GUILTY. It could happen to someone you love.
TV ClubHouse: Archive: GUILTY. It could happen to someone you love.
Whit4you | Sunday, September 08, 2002 - 01:47 am     I'd like to know how others here feel about those who spend 10 years - or 20 years behind bars for a crime they didn't commit. I hope this doesn't turn into a debate about the death penalty but obviously ya'all are free to discuss what you want here - it's just well seems those who are for it will always be and those against it will always be so just not to interested in going there. But what I am intrested in discussing is how we as a society are letting the judicial system get away with taking away 10 or 20 years of someone's life without paying for it. Taking away someone's life for 10 or 20 years - basically destroying their life - is not OK. Yet we all sit back and allow them to get away with it without thinking of a plan to at least in some small way 'compensate' them. As little as it might mean - to give someone $$ for 10 or 20 years of their life - it's better then NOTHING. I believe personally that a % of each and every fine accessed against criminals should go into a fund to compensate the VICTIMS of the system who are exonerated beyond any shadow of a doubt. NOT those let out on a technicality but those who can sue and have a jury determine were truly innocent... those cases ARE rare but they happen and if it were your son? your husband? your dad? your best friend? Wouldn't you feel they have a right to be compensated for losing 10 years of their life at least to the extent of the income / experience they would have received and the income they could now be making had they spent those 10 years furthering their career etc? I'm not saying any amount of $$ could EVER make up for it - I know it couldn't. But - the least we as a society could do is demand that those who were wrongly convicted be given a head start on being able to enjoy the life they do have left after all those years were taken away from them. My suggestion is that a small % of all fines - etc given to criminals be put into a fund (like all workers in America put a % into unemployment insurance) and that fund would be used to help in some small way to give those exonerated fully a fresh start. That 1% or 5% would simply not go into the beuracracy - but go into that fund. I'm just chatting here - thinking anything I could say or do would ever change anything in the world is a slippery slope for me - but well just tossing out this thought for ya'll to mull over. |
Ratlady | Sunday, September 08, 2002 - 02:27 am     Whit, I LOVE YOUR TOPICS!! LOL Personally, I think it is absolutely wrong to let someone sit behind bars for a crime they didn't commit. Even if they paid them back (money wise), that still would not be enough. They would always have that crime on their records. They will always be looked down apon by their peers. And then again, I also don't believe the system is hard enough on some criminals. The justice system really needs to take a long hard look at the sentencing of criminals and the constitution. It seems like most judges don't look at the fact that the so called criminals are "innocent until proven guilty". But the ones that ARE proven guilty always seem to get a lighter sentence. Have you ever noticed that? Maybe it is just me. I don't know. I may not be making much sense but hey! I have have been drinking, so give me a break! LOL |
Hillbilly | Sunday, September 08, 2002 - 06:38 am     Former Inmates Yet to Collect $27M AP Top News at 9:18 a.m. EDT By Associated Press September 8, 2002, 6:34 AM EDT LOS ANGELES -- Only 10 percent of 300,000 former Los Angeles county jail inmates eligible to share a $27 million judgment for wrongful incarceration and illegal searches have filed claims. The remaining 270,000 have until Sept. 20 to make a claim or else they will lose their portion of the settlement, said attorney Barry Litt, who represented the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit. The county Board of Supervisors agreed in August 2001 to the settlement. County sheriff's department officials blamed clerical errors for detaining scores of inmates beyond their release dates between 1996 and 2001. In some cases, inmates were wrongly incarcerated because of erroneous warrants. Sixty-two former inmates named in the lawsuit were expected to receive the largest portion of the money, but other former inmates could receive between $50 and $5,000 apiece, attorneys said. "There are far too many who haven't filed claims," said Julia White, a paralegal who worked on the case. "Too many are going to lose out on things they earned the hard way." The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the largest in the nation, has more than 8,000 personnel and a daily jail population of about 19,000 to 22,000 inmates. * __ On the Net: www.lajailclassaction.com Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press |
Hillbilly | Sunday, September 08, 2002 - 06:40 am     I know this isn't for 10 to 20 years..but I have always thought that you could sue the state or government in a civil suit if you can prove that you were wrongfully accused or incarcerated. |
Faerygdds | Sunday, September 08, 2002 - 11:06 am     I know this sounds harsh, but I think that if a person loses 10 to 20 years of thier life wrongly... then the PROSECUTOR in that case should be charged with an actual crime. So many times prosecutors go after someone even if they don't think they are guilty because they need a WIN on thier record... and frankly I think that is DEPLORABLE. The only sane way to stop it is to make it a punishable offense, right? So.... go after the prosecutors in cases like these... I garauntee you that prosecting attourneys will really look at ALL the evidence before the persue someone! |
Hillbilly | Sunday, September 08, 2002 - 11:10 am     Hopefully with the new DNA techniques available today that help to determine if this is the person or not...this will become less and less. Remember that back in the 60's and 70's, DNA was a beginning concept and not as widely accepted as it is today. |
Ocean_Islands | Sunday, September 08, 2002 - 11:58 am     I agree with Whit. However, the new DNA technology which has exonerated people was not available before. Therefore there would be no claim, because presumably they were judged guilty based on the evidence at the time. The government deserves some of the blame in some cases because some public prosecutors and defenders are incompetent. |
Weinermr | Sunday, September 08, 2002 - 12:04 pm     How can you possibly repay anyone for the loss of their freedom for years of their life for a crime they never committed. There is no amount of money that would make up for that. |
Car54 | Sunday, September 08, 2002 - 01:41 pm     Has anyone seen the story about the FIVE young men who went to prison for the NY Jogger "wilding" assault. Someone else has come forward and confessed to the assault, and his DNA matches the evidence. Five young men spent years in prison...were coerced into confessions. And the statute of limitations on the crime has run out. The man who confessed cannot be prosecuted. This was on NPR several times yesterday. |
Whit4you | Sunday, September 08, 2002 - 02:35 pm     Because of my interest in it I see stories ALL the time about people who've been proven (beyond any shadow of a doubt) to be innocent (not out on technicallities etc) and it really does bother me alot and I'd really like to see us as a society work out some plan to compentsate them. I believe my idea of something similiar to the way unemployment insurance works is the best plan. I doubt it'd ever become law however BECAUSE even that small percentage - 1% or 5% of all fines paid by criminals is something the beuracracy would not be willing to give up. But I believe we as a society should DEMAND it. If they must then up ALL fines from that day forward by that 1% or 5% and then perhaps it would not feel like a loss the beuracracy. I totally understand that their is NO amount of $$ to compensate someone losing 10 or 20 years of their life and the hell and who knows what they went through in prison - HOWEVER - if that person had NOT had their life taken away in 10 or 20 years of working their skills / experience and such would make them to a point where they would be making alot more today then they can NOW. It's WRONG for them to CONTINUE to pay for having been wrongly locked up by them not being able to earn the $$ they SHOULD be earning. They are STILL paying in this sense and they should certainly NOT be having to continue to pay - even after they are exhonerated - for a crime they did not commit. So I'm suggesting that they are compensated at the VERY least for the difference between what they can make now and what they SHOULD be making now. I personally feel that on TOP of that they should be paid an amount or given an unlimited 'insurance' fund to cover any and ALL counseling they choose to receive for life. I am telling you that if I were locked up and delt with the things prisoners deal with (you KNOW the stuff they deal with) I'd hold society and the courts and so on responsible for any abuse I received while in prison. I'd hold so much anger and hurt and mistrust inside - I feel that they should be entitled to unlimited and perminant help in that way. Otherwise just like in my previious example they are STILL paying - for something they did not do. Because inside they have all the anger - depression - and so on and perhaps could not afford the exhorbinant rates that shrinks charge. I think one of the biggest reasons a plan like this has NOT been implimented is so many feel like 'there is no way to compensate for someone losing 10 or 20 years of their life" but - there is a way of at least stopping them from having to CONTINUE to pay and those I've just explained. I think the % of dollars received from criminals should be gradually increased over the years (to cusion the blow the the beaurcracy) so that in 10 years or 20 years fro now 10 or 15% of all $$ received from criminals goes to this fund so we can truely start to compensate them in regards to 'pain and suffering' and so on. Till then the very least we can do however is to ensure they are off to a good start after having 10 or 20 years of their lives taken away. And lemme say - 5 yeras of your life is a long time as well. So I'm not necissarily suggesting they should not be compenstated - but I think it's exponential personally. I don't think losing 10 years of your life is only 'twice as bad' as losing 5 years. That's my personal opinion. So if this little dream of mine were to ever come true - then I think 'pain and suffering and so on over and above the basic funds they should receive as I explained above.. I think that compensation should be done exponentially. Well this is just another of my many pipe dreams but still feel like it's something worth discussing. |
Cjr | Sunday, September 08, 2002 - 07:22 pm     This is a subject close to my heart. We went without knowing who killed my sister-in-law and several other women for 20 years. Then someone who was in prison had his DNA match up to several murders. My sister-in-laws was one of them. A man had served almost 20 yrs for the murder of his unborn baby and the attempted murder/brutal beating of his wife. He was released when the murderer's DNA also matched his wife's attacker. The man who did all these brutal acts is now on death row in California. If not for DNA evidence we would never know what happened to loved ones. And an innocent man would have spent probably the rest of his life in prison. His wife said he did it. The prosecuter had every reason to take this to trial. Some things in life are not fair unfortunately. The innocent man cannot be repaid for his lost years, However we should make restitution financially to him. It is almost impossible for these people who are put back in society to have the good lives they deserve. People don't want to hire them, they have been off the job market for many many years etc. I am just very thankful that DNA evidence is now available. What makes me angry is when prosecutors won't admit when mistakes are made. Until they do, guilty people still walk the streets and innocent people have their lives destroyed. I hope this made sense since I don't post very much but I couldn't bypass this one. No easy answers from whichever side you are on. |
Cjr | Sunday, September 08, 2002 - 07:28 pm     And Whit, I agree that we need some system in place to compensate these exonerated people. Your "pipe dream" sounds like a good start to me. |
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