Wonder what the DAs would think if the Judiciary were all former staff counsel for the ACLU???

The idea that our criminal justice system is biased against defendants (especially when they are minorities or come from disadvantaged backgrounds) is so obvious that it is laughable to suggest otherwise.

While I would hesitate to specifically accuse any of the aforementioned of bias in their rulings, the fact that all of the county judges come for a prosecutorial or police background lends itself to creating a paradigm of guilt before innocence before the bench(s) of our criminal justice system.

While a “tough on crime” mantra is great for getting elected, it is a hard position to defend when you’re asked to officiate on case after case without it biasing your rulings. For evidence, consider that rulings get harsher during election years, especially for defendants of color (see here http://home.uchicago.edu/~/kpark1/docs/Dissertation_Chapter2.pdf)

Once again it shows the flawed logic behind having local level members of the judiciary be popularly elected instead of appointed and thus insulated from the whims of the public’s reactionary and legally uneducated opinions.

1 thought on “Wonder what the DAs would think if the Judiciary were all former staff counsel for the ACLU???”

Andrew

November 18, 2014 at 4:22 pm

The idea that our criminal justice system is biased against defendants (especially when they are minorities or come from disadvantaged backgrounds) is so obvious that it is laughable to suggest otherwise.

While I would hesitate to specifically accuse any of the aforementioned of bias in their rulings, the fact that all of the county judges come for a prosecutorial or police background lends itself to creating a paradigm of guilt before innocence before the bench(s) of our criminal justice system.

While a “tough on crime” mantra is great for getting elected, it is a hard position to defend when you’re asked to officiate on case after case without it biasing your rulings. For evidence, consider that rulings get harsher during election years, especially for defendants of color (see here http://home.uchicago.edu/~/kpark1/docs/Dissertation_Chapter2.pdf)

Once again it shows the flawed logic behind having local level members of the judiciary be popularly elected instead of appointed and thus insulated from the whims of the public’s reactionary and legally uneducated opinions.

Wonder what the DAs would think if the Judiciary were all former staff counsel for the ACLU???

1 thought on “Wonder what the DAs would think if the Judiciary were all former staff counsel for the ACLU???”

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