BURYING MISTAKES
The notion of "Justice," albeit subjective, elusive and ephemeral, haunts me. It somehow hurts the child in me when the guilty are rewarded and the innocent are made to suffer. Or when the supposedly righteous stand idly by and permit it to continue...even if there is a possible solution within reach. I believe that we, as Human Beings, should strive to improve ourselves, and that an integral part of this process involves admitting and correcting mistakes and avoiding making these same mistakes in the future.
I believe in the sanctity of the rights of the individual. I believe, as my late father once quoted to me, that "It is better if a hundred guilty men shall be allowed to go free than if one innocent man shall be unjustly punished." Of note: Out of all of the industrialized nations of the entire world, the United States has the greatest percentage of its population incarcerated. And that percentage continues to grow.
Incarceration, like war, is a very big, very profitable business. To keep the wheels turning and the cash register full, those in power in the United States have an historically demonstrated penchant for getting involved in wars (for example, the"Vietnam Conflict," or "Operation Desert Storm" to "liberate" Iraq). I suppose it is only logical that such fiascos as the "War on Drugs" must be prosecuted and prolonged in order to ensure that the prisons are filled to overflowing with those convicted.
Not only does this ensure that those dedicated and skilled individuals who operate and service the growing number of prisons will have respectable ongoing employment, but it also provides our military with a source of very inexpensive production, in that minimum wage laws do not apply to convicted felons (they can be paid as little as twelve cents an hour), and they are used in prison shops to manufacture military and industrial goods. Why these folks are an even cheaper labor source than illegal immigrants!
Whenever I read about some convicted murderer or rapist, locked away for 20 years or more (or perhaps sitting on death row), who is exonerated based upon DNA evidence which proves, conclusively, that he could not possibly have committed the crime for which he was originally convicted, it causes me outrage. To think that a person who is convicted and jailed as a result of a prosecutorial or judicial error might one day be found not guilty is frightening. How do you give back, or make appropriate recompense for a life destroyed? A reputation decimated? A family torn apart? I do not know. How do you "fix" the wrong done to a person who was wrongly imprisoned? I don't know.
The U.S. Supreme Court has found that there is no constitutional right applicable to convicted felons which entitles them to obtain or demand DNA tests in order to exonerate themselves. The Court seems to feel that the only time when this evidence would be available or applicable is during the actual trial process, and not afterwards, once the party found guilty has been imprisoned. This poses a Catch-22 situation for any person wrongfully convicted who wishes to have his sentence reversed or vacated.
It also means that the Court is interested (or perhaps, invested) in supporting the guilty decisions of the criminal courts, and of the prosecutorial process. After all, it is an embarrassing and expensive mess when a convicted person is found to be not guilty after the fact. It could even mean that the actual guilty party is still at large. Or that the prosecution violated the rules of evidence when pursuing the conviction. Or that the judge made (gasp!) an error.
By its decision, the U.S. Supreme Court went along with a time-honored tradition of supporting the rich and powerful in this country -- the tradition of burying mistakes.
I believe that the blood of buried mistakes cries up from the ground. If you listen for it, it is always there.
Read more about this court decision in The New York Times at Justices Rule Inmates Don’t Have Right to DNA Tests By DAVID STOUT Convicts do not have a right under the Constitution to obtain DNA testing to try to prove their innocence long after being found guilty, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.
Faithfully,
Douglas Castle
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