I've been donating to the Center for Constitutional Rights, lately. That's because I think the injustice of President Bush's violations of international law is a big deal. But this is a big deal too.

eom

Thank you for reminding us that real injustice too often gets lost in the horserace. Let us not forget that a new president is only as good as what he or she will do for our country and people who have suffered injustice like Geneva France.

By the way, it's "Drug Enforcement Administration", not "Agency". I added the correct tag - keeping the "agency" one though, since it's a very common mistake.

...that is of value. And this is such an important diary - glad u wrote it.

There are a few good candidate diaries.

But mostly dumb ones that hurt the site.

I expect that from the Mainstream Media and Commercials. I'm surprised to see it on dkos.

It's become all about the W. Although DAs, Law Enforcement and Judges are theoretically independent of each other, they all play on the same team and work to protect each other.

The Defandant is the enemy, and he's presumed guilty. What's even more amazing is that convictions are gotten on evidence which in more than a few cases the prosecutor should be disbarred for even trying.

Only in America can a lady like Nancy Grace, who probably had no business trying cases, can get a TV show on a major cable network. That should tell you all you need to know right there. We've seem to forgotten why it is the defendant is presumed innocent, and why the Founding Fathers wanted it that way.

A justice system that vies for numbers, results and convictions, at all cost, is a justice system crying out for oversight.

Every single ill of the last seven years can be put down to a climate of lax oversight, unaccountability, ethical corruption that has paid off beautifully and a climate in which lies are freely retailed for personal gain.  That can be seen on a grand scale, or on a small and more intimate one like the destruction of a young woman's life.

What might help is a series of suits for damages.  Wait, is that why the President is so fervent about Tort Reform?  To shield him from a lifetime of litigation?  It reminds me of Berlosconi passing laws to shield himself before leaving office.

Please forgive us for allowing this to happen to you.

Is there anyway I can send her some financial help?

The judicial system is rotten to the core. It is made much worse by judges and politicians who claim to be 'tough on crime'.

Shame on this country, shame on the judges, shame on the police, shame on the lawyers, shame on FBI and most importantly shame on us that we allow this to happen in our society. All are co-conspirators in this abomination. And I can bet that there are at least ten Geneva France rotting in the prisons for every Geneva France that we know about. How can we do this to innocent people? How can we--oh my God

... every day, as it's the local paper-of-record, and when I hit that story, with a heart-wrenching photo of Geneva holding her youngest child, I had to set the paper down and take a minute to ask myself what the hell happened to our system of "justice" that this sort of thing could happen?

I still haven't found an answer.

I've got this law degree and bar membership that I'm shamefully underutilizing.  Perhaps a little elbow throwing Pro-Bono work will help restore my faith inthe justice system after reading something like that.

I live near Baltimore, orgination of the "Stop Snitching" movement, and at first I reacted to as I suspect most of us have- with disgust at an obvious attempt at intimidation of good people by violent thugs.

I've recently been told by some of those who live in places that make the setting of the Wire look like Disneyland  that Yes that is part of it, but the other part of it is community disgust at dealers  that finger innocent people in order to reduce their sentences when caught.

It appears that a consequence of our drug war tactics is that we jail actual drug dealers for far less time than innocent people they claim as their suppliers..

$25 to the Innocence Project.

I will donate again.  What a desperately worthy cause.

or whomever runs the government of your county and ask them to better fund the Public Defenders office if you really want to help.  We get much less funding than the DA and have far, far fewer investigators and support staff.  I'm not even asking you to ask for more attorneys, though we have a caseload that would choke a private attorney, just get us some Paul Drakes and we can do more than anyone else to keep the innocent out of jail-cause they are generally the poor-the rich don't get drug through the process casually.

Thousands of people are incarcerated in this country for crimes they did not commit. Their lives are ruined and many are killed.

Even more are imprisoned with mental illness, and still more with physical ailments left untreated (some of which can be linked to the deplorable conditions in which they are held).

In some places, notably Sheriff Arpaio's gulags in Arizona, undocumented aliens who could simply be deported (not that that's a great option either, but it's better) are instead held captive at the taxpayer's expense, and some die there.

Millions are held for nonviolent drug-related offences, some even for marijuana, others for more dangerous drugs who need treatment, not prison.

All over the country our prisoners are treated as slaves for private corporations, exploited instead of rehabilitated.

When are we going to make this an issue? When are we going to fight for the helpless, the captive, the exploited, the innocent? Isn't that what we're supposed to be about?

Got my renewal notice from the ACLU yesterday - I'll make sure I renew my membership.