ASE I applaud your views all around when it comes to courts, prisons and writing to pp`s in general. The post that almost made me choke on a piece of chicken I was eating was your post on "Sheriff's Deputy Keith Pikett and his bloodhounds Scent lineups" ha ha ha, sorry I just cannot
let this one go by without cracking up.

Come on, ASE you made this up didn`t you? Naw I`m kidding, what
came to my mind actually was: "Don`t mess with Texas!". That is the
famous battle cry for this rogue police state from where I escaped years ago. My thought turned to the Lone Star Flag, and I really think that
'Don`t Mess With Texas" should replace the lone star on the state flag.
It would be more meaningful for anyone who stands before a court of
law in that state, especially if you are poor and defenseless in the field
of police procedure.

I read both of your latest entries ASE and I am astounded with how
much I managed to avoid by leaving that state. It does not surprise
me one bit about their crime labratories "three stoogies" performances
that result in wrongful convictions, and apparently executions as well.

Keep up the good writings ASE. I am reading you closely.

No not let them out . I mean that we should give the accused and the convicted every possible avenue and opportunity to show or prove their innocence . If the state cannot prove beyond any doubt or violated the law to get a conviction we should not convict . One innocent person executed is one too many . Better put a acquittal or mistrial if the evidence is not enough to convict. We have a serious problem with evidence . and Prosecutors playing fair

There seems to be a growing number of false convictions at every level and we are finding so called forensic science is nothing but folklore based on hunches never empirically proven .

What I mean is to not limit appeals and lets make sure we get it right . if it means a few guilty go free that is preferable to a innocent execute locked up. There are ways to deal with them

In reality very few on DR are serial killers or The Bart Whitaker type psychopaths. Most who are guilty will stay in prison .

The other choice of executing a innocent person is say that humans are expendable That is the moral problem .

If we set the burdens of proof very high and hold those who secure false convictions accountable as in LWOP if it is deliberate for any conviction and 20 years flat if not "intentional We are starting to get it right . There are far too many problems with our criminal justice system.

The other problem is we really do not know just how many false convictions there are . the number is rising as we learn that what was used to get a conviction was junk science or deliberate done .


Some interesting reading

Grits for Breakfast: Public views on actual innocence driven by perceptions, not data

" Sunday, September 20, 2009
Public views on actual innocence driven by perceptions, not data

Here's a particularly interesting result from last week's reader poll regarding how many actually innocent people are currently residing in Texas prisons: 70% of readers chose answers outside the range of the various statistical estimates of innocence. The poll asked readers to choose between an array of innocence estimates from various sources (as applied to the Texas prison popuulation), plus an option to choose a greater (5,000 or more) or lesser (less than 1,000) number than any data-driven estimate.

Nearly half of readers (47%) thought there are 5,000 or more innocent inmates (out of nearly 160,000) currently locked up in Texas, while 23% thought the total was fewer than 1,000. None of the statistically derived innocence rates received more than 8%.

While I could speculatively make arguments that, if correct, would drive the estimate of incarcerated actual innocents in Texas higher than 5,000, from a mathematical perspective I could not justify it based on available data. (FWIW, I selected 3,500 for my vote.) Similarly, the lowest rate estimate came from a source at the national district attorney's association and is almost certainly low-balled. Yet nearly a quarter of respondents thought the real number of innocents was really even lower than that.

We all know statistics can be manipulated, so a lack of faith in one or another statistician's model, especially when the results vary considerably, is no big surprise. More interesting to me, these results appear to reflect a growing divide between people whose belief in our current system has been truly shaken by recent discoveries -DNA exonerations, junk arson investigations, or perhaps the recent NAS study of junk forensic science generally - and a hard core of folks who believe that relatively few innocents ever go to prison regardless of the evidence, statistical or otherwise."


I know it sounds lke set them free .it is not though .More like lets be sure we get it right and the price we pay for not getting it right right now is too far high . .

__________________
The Constitution is not a Technicality!

Me

If you never have dreams they will never come true.

Somethings are worth fighting for !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2Ngn...eature=related


Money Talks !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgL8qqjOnlg

ASE, this is what i prefer in general, not only in your country.

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Do you like that kind of german folk music ?.

Andreas in my country we have tremendously large and
well connected corporations that build private prisons and
run them to make a profit.

I bet you don`t have this in your country. The legal standard
ASE talks about that you support is really a thing of the past
in this country, just like our civil liberties of times ago.

Check out the link below Andreas, read the justifications made
by these corporations to run their private prison using
convicted felons in my country to make money.

Prisons for Profit . NOW on PBS

Rolando, you are totally right and it will never change. The reason is our constitution. Any limitation of civil or constitutional rights is only possible through authorities of the state under certain and regulated circumstances. Imprisonment is a limitation of those rights, only a judge can order this. The conclusion is that our penal system is not in private hands, it´s absolutely forbidden. A private company is no instance with executive right. The separation of powers is an important part of our life here. The penal system is part of our justice system.

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Do you like that kind of german folk music ?.

Andreas as much as I long to speak your words about our constitution, I pain awful just to look at how it has been chipped away by rogue sculptors in what Capitalism has wrath upon of civil liberties.

Shortly after posting my link to you I received an email from a very good friend of mine in Germany. I was informed that indeed Germany, in Hessan, a corporation that has indeed entered into a contract with Great Britain to open a private prison for profit. Perhaps you may want to look into that and let me know what`s the deal there.

You may have heard of film maker Michael Moore. His latest documentary opened here in my country this week. The name of his latest film is "Capitalism: a love story".

I have not seen it yet, but he has filmed and will show a part he describes as "prisons for profits"...I can`t wait to get my hands on this new film..In my own country, prisons for profits is what has become of our judicial system and civil rights. I just have to wonder Andreas, is whether our rogue Capitalism has reached your country`s prisons, to turn them for profit.

Believe me Rolando, a private prison as you might know it is not possible here. No private company can limit any civil or constitutional rights of a german citizen, our constitution defines who is able to make it: only authorities of the state like police or justice staff. It would mean that a private company could leverage the Grundgesetz, our constitution. Believe me, it doesn´t work. Therefore must our constitution be changed and this would be very difficult because of our multi-party parliament.
Possible are all other things for private companies. What you mean is the british company Serco. This company became allowed to do some tasks inside the prison in Hünfeld/Hessen. It means the inmates transport, prison maintenance, some medical services and the video observation system. Responsible for the inmates stays the german justice staff. In other words: a private company can become allowed a lot in relation with cooperation with the penal system, but never the responsibility over the inmates or any legal effect. That´s out of the question.

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Do you like that kind of german folk music ?.

that prison over here in Hünefeld part of it is privat the staff in there is assisted by a private security team.
Haven't found an english link (sorry) so here is the german:Deutschlandfunk - Hintergrund - Stiehlt sich der Staat aus seiner Verantwortung?

By the way Rolando: obviously do i know Michael Moore and his documentaries. I saw some of his very intelligent movies. Only some days he was at Larry King, that´s why i know about his new movie.

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Do you like that kind of german folk music ?.

Tayla, der Punkt ist, wer für die Gefangenen verantwortlich ist und bleibt, das ist nämlich das hessische Justizministerium, dem ja der hessische Strafvollzug unterstellt ist. Stell Dir mal vor, was hier los wäre, wenn ein privater Sicherheitsmann einen flüchtenden Gefangenen erschießt. Einfach gesagt: das geht nicht und deshalb bleibt die Bewachung immer in der Hand des Staates. Er ist es, der die Einschränkung der Freiheit des Gefangenen einzig und allein umsetzen darf. Alle damit nicht direkt zusammenhängenden Aufgaben innerhalb des Strafvollzugs können "outgesourct" werden, um Kosten zu sparen. Ist eine einfache Formel.

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Do you like that kind of german folk music ?.