Reforming Our Justice System

In my last essay, I offered the opinion that our system of justice had broken down to the point that it no longer served the purpose for which it was intended, namely keeping the general public safe from harm, punishing those who do harm to others, providing timely redress in civil (non-criminal) actions, and maintaining the integrity of our national borders. I proposed a system of law enforcement, which would base jurisdiction on the criminal act itself rather than on the location of the act. While I plan to develop that concept more thoroughly, it is important to note that there are many other factors involved in the prevention of crime that lie outside enforcement and prosecution parameters. Such factors include the economic and educational status of the offender, as well as the circumstances surrounding the upbringing of that person. These issues are ones that will not be solved entirely by reforming the legal system as it pertains to criminal matters. Instead, society itself has to make other changes to remove the inequities that lead individuals towards a criminal act. Those will be topics of later essays though, so for now, I am going to discuss my thoughts on reforming our criminal and civil legal systems.

In order for a society to function properly, mutually agreed upon rules of conduct, or laws, are established by a consensus of the people through their elected officials. These laws are meant to serve as a guideline for acceptable public behavior as well as establishing penalties for those who break the laws. As citizens, we are bound to observe the laws of the land to the best of our ability. But it is also necessary, and perhaps more important even, to ensure that any law on the books is both necessary and enforceable. It is our task, as involved participants in society, to insist that the laws are applied fairly and that punishments meted out are both appropriate and consistently applied. Also, as stewards of the public purse, we must demand from our elected representatives that the creation, application, and administration of laws and penalties be accomplished in the most economically sound manner possible.

Our current jigsaw puzzle of legal codes, enforcement agencies, prosecutorial districts, and correctional practices is confusing, expensive, and duplicitous. Worse yet, the effectiveness is highly questionable. We are sending more people into our prison system each year, yet crime continues to flourish. We have enacted so many civil codes that many people have no idea whether questionable behavior is in fact illegal behavior or just boorish. Our court systems are overworked, mostly due to unlimited appeals processes, questionably written legal codes, allowable yet unfathomable prosecutorial and defense tactics and spurious civil cases. Our punishment system is rife with individuals serving different sentences for the same crimes, while others are not even prosecuted. We need to rethink our system and reform it so that it better serves the citizens who uphold it.

Because of the many elements involved in reforming our system of justice, I will be breaking this discussion into several essays. In these essays I will discuss Common Sense reforms for the criminal legal system, the civil legal system, the punishment process, and national security issues as they pertain to the physical boundaries of the United States. Such changes will attempt to produce a justice and security system that is more consistently applied, more fiscally responsible, less intrusive in everyday life, and yet still adheres to the protections afforded American citizens by our Constitution. We can then find people who support these reforms and elect them into public office so that the nonsense that passes for leadership and rational legislation can become a thing of the past.

I will begin then, with reform in our criminal legal system. The first concept I’d like to talk about is that of jurisdictional restructuring. What I mean by this is that rather than have duplicated laws for the same crimes in each of our counties and states, we should develop a national criminal code based upon the crimes themselves. This would require the implementation of a three-tiered system of responsibility: crimes handled by a Federal Justice agency, crimes handled by a State Justice Agency, and crimes handled by a Local Justice agency. I know that we have this kind of stratification in place already, but the current system has agencies fighting over resources and boundaries while leaving the public confused and under-protected.

In this new system, the Federal agency would have jurisdiction over all major violent crimes against individuals, crimes against our country that occur within our borders, crimes that involve the misuse or abuse of the public trust, and immigration crimes. The laws and punishments for these acts would be universal in nature, bringing about an end to the disparities that currently exist among the states. Crimes such as murder, rape, kidnapping, armed robbery, counterfeiting, treason, bribery of public servants, massive fraud, willful environmental destruction and immigration would all fall under the Federal agency’s jurisdiction.

The State agencies would be responsible for most crimes against private and public property, less serious physical crimes against people, fraudulent actions, criminal business codes, and traffic enforcement. These laws would probably be similar from state to state, but could account for differences in regional values and geographical concerns. The citizens of the state, through their state legislatures, would decide the punishments. The State agencies would not be responsible for enforcing or prosecuting those crimes assigned to the Federal agency, but would be available to share information regarding criminal behavior and could assist as needed in an investigatory role.

Our Local agencies would likely be the least burdened of the three, and rightly so. Local enforcement costs are driving many communities to cut their police forces or slash spending in other programs for their citizens. This does not give our cities a leaner, more effective security system, but instead makes us less secure as our populations grow in relation to our dwindling police forces. Local agencies would be charged with handling mostly misdemeanor offenses coinciding with local ordinances, rather than with the major crimes.

In my next essay, I will talk a little about the structure of each of these agencies, how they would work in concert with each other and with society to produce a safer environment for all of us to live in. I will talk about the provisions placed in our national Constitution and how they relate to this new division of duties. Society has the right to expect to be able to live our lives without fear of crime and without the fear of unjust government prosecution. We have the right to expect that criminal behavior is either rehabilitated or the offender removed from the general population. We have the duty to create only good laws, laws based not on various moral opinions or special interests, but on collectively agreed upon premises. And we have the responsibility to make sure that the administration of our criminal legal system does not overburden our public finances by being duplicitous, confusing, and arbitrary.

A False Sense of Security

I’ve previously discussed ways in which we can begin to change our government through individual involvement and the abandonment of the political parties. Now it is time to move on to the more specific problems facing us today and apply the principals of Common Sense to finding some solutions.

One of the first tasks of government is to provide security to its citizens. A society without security is nothing more than a loose confederation of people, fighting to maintain a sense of purpose in the face of danger. But there are many levels of security that a government must provide in order to achieve a state of freedom. To maintain geographical sovereignty, a country must secure its borders with its neighbors. To assure the physical security of its citizens, government must enact and enforce laws. To create social stability and promote human advancement, security in the form of health and welfare are established. And to prevent attacks from others and advance the creed of human dignity and freedom, government exports security through military might and alliances, economic bribery and favoritism.

This security blanket, which we rightly expect from our government, is actually more like a patch work quilt, except that too many of the pieces are over-lapping, several squares are missing, and nearly all the rest are frayed from abuse and wear. Once we succumbed to the mindlessness that is Political Correctness, we might as well have opened our doors and welcomed our enemies in to come and steal all of our good silver. In our desire to avoid all risks, including the risk of hurting someone’s feelings or the risk of being unfair, we have essentially lost a sense of purpose in maintaining our security, both inside our country and beyond our borders. We have created laws that favor poor public behavior and tolerate lawlessness. We have created other laws that make criminals out of people who really aren’t criminals in the dangerous sense. We have encouraged, through our legal system, the widespread practice of bending the laws. We have abandoned our borders both on land and at sea.

To hear me tell it like this, it would seem that we are but a step away from anarchy, and of course that’s not really the case. There are many laws on the books that are necessary, mutually agreed upon, and somewhat consistently enforced. Our military, whether actively fighting or in an advisory role, is generally considered the best in the world. And our society seems to continue progressing through the days and years just fine. So then it would seem that we are pretty secure after all, despite the inconsistent patchwork quilt of programs and wasted resources. At least, on the surface anyway.

In order to really understand whether or not we have achieved a real form of security, we first need to know what it is we are trying to secure. This may seem like a foregone conclusion, but unless you acknowledge the things you want to protect, you can’t possibly create a plan to protect them. From the Common Sense standpoint, on a personal level, security means you aren’t afraid of being robbed, killed, starved, homeless, beaten, cheated, or abused by your government. It means peace of mind in day-to-day life. It does not mean that nothing bad will ever happen to you, your friends, or your family. It also does not mean that you will be rich or famous or even happy. But this level of security, when properly designed and deployed, assures a level playing field for all citizens to achieve their goals, provides recourse from wrongs done to you, and bestows punishment to those who would seek to do harm.

Again, using Common Sense on a national level, security is the ability of the government to protect its citizens from attacks by other nations or groups. Through the establishment of a military, we are able to defend ourselves from any enemies at home or abroad. National security also is responsible for maintaining our borders and knowing who and what crosses over them. It is with national security in mind, that relations with other countries occur. Whether those relationships are economic, political, or military in nature, they seek to promote more stability in the world, thus increasing our security. This type of national security does not require that America agree with other countries all of the time. This type of security does not require that America open its doors to the rest of the world either. What it does require is a common sense approach to reforming and then enforcing our border laws, a common sense approach to the resolution of conflicts, and a resolute expectation of the same from other countries in the world.

The men who wrote our Constitution endeavored to create a compact that would establish a system of law and justice to provide these levels of security. They sought to construct a protective shield around the citizen so that the government could not intrude but for the most egregious of crimes. And they required the government to provide proof of guilt before a citizen could be punished. The created the Congress to make laws. The created the Executive branch to enforce the laws. They created the Judiciary to make sure the laws conformed to the ideals set forth in the Constitution. They allowed for an electorate that would control the Congress and Executive branch through direct election and accountable representation. They granted the power to create a national military, but funded it only for two years at a time, to prevent its leaders from trying a hostile take-over. They put everything they could think of in that document to both ensure the common man a level of freedom and security never before known and allow the government to protect and defend the citizens from foreign malevolence. But the world in 1776 was a different place than it is now. For while in their time it was probably taken as a given that Common Sense would prevail in matters of public discourse, in our time it is a rare thing indeed. Had they only known the grave need for its inclusion, I’m sure they would have written a section requiring Common Sense in Politics. As it is, they did the next best thing in leaving us with a Constitution that has evolved through the years, flexible enough to allow some new patches here and there, strong enough to hold together at the seams.

Still, our domestic legal system no longer serves the average citizen. It is rife with corruption and waste. Many of our laws are simply bad laws, creating criminals out of otherwise ordinary, albeit non-conformist people. Some of these laws pertain to drugs and sex. Others concern property use, product liability, tax loopholes, family law. Many more of our laws are written in a way so as to obscure their true purpose or favor certain individuals. Our legal code is as complex as our tax code, and just as full of holes, exceptions, and strange consequences. To further complicate matters, our legal system does not fairly enforce the laws, does not consistently punish offenders, is not readily accessible for civil complaints, and is expensive. These barriers virtually prevent non-criminal or non-wealthy individuals from having their day in court in a timely manner. The complexity of the law, as created by lawyers, precludes people from presenting their own cases in a straight forward manner and getting an honest, common sense judgment.

It is well beyond the time for an overhaul of these systems, both domestically and nationally. They are duplicitous, arbitrary, and very expensive. Our tax dollars are being thrown hand over fist into the purses of lawyers, both in the legislatures and in the courtrooms. Domestically, we should demand a streamlining of the legal code, removing redundancy between federal, local, and state governments and dividing jurisdiction by act rather than location. We must remove those laws that do not infringe upon second parties. We must make the laws simple to understand and know the penalties. We must enforce all the laws, all the time, and apply them fairly regardless of race, religion, sex or status. We must demand strict and appropriate penalties for those who break the law, and reduce the revolving door that is our prison system. We must remold our judiciary system in such a way that provides timely mediation of non-criminal matters, and fair but not eternal appeals provisions for all matters. We must seek out and destroy corruption of the system whenever and wherever it appears. Nationally, we must defend our borders, reformulate our military postures, amend our foreign policies, and foster better relations in the world.

How can we do this? It is simple. Elect politicians who are committed to reform and then write letters to your lawmakers and judges demanding reform. Support common sense initiatives and demand better services. Be informed and involved. To advance freedom and security, we must recognize when change is necessary, we must embrace change when it is for the common good. We must be willing to realign the ways of our forefathers in order to better reflect today’s realities. We must be willing to endure the pains of change, knowing that our struggle is no different than that of our ancestors and our goal is just as noble- to leave the world a better place than we got here. Our country is not living in the same world as it was 230 years ago. Our world has changed and with it so have we. We were born with the capacity to change our environment and to influence our destinies for the betterment of mankind. So far, we haven’t done too well. It’s time to do a lot better.

Specific Steps You Can Take Now

It is one thing to sit around and pontificate about the wrongs of government and society, tossing about complaints and concepts for change. It is another to actively begin to take some steps to help change occur. I am fully aware that the changes I’ve already proposed, as well as the ones the will be forthcoming, will require a large base of support for them ever to be realized. Obviously, with several hundred million eligible voters in this country and only a very, very, very small fraction of them even aware of these essays, building a large base of support seems an insurmountable task. And yet as I muse about the electronic bazaar that has become the place for sharing thoughts with people you’ll never meet, I find many voices that seem similar to mine. When I engage in actual conversation with people and politics or social issues come up, I’m often hearing the same complaints. This leads me to believe that there really are millions who are ready for a change, but maybe just don’t know what to do. In is in that spirit then, that I offer you some concrete steps you can take today that will begin building that support for change.

The first, most important and most effective step you can take is also the easiest one of all. Simply update your voter registration in your county without listing a political party affiliation. Look for a box that states, “I decline to state a political party,” or one that states, “Other:________,” and fill in “Non-Affiliated” or “Non-Partisan.” Do not write “Independent” because that is an actual party. To make this even easier for you, I have included a link on this website. You can find it down the right hand side under Other Peoples Thoughts. Click on the “LVW: Voter Registration” link and follow the steps. (This link goes to the League of Women Voters website. I looked over their site before I added this in. It seemed to be the least partisan in their mission statements, even though they are usually viewed as more conservative.) By re-registering yourself in this way, the ranks of the divisive political parties will begin to shrink. Slowly at first, yes, but shrinking all the same. As more and more people recognize this tactic, it will reduce the power and influence of the corrupt organizations that are our current major parties.

Of course, several hundred individuals renouncing party affiliations still isn’t going to be noticed in the grand scheme of things, so step two becomes the next most important part of the process. In order for step one to be effective, we would need many people to re-register. This is where you begin to really make a difference. Step two requires that you inform people of step one. Before you start putting up your hands and backing away, take a deep breath and hear me out. I’m not suggesting that you go out of your way in every conversation you have with people and tell them to re-register as non-affiliated. Rather, when the proper conversation occurs you can offer that you felt as they did and decided to re-register yourself in order to let the politicians know that you no longer supported their actions. Tell them that such an action, multiplied many times over, could result in more candidates to vote for who are not tied to the major parties misguided and divisive party platforms, therefore being more responsive to using common sense. Tell them how simple it is to re-register (you can even e-mail them this article if you want), then tell them to tell someone else when they get a chance. Use your best judgment on when and how often you want to “spread the word,” but keep in mind that zealots aren’t often looked upon too kindly. If you do you part and tell a few friends who end up agreeing with you, they’ll tell a few and so on. If millions of people believe that passing along an e-mail chain will bring good luck, they should see they value in this too.

These first few steps are ones that everyone can take and they will make a difference. But each step from here will require more active levels of involvement. In previous essays I’ve stated that we must find and support a better class of politicians who believe in the common good over the party ideologies. This is a two-pronged problem, and the question for both is the same: How? In our current system of political gamesmanship, it is nearly impossible to find someone both willing to undertake the task while at the same time financially secure enough to withstand the rigors of a lengthy and expensive campaign. Where do you find someone who would stand for common sense government? How can you support that person and make it possible for them to run for election? How can you help their election succeed? There are simple answers to each of these questions, followed, of course, by many a million particulars. I’ll give you the middle ground and let you work it from there.

Where do you find someone to stand for common sense principles? If you’ve ever had a political conversation with someone that didn’t turn into a name-calling, divisive endeavor, you’ve just met two possible candidates: you and the other person. Now I know that everyone isn’t going to jump up and run for office, but my point is that the people who care about the things you do and are frustrated with the government like you are- these are the people who could be running for office. Common People with Common Sense. Or maybe you could decide to hold a meeting somewhere in your town, asking people to drop by for a few hours of civil conversation. After many of these meetings, someone will likely emerge as a potential candidate for something and before you know it, you’re on the road to change. I admit that this will take some courage from the person doing the organizing. You could easily post an advertisement on the internet or on a community bulletin or in an inexpensive newspaper, in case you didn’t want to invite people you were close too. (I know that our egos prevent us from “acting out of the norm” and this surely would be that, so inviting unknown people may make things flow more freely for everyone.) If only one in every 10 or 20 people who read this would try something like this out, I bet you’d be surprised at how things can move along.

How can you support that person and make it possible for them to run for election? How can you help their election succeed? Once you’ve begun meeting with your fellow citizens and talking about the things that are important to you all, common sense principles of government and society, you’ll find someone to stand up for your collective desires and run for a political office. Whether this is a local, state, or national office is not really relevant here, with the exception that for each higher level of government, a higher level of effort will be required. You must now come together to support your candidate. The high cost of running a campaign is a major deterrent to most candidates. It would be naïve to ignore that fact. However, if we learned nothing from the last election cycle, we learned that new technology and creative ideas are just as, if not more effective, than the major parties reliance on TV and radio advertising. The open nature of the internet provides a fertile ground for spreading ideas and promoting candidates. The personal computer makes the printing of campaign material both readily available and inexpensive when delegated among many people. Rely on the power of your visibility for the media to notice you and make yourself know to them by writing press releases and getting on radio talk shows to talk about your common sense candidate. Write letters to people in the community. I’m not sure what all of the campaign finance laws are, and you’d probably have to know what kind of restrictions there are, but if all of these tasks are parceled out amongst your group, as your group grows larger, the costs can be spread out more and more. The financial costs can thus be borne, but an even bigger cost is that of time.

In order for change to occur, you must be willing to give up some of your time. This is perhaps even harder for us to part with than our money. Our time is precious as our society leaves us with so little in which to truly enjoy. But if you ever want to change that very fact, you must find a way to offer up even more of your time today. The trick here is all in your perception. If you enjoy spending time with people who are fun and friendly and like to be active in change, you may not find it so hard to attend rallies and participate in sign making events. If you are more solitary, you might enjoy printing leaflets and bumper stickers at home with your computer, dropping them off for disbursal and sending out e-mails. With enough people getting involved, this could be as little as an hour or two a month or as much as several times a week. Not a lot of time when you think about it and the eventual pay-off would make it worth the while.

Whether or not you agree with all of my positions, if you at least agree that this government is not doing the right thing for the people, if you feel that things coming out of our capitols are not grounded in common sense, if you are tired of being bamboozled by your elected officials, and if you feel as if your voice is lost amid the corporate largess and special interests, then only by joining in the steps I’ve outlined above can you hope to make a difference. I know that everyone can and should re-register to vote as a non-affiliated voter and should encourage others to do the same. I hope that others will go further and begin to meet and promote good people. I hope you all will begin to involve yourselves in our future and not just complain as you ride along.