6.10.2013

Different versions of justice.

I've said it before(and I doubtless will say it again, because it is true), but if ever seriously risk going to jail, I hope the American legal system is the one I am being tried in.  The very traits that require to me to admit that basic truth also frustrate the hell out of me in 'clear-cut' cases. 

Two recent stories underscore the difference between our legal system and the way justice is carried out other places.

First, we have rapid and messy justice out of rural Bolivia:

Bolivian villagers punish rapist and murderer by throwing him into his victim's grave and burying him alive

Then to compare, we have what I'm sure will prove to be slow, plodding ultimately unsatisfying justice not half a mile from my house in Richland.

Richland man arrested, charged with homicide in baby's death

Read more here: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2013/06/10/2428396/9-month-old-richland-girls-death.html#storylink=cpy

So...on one side of the scales of justice we have rural Bolivia, where a 17-year old suspected rapist and murdered is tied up, and buried alive in the same grave where his victim was being buried.  Very poetic vigilante justice.

On the other side we have a 36-year old who 'allegedly' molested(the story was updated from the original due to complaints over terms like 'vaginal bruising') and killed a 9-month old left in his care.  He then headed for the hills before being tracked down.  He has been charged with manslaughter, meaning what...5-8 years maybe?

I'm not saying mob violence, and burying 17-year old kids alive is the way to solve our problems...but as a father, there has to be some middle ground between burying people alive and waiting 2 years to sentence an 'alleged' molester and killer who tried running for the Mexico border. 

Sometimes, waiting on karma is tough.

1 comment:

  1. If I had to guess, I would say that highly vaunted public education model hasn't helped people, it has stripped them down to cogs and ripped away any self-reliance for hard work, problem solving/critical thinking, and even more so their lust for real justice. It didn't work on me, or I got better, but I am living in a land of the dead. People who can't and won't do anything but wait for someone else to do the right thing, becoming more and more dependent on a government that is most likely just going to slaughter them for it's own "fun", the completion of the last stages of indoctrination, and the riddance of people like me.

    Just... sayin'. I hope I can get better fast enough to escape. Well... you did start it, I'm just suggesting the rest of it.

    I know if someone messed with my people, unless the police protected them, I would just do it myself. And if the courts failed to provide justice, again, I would step in. How much, exactly, would it cost to get a group to remove someone like that, in prison? After too short of a sentence, how hard would they be to get to? Think about the crime. Our government has become gutless as to criminals, and brutal as to citizens.

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