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by remarkEon
1492 days ago
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I don't know where you got that statistic, but regardless of how true it is, I suspect the reason so many are imprisoned without having a jury trial is that they waived that right[1] and took a plea deal. >In a just world, this new development should mirror how jury trials work for the rest of us - anyone demanding a jury trial to avoid regulatory censure should be subjected to such horrific penalties if they lose, that nobody in their right mind would ever choose that option. Sadly, we do not live in a just world. I'm assuming this is sarcasm because you're describing a Lovecraftian bureaucratic horror-show. [1] I'm sidestepping the reason for why this might be so common, which likely has to do with the lack of public defenders and high caseloads though I don't have actual data that supports this. |
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It's a well-known number. [1]
> but regardless of how true it is, I suspect the reason so many are imprisoned without having a jury trial is that they waived that right[1] and took a plea deal.
And why do they waive that right?
Because if they don't waive that right, they are subjected to the Lovecraftian bureaucratic horror-show[2] you pooh-poohed just a few lines down.
Take the plea deal, and serve two, or go to trial, flip a coin, and serve ten.
> I'm sidestepping the reason for why this might be so common.
You can't side-step it - you have to look at the system as a whole. It's true that most people can't ever afford to hire a competent lawyer, and it's true that going to trial with a public defender is lunacy, and it's also true that being found guilty at a trial is far, far worse than taking the guilty plea. This is by design - it's a check and balance that ensures most people don't exercise that right.
A right that for most of us only exists in theory is no right at all. It is a privilege, available for the privileged - in the sense that a feudal lord was privileged. It's justice, but only for those who can afford it. It's a complete perversion of equality under the law.
So, of course I'm mad as hell that this court ruled that the group of people most-favored by having the option for a jury trial receiving it, while we go on, and shrug our shoulders at the inaccessibility of it for the rest of us.
[1] https://innocenceproject.org/guilty-pleas-on-the-rise-crimin....
[2] Going to trial with a public defender certainly qualifies as one.