Third Party & Independents: Archives

I hope Peltier is successful in raising the awareness of the horrible conditions that still exist today on the Lakota Sioux reservation. I have been contributing to St. Joseph’s Indian School for a number of years now. They offer a live in campus, hope and education to Lakota Sioux children who otherwise would not know much love, care, or opportunity.

I don’t know the details of Peltier’s case, but, it is true, that our Judicial system is extremely reluctant to admit error and right previous wrongful imprisonments.

At the same time, here where I live, a sexual offender of young girls has been arrested for the offense a couple times with different girls in the last year, my daughter being one of them. And yet, 8 months later, the D.A. has not yet brought our case before the Grand Jury for indictment. Why? The D.A.’s office for Comal County told us there are witnesses that need to be interviewed. The names of the witnesses have absolutely nothing to do with our case against the offender and the detective in charge, agrees. But the D.A.’s office won’t admit they made a mistake, won’t indict, and won’t return our phone calls.

Peltier is right about our justice system.

First point: Leonard WHO??

Secondly, David, I am truly sorry to hear about your daughter—that is terrible beyond words. I’d agree that there are flaws in our justice system, as well as flaws in those who operate our justice system. It is, nonetheless, a pretty darn good system that strives for fairness for both victim and accused.

In any single instance, there can be issues that appear unfair, and in that instance may actually be unfair. But it’s also important to recognize the system as a whole, and that certain bits of unfairness are inherent in any system.

David, I hope your situation works out, and more importantly, that your daughter is and stays okay.

Thanks, joe. She now has reason to fear people she knows, doesn’t know, fellow Americans, foreigners. Surprisingly, she is very appropriate about whom she distrusts now, so, it is a lesson that was going to have to be learned at some point anyway.

As for the system, I have always admired the promise posed by the Constitution of the U.S. And since I attained the age of reason, have been grossly disappointed countless times by the chasms boldly paraded across our media’s headlines between that Constitution and the acts of politicians. I demand a higher standard - and perhaps it is time a whole lot of other folks start doing the same, or bear the guilt of being part of the problem instead of the solution.

David:

In theory, I agree with you that people need to hold our system, and those who run it, to a higher standard. While we can never achieve perfection, that is no reason to not strive for perfection.

But I also recognize the inherent difficulties in how to achieve fairness in our legal system. Let me use the Kobe Bryant “circus” as an example:

Should Bryant be allowed to question the young lady on her sexual and psychological past? This is a tough one and here’s why. Iffff the sex was truly consensual, and thereby Bryant is innocent, then her sexual encounters have reason to be brought into play. Ifff Bryant did rape her, then her past really isnt significant.

But the hard part is that we dont know. I’d hate to think of Bryant being put away due to someone who was really in it for the money or because she has psychological problems. And I’d hate just as much for Bryant to get away with it if in fact he raped her.

The judicial system is easy to condemn AFTER you see the outcomes. Its much harder to figure out on the front end how to make it totally fair.