13 April 2008

Judgments are interesting. People think they can make them of others and they often do. Frankly, there is too much hypocrisy in it.

In the legal system, (mis)judgments are even more perilous - and lethal - for those accused wrongly, and more importantly, for those recidivists who are unwisely let free. When the facts are clearly laid before a jury and despite this, they make their unfortunate judgment, then there is a dangerous breakdown...for they have failed miserably in their duty to protect the public...and this, they do altogether too often.

A convicted Level III sex offendor and rapist with a history of stalking women and considered most likely to reoffend has been released free, despite the King County prosecutor's attempt to send him to the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island (Sara Jean Green, "Jury rejects predator label for rapist," The Seattle Times, 11 April 2008). The reason for his release? He does not "fit the state's definition of a sexually violent predator because he does not have a legally recognized mental or personality disorder".

A couple of things leap to mind:

1) How about changing the definition!
2) The offendor was implicated in more than two dozen incidents of sexual misconduct and he was convicted as a rapist. What more does the legal system need to incarcerate him?
3) More importantly, what will it take to convince the jury to protect the public?
4) Moreover, what will it take for the jury to learn from its past? Case in point:

The last time the King County jury freed someone prosecutors wanted committed to the SCC, that person was again charged with rape and murder.

So much for the sound judgment of collective minds. Facts people, facts.

Seek out the facts and listen to it. Learn the objective truth of the facts. Observe and observe wisely.

Truth is an interesting virtue. Objective, it remains intact. Manipulated in any way, and it no longer remains anything except false. So many falsities rest behind the flimsy veil of manipulated truth, but ultimately, it is a lie.

The many layers of truth - this is the cesspool, the very slippery cesspool.

Fact is fact. Fact is irrespective of group consensus.

So to those seeking to make judgments, however (mis)guided and (un)warranted, perhaps keep this in mind: semper fidelis ad sapientia et doctrina.

In the past couple of years, deferred prosecution agreements are steadily replacing corporate criminal prosecutions, thus sanctioning corporate bribery, corruption, and criminal acts - in a decided shift away from transparency and accountability (Eric Lichtblau, "In Justice Shift, Corporate Deals Replace Trials," The New York Times, 9 April 2008). Over the last three years, the Justice Department has put off prosecuting more than fifty (50) companies suspected of wrongdoing.

The lesson in this?

Beware consumers. Beware public. The guardians of 'justice' are no longer guarding. Corporations can buy off their crimes. They have no fear or reason to maintain any sense of integrity or responsibility to the public. They are impervious to the 'rules' as long as they can pay.

Justice? Hardly.

Judgment? If you can pay, you are impervious.

Of slime, slander, and suspicions, walk away, walk far away lest you get mired in the web, tangled in an ersatz justice...

Judgments...there is too much hypocrisy in them...