Submitted by D Dilley, Jun 4, 2007 12:29

On the mark (groan) regarding the state of the US judicial System. The law itself, instead of serving as a guide to civil behavior and for redressing breaches, serves too often as a hammer to lawyers of every stripe, criminal, civil, etc. Add to that the fact that lawyers are regulated by their own, in the form of Bar Associations, Boards of Judicial Conduct, and others of the ilk. This is a situation they find unacceptable in other professions.

And the plea bargain. What makes it so attractive and ubiquitous is that everyone wins with a plea. The judge clears his docket of another case, and both defense and prosecution claim a win. Everyone wins, except the victim, the people, and the working stiffs who actually built the case, who, ironically have no voice in the court. As a 26-year law enforcement officer, I learned very early to hate plea bargains for the insult they were. But, like the law itself, it is by, for and of the lawyers.

Thanks, Mark. Everything you write brings us another step toward actually knowing something.

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