secret stash in case it happens again.
Court is just a big playground and game for the attorneys. It is not innocence or guilt it is can you be convicted.
Police tend to overcharge, and then the prosecutor offers the plea bargain, to reduce to actual level.
So do you risk going to prison or take the deal and stay out. Many innocent people take the deal. Few people are willing to gamble under the current system.
Juries are sheep, and convict over 90% of the time.
Most prosecutors have a very high conviction rate.
Defense attorneys are the only thing that keeps the system semi-honest and they are underpaid.
I belive that defense attorneys should have the unlimited resources that state attorneys do.
Most defense attorneys I have met are the finest and most ethical lawyers there are.

It should be a contingency fee, if you are found guilty you pay. It seems that people who have run-ins with the law are the ones complaining. Most people are pretty satisfied with our police. If some people that go to jail are innocent it is a tragic failure. For the many guilty that go free and re-commit crimes it is a disaster for victims.

"It seems that people who have run-ins with the law are the ones complaining."

Well yeah, that is how it works. Once you've seen first hand the corruption, then it leaves a really bad taste in your mouth.

"If some people that go to jail are innocent it is a tragic failure. For the many guilty that go free and re-commit crimes it is a disaster for victims."

This is two sides of the same coin - for every innocent person convicted, a guilty person gets away with a crime.

I think it is more then a "tragic failure" when people spend 20+ years on death row and then are found innocent.
the system was designed to function, that it was very hard to convict someone of a crime.
the bill of rights is to protect us from the government.
this was to ensure that an innocent person was not sent to jail.
There would of course be guilty people who would not be convicted.
What has happened however is that the safeguards have been disabled and we now just send people to jail or convict them "just in case" juries are to blaim for this as well, we all live in fear,and would rather incarcirate then make a mistake.
I myself was shocked when I discovered the level of corruption in the system.
I had always been a law abiding citizen, college graduate, eagle scout, had degrees in social work and criminology, and even received an award from the police for community service.
I was accused of a crime and found out what our system has become.
Now I do not belive in the system or the police anymore.

I have a relative that was charged for something that his friends did, the arresting officer would not believe his friends he didn't do it. At court the defense attorney spoke for just a few minutes, the relative asked if signed notarized affidavits stating that he didn't do the crime but was only a witness after the event happened, could they a least get a lower charge. The defense attorney said that nobody will believe the friends, they all lie for each other. The court system tends to be a little shoddy.