Our most effective power as individuals...
...may be serving as Jurors and Grand Jurors.
Though there are many problems in America that beg to be addressed, there appears to be one that-though it usually hovers under the radar-affects everyone directly and/or indirectly, and has the potential to either hasten the already advanced destruction of our Liberty...or to re-establish lost Liberty.
The reason this issue remains in the shadows may be because it is an essential component of the foundation of civilized society, and those in power that are responsible for maintaining and conducting the process have overseen the thorough corruption of it, and naturally wish not to be exposed. For whatever reason the so-called news media are complicit in keeping a smokescreen in place so that the corruption remains largely unknown.
And, the political blame falls upon both major brands of political critters: Republicans and
Democrats.
This issue is America's judicial system, both civil and criminal. And, the corruption is endemic in the federal as well as state systems.
Since it is the criminal justice systems that feeds the American Prison Industrial Complex, which makes the U.S. the world leader in imprisonment of people, both in raw numbers as well as per-capita rates (hardly something that Americans should be proud of), that is where the focus should be, as it is likely that the civil justice system would be cleaned up at the same time the criminal justice system is reformed. The warehousing of harmless people in jails and prisons is extremely expensive-a monetary and human cost no longer affordable...
In order to obtain conviction rates near 100%, it has become routine: for prosecutors to cheat and disregard their duty to see that justice is done; for police to lie, plant evidence and circumvent proper procedure regarding the Bill Of Rights; for misbehaving judges to give rubber-stamp approval over the corrupt means used by police and prosecutors in the courtroom, as well as rendering judicial decisions not based upon law.
It is said that the first casualty of war is the truth. All too often the first casualty in courtrooms is the truth.
That police, prosecutors, and judges can be said to generally work as a team-with the goal of convictions by any means-shouldn't be a surprise...gee whiz...they all receive their income from...the government.
A Grand Jury that refuses to hand down an indictment stops a prosecution, but that is extremely rare, as the Grand Jury has largely become a rubber-stamp in the hands of the prosecutor. The notion that a prosecutor can get a ham sandwich indicted is not without basis...
The Grand Jury was originally designed to operate independently, without being orchestrated by the government prosecutor. Indeed, government prosecutors were non-existent in America's early days (the prosecutor was the injured party). And when government prosecutors first appeared they were forbidden to attend the Grand Jury, at least until late in the 19th century.
While the government must have 12 votes of guilty to secure a conviction at trial, a lone vote of not guilty hangs the jury. Then the government must initiate the process all over again.
But actual trials are much more the exception than the rule regarding the means of dispensing 'justice' to criminal defendants, as plea bargaining has largely replaced the means of justice established by the Founding Fathers, as today some 95% of criminal charges are resolved by plea bargains.
In fact, plea bargains were unknown to the Founding Fathers and would have been considered an abomination by most of them. The practice of plea bargaining began early in the 20th century.
Because a conviction is all but assured if one chooses to go to trial (because of ignorant Jurors, cheating prosecutors, lying police and oath disregarding judges), even if one is totally innocent there is plenty of incentive to plead guilty in order to avoid the draconian prison sentences that one faces if he or she forces the prosecutor to actually have to work a trial.
The means employed by prosecutors to encourage defendants to plead guilty can often be most charitably be described as torture, and include but are not limited to: prolonged incarceration prior to trial due to unreasonable bail demands; threats of much more prison time upon conviction at trial; threats to indict and prosecute innocent family or friends if one is stubborn about exercising their right to a trial.
It is argued that the justice system would grind to a halt without the expediency offered by plea bargains. But maybe there are too many laws, too many behaviors being legislated as crimes even though no person and/or property is harmed, except possibly the defendant and/or other consenting adults.
Examples of 'crimes' that are absurd, silly and ridiculous, include: the importation of lobsters 1/2" too short and packaged in cardboard rather than plastic (a federal felony); failing to report a cash sale of gold; ingestion of some mood altering substances; filling in a low spot with dirt on one's own property...the list might be endless. And, we are already down the road to 'thought' crimes as there are already laws on the books and more pending that create crimes out of mere thoughts.
That we are well on the way to becoming a police state would seem to be beyond dispute.
Individuals prepared to think and employ common sense when called to serve as Grand and Trial Jurors, rather than acting as government boot-licking rubber-stamps, could restore lost Liberty and reverse the march towards totalitarianism.
It's hard to imagine another way...that is peaceful...
Whether as Grand Juror or Trial Juror, one has the right and the duty to judge the facts as well as the law.
Judges will instruct Trial Jurors "you must obey the law as I give it to you"-THAT IS A LIE. Neither Constitutional provisions nor legislative enactment of any kind (at least at the federal level) so states. All "jury instructions" in criminal cases are merely helpful suggestions. See United States v. Norton, 846 F.2d 521 (8th Cir. 198
.
There can be no better system of checks and balances than by the people serving as Grand and Trial Jurors.
As examples, Jurors judged the law in cases regarding the Fugitive Slave Act (which made it a crime to aid an escaped slave), and Alcohol Prohibition.
Slavery is obviously wrong, as is the governmental intrusion into what an adult individual chooses put into his or her body, so many Jurors refused to convict in such cases. Such honorable service by Jurors would likely have ended Slavery eventually (without a half-million Civil War dead), and did assist in eventually ending the disasterous policy of Alcohol Prohibition.
So, don't look at your notice of Jury Service as a nuisance to be avoided by any means-it is your chance to halt abusive government action...
...may be serving as Jurors and Grand Jurors.
Though there are many problems in America that beg to be addressed, there appears to be one that-though it usually hovers under the radar-affects everyone directly and/or indirectly, and has the potential to either hasten the already advanced destruction of our Liberty...or to re-establish lost Liberty.
The reason this issue remains in the shadows may be because it is an essential component of the foundation of civilized society, and those in power that are responsible for maintaining and conducting the process have overseen the thorough corruption of it, and naturally wish not to be exposed. For whatever reason the so-called news media are complicit in keeping a smokescreen in place so that the corruption remains largely unknown.
And, the political blame falls upon both major brands of political critters: Republicans and
Democrats.
This issue is America's judicial system, both civil and criminal. And, the corruption is endemic in the federal as well as state systems.
Since it is the criminal justice systems that feeds the American Prison Industrial Complex, which makes the U.S. the world leader in imprisonment of people, both in raw numbers as well as per-capita rates (hardly something that Americans should be proud of), that is where the focus should be, as it is likely that the civil justice system would be cleaned up at the same time the criminal justice system is reformed. The warehousing of harmless people in jails and prisons is extremely expensive-a monetary and human cost no longer affordable...
In order to obtain conviction rates near 100%, it has become routine: for prosecutors to cheat and disregard their duty to see that justice is done; for police to lie, plant evidence and circumvent proper procedure regarding the Bill Of Rights; for misbehaving judges to give rubber-stamp approval over the corrupt means used by police and prosecutors in the courtroom, as well as rendering judicial decisions not based upon law.
It is said that the first casualty of war is the truth. All too often the first casualty in courtrooms is the truth.
That police, prosecutors, and judges can be said to generally work as a team-with the goal of convictions by any means-shouldn't be a surprise...gee whiz...they all receive their income from...the government.
A Grand Jury that refuses to hand down an indictment stops a prosecution, but that is extremely rare, as the Grand Jury has largely become a rubber-stamp in the hands of the prosecutor. The notion that a prosecutor can get a ham sandwich indicted is not without basis...
The Grand Jury was originally designed to operate independently, without being orchestrated by the government prosecutor. Indeed, government prosecutors were non-existent in America's early days (the prosecutor was the injured party). And when government prosecutors first appeared they were forbidden to attend the Grand Jury, at least until late in the 19th century.
While the government must have 12 votes of guilty to secure a conviction at trial, a lone vote of not guilty hangs the jury. Then the government must initiate the process all over again.
But actual trials are much more the exception than the rule regarding the means of dispensing 'justice' to criminal defendants, as plea bargaining has largely replaced the means of justice established by the Founding Fathers, as today some 95% of criminal charges are resolved by plea bargains.
In fact, plea bargains were unknown to the Founding Fathers and would have been considered an abomination by most of them. The practice of plea bargaining began early in the 20th century.
Because a conviction is all but assured if one chooses to go to trial (because of ignorant Jurors, cheating prosecutors, lying police and oath disregarding judges), even if one is totally innocent there is plenty of incentive to plead guilty in order to avoid the draconian prison sentences that one faces if he or she forces the prosecutor to actually have to work a trial.
The means employed by prosecutors to encourage defendants to plead guilty can often be most charitably be described as torture, and include but are not limited to: prolonged incarceration prior to trial due to unreasonable bail demands; threats of much more prison time upon conviction at trial; threats to indict and prosecute innocent family or friends if one is stubborn about exercising their right to a trial.
It is argued that the justice system would grind to a halt without the expediency offered by plea bargains. But maybe there are too many laws, too many behaviors being legislated as crimes even though no person and/or property is harmed, except possibly the defendant and/or other consenting adults.
Examples of 'crimes' that are absurd, silly and ridiculous, include: the importation of lobsters 1/2" too short and packaged in cardboard rather than plastic (a federal felony); failing to report a cash sale of gold; ingestion of some mood altering substances; filling in a low spot with dirt on one's own property...the list might be endless. And, we are already down the road to 'thought' crimes as there are already laws on the books and more pending that create crimes out of mere thoughts.
That we are well on the way to becoming a police state would seem to be beyond dispute.
Individuals prepared to think and employ common sense when called to serve as Grand and Trial Jurors, rather than acting as government boot-licking rubber-stamps, could restore lost Liberty and reverse the march towards totalitarianism.
It's hard to imagine another way...that is peaceful...
Whether as Grand Juror or Trial Juror, one has the right and the duty to judge the facts as well as the law.
Judges will instruct Trial Jurors "you must obey the law as I give it to you"-THAT IS A LIE. Neither Constitutional provisions nor legislative enactment of any kind (at least at the federal level) so states. All "jury instructions" in criminal cases are merely helpful suggestions. See United States v. Norton, 846 F.2d 521 (8th Cir. 198
. There can be no better system of checks and balances than by the people serving as Grand and Trial Jurors.
As examples, Jurors judged the law in cases regarding the Fugitive Slave Act (which made it a crime to aid an escaped slave), and Alcohol Prohibition.
Slavery is obviously wrong, as is the governmental intrusion into what an adult individual chooses put into his or her body, so many Jurors refused to convict in such cases. Such honorable service by Jurors would likely have ended Slavery eventually (without a half-million Civil War dead), and did assist in eventually ending the disasterous policy of Alcohol Prohibition.
So, don't look at your notice of Jury Service as a nuisance to be avoided by any means-it is your chance to halt abusive government action...