The American Criminal Injustice System

WWW.CHRONICLESmagazine.org
by Paul Craig Roberts
March 16th, 2009

Ronald Cotton spent 11 years in prison because Jennifer Thompson provided eyewitness testimony that he was the person who raped her. On March 9, National Public Radio revisited the story.

It turned out that Thompson was completely wrong. DNA evidence indicated that it was not Cotton but another man who had bragged about the rape.

The criminal justice (sic) system has nothing to do with justice. It is a massive producer of injustice. The agenda is to clear court dockets and produce high conviction rates.

These high rates are achieved through coerced plea bargains.

Strong still believes in America and that justice will win out. I hope he is right.

Law and order conservatives think of the police in godlike terms as “public defenders.”

Conservatives could gain more perspective if they watch some of the videos on YouTube of gratuitous police violence, such as one of a police officer delivering a brutal beating to a 15-year-old girl.

A Google search for YouTube videos of police violence lists 485,000 entries, and these are just the acts captured on camera. How many cops are psychopaths who constitute a greater danger to the public than do criminals? SWAT teams are notorious for breaking down doors at the wrong address and murdering innocent citizens.

Cops are also notorious for framing people, as it is easier than doing serious investigation of crimes and collecting evidence. Even the guilty are often framed, as that is easier than convicting them on the evidence. FULL STORY.