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Submitted by : forgetmenot Submitted on : Jul 14,2011 5:03:29 am ballot title: What percentage of absolutely innocent people do you think are in prison?ballot number:139686
Most, (80%)of the people in the penitentry would not have been convicted for a felony, contrary to the crime they were actually guilty of, were it not for the intimadation of the system leading them to plea bargin. The system is fixed. To explain the methodology is extensive and confusing but each component along the way makes the process run quite smooth. Like making a subway sandwich for analogy. In brief, it starts with how laws are worded, and, it ends with the Judge. Laws are open for interpretation and interpretation is up to the discretion of the Judge, and the Judge is part of the process, he puts the salt and pepper on your sandwich. The problem is, anything you do could potentially be interpreted as a violation of some law, whether criminal or civil. If you cross two lanes of traffic to make an exit, that can be interpreted as reckless driving and you could lose your license for 90 days. Once your pulled over, the officer notices you seem nervous and believes this to be suspicious, so he detains you to investigate. He asks were are you coming from? A question you are not obliged to answer, but if you don't then it affirms his staged 'suspicions' your trying to conceal illicit activities. He becomes demanding and orders you out of the car. He handcuffs you (for your own protection he'll say). Then he will illegally preform a 'Terry Stop' search of your person looking for contraband. So, he didn't find anything so he calls for 'Back Up' because you are so threatening and formidable he feels insecure (and he probably does knowing how he is about to frame you for some terrible infraction. Now he'll interrogate you. Where are you going? Why are you in such a hurry? You know you almost caused an accident? What if you'd killed someone? So searching your purse, he finds some loose "capsules", he suspects them to be prescription drugs (he knows they're probably tylenol but he don't care because he knows you can't afford to hire an attorney), and without a prescription bottle, your guilty of unlawful possession of a prescription drug. Count one (even if you have a prescription, they can't be out of the bottle carrying them around). So, next step. He wants permission to search the car? He really wouldn't need it since you're being arrested for the Tylenol (search incident arrest), but since it's a trump charge, he will want it for anything he finds or it's an unlawfull search and seizure (and don't forget, that decision to throw out the illegally obtained evidence is in the judges discetion). He looks in the car and sees Jr slip off his seatbelt and is watch out the rear window. Count to endangerment of a child, not buckled in. Now he claims he smells an odor like marijuana. He calls his commander who gives authorization to tow the vehicle to impound and disassemble it. They don't find pot but while peeling they find an old foil gum wrapper, a soda straw and a used utility blade that fell through the console God knows how many years ago. Count three, possession of drug paraphenelia (that will mysteriously get lost on the way to the lab for testing, however, it will never go to trial so who needs to know?). Anyway, it only gets harder to prove you're innocent from here. You get court appointed council, but he gets 80 of you each month. He won't have time to get to the truth if you want to take it to trial, so he'll advise you, no, he'll accuse you of being guilty and persuade you the prosecuter will agree to drop two trump charges if you plead guilty to the third trump charge (Possession of drug paraphenelia), pay $1000 fine and spend 30 days in the county jail. He'll also tell you there's a real chance you will lose at trial and get 3-5 years in prison, lose your children and you'll never see your car again. You now belong to the State's free labor organization. Congratulations on your new .23 cents an hour job. lol This may sound outlandish but it happens everyday to innocent people just because they piss the cop off.
by passiveson
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Cops care most about the when, where, and why... They could care less about the who. What passiveson said happens more often than you think. Even if you can get the court appointed council to have the DA drop the charges, (because you are innocent) You will still have to pay court costs.
by UncleRandy
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Many people are unaware of this too, if the charges are dropped, it still appears on your criminal history that you were charged.
by passiveson
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And some people who are found absolutely innocent and acknowledged to be innocent by all parties are kept in prison anyway.
by forgetmenot
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Voted : More than 1000 in shawshank redemption they were all innocent Voted : More than 1000 I watched it too.always Lawyer up~ Voted : 100,000's of thousands The justice system is crafty. It's been around a very long time which means plenty of methods passed along for police, prosecutors and courts to shrewdly back defendents in a corner with intimidation of a 30 or more year sentence in exhange for a few years of probation on a guilty plea. It's like a deal with the devil, it's highly tempting and the prosecutors get to look like heroes protecting the public from the worst offenders. Of course, the defendent quickly realizes how he was railroaded once it sinks in that everyone in the job market and rental properties view him as deviant scumbag for life and he's forced into homelessness, probably shoplifts, becomes a public disturbance by begging or steals to survive and shipped off back to jail as a repeat offender. So, I guess at least the prosecutors, police and courts get to put food on their families tables through this procedure, and the criminal gets to eat too, in prison. Of course, we good taxpayers get to foot the bill, so I guess it works out for everyone in the end.
by FreeRadical
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Correction to my comment: defendant. Bad speller here.
by FreeRadical
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Red: You're gonna fit right in. Everyone in here is innocent, you know that? Heywood, what you in here for? Heywood: Didn't do it. Lawyer fucked me.
by elvislennon
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Voted : None Just being accurate, as no-one can say they are truly innocent, a better question would be, what percentage of people are guilty of the crimes they were charged with and ultimately convicted of?
by Steelhamster
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