Justice system reform ideas

Discussion in 'Politics' started by JohnnyWeedSeed, Jul 15, 2015.

  1. I can not take credit for this as it was a comment I read from an article but I think this would be a damned good start in reigning in these out of control pigs with next to zero accountability.


    Justice System Reform List

    America has a serious, institutionalized, systemic law enforcement problem. Over the last 4 decades, our law enforcement has become increasingly militarized, putting every citizen at risk of being shot and killed for nothing more than reaching for their wallet, as instructed, or less. This may increase safety for police officers (debatable, in the long run), but at the expense of making American citizens far less safe, which is the exact opposite of the goals of law enforcement. We need to create systems that bring back accountability within every level of the justice system.

    Nationally, we need to:

    1.\tCreate citizen oversight committees with powers of subpoena and prosecutorial discretion for every law enforcement agency in the country. A special independent prosecutor must be assigned immediately for officer-involved shootings. Committee members should be randomly selected and replaced often, like grand jurors, to avoid corruption.

    2.\tRequire law enforcement officers to be personally insured to protect taxpayers from lawsuits. Too risky for insurance? No insurance, no badge. Insurance could be partially publicly subsidized.

    3.\tRequire every law enforcement officer to wear a camera. No camera, no gun. Also, implement GPS tracking on all police cars and cameras.

    4.\tRequire yearly psyche tests to screen out potentially abusive officers.

    5.\tRequire random drug and steroid tests.

    6.\tAll police agencies must keep a database of every officer-caused civilian injury, shooting or killing, and that data must be periodically transmitted to a third-party, non-biased national database.

    7.\tAny officer involved in a shooting must be alcohol and drug tested immediately.

    8.\tOfficers should be made aware of studies on abuse of power, such as the Stanford Prison Experiment and the Milgram experiment on obedience to authority figures. Ensure there are clear policies on use of force.

    9.\tMore training to deal with mentally ill, or a mental illness crisis unit. More training and encouragement to use peacemaking, conflict resolution, and de-escalation skills. Increase educational requirements, focusing on psychology, sociology, and social work.

    10.\tCreate a special number (third party, independent of police) to report police brutality. Victims of police brutality and the families of police shootings should immediately be appointed an attorney to represent their position/case.

    11.\tCreate national database of abusive officers, so they don't just get hired elsewhere.

    12.\tReverse militarization of police forces. Take away military weapons, APC's, uniforms, and especially the attitude. Police officers are civilians, not a branch of the military. Require at least 5 years between active duty military and civilian police employment. Keep SWAT/military weapons and equipment under lock and key only to be used in genuine emergencies. Quit viewing the community you police as a “war zone”.

    13.\tProhibit television shows that glorify bad, illegal, or unconstitutional policing, such as “Cops”. Glorifying these behaviors creates a dangerous situation for American citizens and should not be tolerated.

    14.\tIncrease community outreach. Hire officers from the community. Officers need to be more in touch with the people they are sworn to protect.

    15.\tEnd no-knock raids. It is perfectly legal for a home owner to respond to a break in with gun in hand, which gets them killed when the police are the intruders. This makes it unreasonably dangerous on citizens, especially when cops often go to the wrong address.

    16.\tReform forfeiture laws to protect citizens' property rights and due process. No forfeiture proceedings until after conviction. All forfeiture proceeds go directly to the victims of police brutality and the families of police shootings.

    17.\tEnd drug prohibition/war on drugs. Use harm reduction strategies.

    18.\tEnd private prison industry.

    19.\tCreate a national organization dedicated to these ideals.
     
  2. I can add one or two. Create a system where non violent offenders who are accused of crimes which aren't that bad can enter some kind of alternative program to bail. A good model is the system they currently use in Washington DC where they have counseling meetings and remind people set to be on trial of when to come to the court. They have about equal court turnout rates or even higher if I'm not mistaken and since they've implemented the system they have reduced the prison population greatly and court costs associated with keeping people in prison who simply can't afford bail.

    Also maybe some kind of system where if there is bail it is set at a reasonable price based on the crime as well as what the person reasonably can pay. If it's a major violent crime or rape or something along those lines then you can make it some astronomical high number. People shouldn't be getting 50000 dollar bails for smashing in car windows or 150000 dollars for selling two ounces but I can say I know two people who have experienced that. If someone is caught with drugs then bail should be something they can pay or at the very least not basically go bankrupt paying back a bail bondsman. Especially when holding them costs the state a shitload of money and leads to many people who haven't even been convicted of crimes losing their jobs solely because they are poor.

    Also we need to create some kind of national database so at the very least we can track police violence and where it's most prevalent. Lastly, we need more programs to get drug addicts help instead of simply locking them up until they get out and end up back in prison on the taxpayers dime. An ounce in prevention is worth a pound in cure.
     
  3. http://m.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2015/0714/Obama-a-call-for-justice-reforms-in-community-courtroom-and-cellblock

    A broken clock is right at least twice a day.
     
  4. My thoughts are neuroscience.. won't be long until we could accurately screen police and politicians by reading their brain while asking them questions. Do you have plans to abuse your position? Do you have any personal bias against a group of people? If so, will you act upon that bias? Things like that.. along with yearly check ups.

    At the same time though.. our people need reformed just as much as our police. It's pretty much always been the same throughout our country's history. The military get the new guns.. then they make their way to the people.. and then the police need to play catch up with the people. Only now, the police are getting ahead of the people. If we want to demilitarize our police.. our people need to be demilitarized as well. One or the other will just result in more drama.
     
  5. I think the "war on drugs" is to blame for this. Relatively affluent areas typically have no problems with gun violence. The citizenry isn't militarized, but gangs and the police are definitely in an arms race. I see legalizing all drugs and crippling the market advantage currently held be drug cartels as the only way to curb violence in the long term. Police also need to be trained in methods of deescalation and engage in more unarmed foot patrols.


    Seriously though, the citizenry isn't militarized. I could understand that statement if there was an overwhelming amount of local militias throughout the US that had frequent run-ins with the police, but that simply isn't the case. The "war on drugs" brought combat to the streets and has brought a culture of violence to the most impoverished areas of the country.



     
  6. I agree with all that, except the civilians not being militarized.. and I see the war on drugs as adding fuel to the fire that was already there. Our whole society is militarized, has been since day 1. Granted the gap between the military and civilians has widened.. the civilians love their guns just as much as the government does. Now if the people couldn't buy modified assault rifles for "hunting" and handguns originally designed for military use and 50 cal rifles, then I wouldn't think they're militarized.. but they can and as seen from when that dumbass rancher refused to remove his cattle from public, protected lands.. they're not afraid to show up in numbers with those guns. And I would agree on unarmed patrols.. if the people were unarmed. Do you not see how whack that is? If you were a cop and your boss said "hey.. need you to walk the streets and deal with a population of people who love their guns and anyone could be concealing one.. but you can't have a gun yourself" would you not think 'fuck that man..'? I would.

    The war on drugs is pointless though.. not the root of our problem, but a big factor. While I don't believe all drugs should be legal.. cause there are a lot of hardcore addicting drugs out there where a lot of people want other people to be addicted to them with them, the way they go after the drugs needs to be changed. To what.. no clue.
     
  7. Great list, I'd like to add.

    Hold officers to the same standard citizens are held. For example if there is indisputable video evidence showing a murder,like in the Walter Scott case, the officer should be treated just like an average citizen would be. Swat team shows up at house, arrested and held on a million+ bond.

    Also, what do you think about requiring college education for police officers? Part if me thinks it would be good, but it could cause problems for recruiting in areas with high poverty. Which may lead to the police force not being represented by the community.
     
  8. Not a bad idea. Wouldn't be an issue in low income areas if the tuition fees were paid by the gov


    Sent from my phone
     
  9. Maybe we should also think about why a lone gunman that walks into a black church and wantonly shoots and kills a bunch innocent people is representative of the racist south while a lone Muslim gunman that wantonly shoots and kills a bunch of people is always just "a lone gunman" or maybe an example of "workplace violence". When a black guy gets shot by a white cop, even if it's provably self-defense, the DOJ launches a federal investigation. When a white woman is shot in cold blood by an illegal Mexican immigrant while walking down the street minding her own business, it's... well, it's nothing. Today's "justice" is steeped in political correctness, racism, and downright offensive, politically based bullshit.
     
  10. I don't really disagree with anything you have to say except your implications about Katie Steinle the girl who got shot. No one is saying that a woman getting shot is nothing or illegal immigrants don't commit crime. Everyone recognizes that they commit crime, but most people see that they commit crimes at about equal levels and in fact less than most Americans in a lot of major studies and analysis of crime statistics. Personally I think it's ludicrous that we have the same politicians/pundits blasting the mayor/governor and saying that they have blood on their hands when they were the same people who pushed Americans into wars that lead to the death of thousands of Americans and easily millions of people in the Middle East. These people have zero right to claim that another politician has blood on their hands. Saying that someone has blood on their hands because of a policy decision is fallacious and leads to bullshit ad hominem logic instead of having a real discussion about the issue.

    Let's look at the facts. This guy well he was arrested several times, I'm pretty sure was only ever held for drug related crimes and not violent offenses. The guy has been deported five times in the past, so do people really think the sixth time would keep him out. If he is such a danger to our society and deserves to be locked up then it's only a matter of time that something like this would happen regardless of how the government pursued immigration and how many times the brought him back to Mexico. The simple truth is that we can't stop illegal immigration and eventually were going to have to ask ourselves is simply bringing them back to Mexico only for them to sneak back in a couple months doing us more harm then having some kind of program where we can keep track off and tax these people.

    I think it's a little annoying and hypocritical that people who are vehemently anti illegal immigration tend to be the same people who are vehemently pro gun, although that's not always the case. They are talking about this one case of a girl getting shot and saying we should change all our immigration policies based on this one case. Then anytime a major shooting happens like Newton or Charleston these are the exact same people who disregard it as an isolated incident and claim anyone who uses it to talk about gun control or background checks is politicizing a tragedy and they should be ashamed. Now that this tragedy serves their political needs they seem to have forgotten about their moral imperative to not politicize tragedies. It's just hypocrisy at its finest level. The simple fact is one case shouldn't be used to argue a policy decision because you have to look at the larger picture. Pretending that anyone except the guy who shot the girl is directly responsible is just as moronic as the people who are vehemently pro gun control and claim that the NRA has blood on their hands.

    Also, I don't know what news your watching where Muslims are considered isolated incidents. I think anytime a Muslim does anything bad in this country it's instantly perceived as terrorist based or related in the eyes of the media. Maybe I just haven't been watching that much lately.
     
  11. So if undercover cops had weed on them and had me smoke it and took a picture of it but didn't bust me that night can they still bust me later for there being picture proof of me smoking?. And possibly even a video. I think the cops might be onto me. I'm not even dealing weed or anything.
     
  12. I'm all for legal immigration. It should be a controlled process, not the kind of mayhem we've been witnessing over the years. However, I don't see how letting Mexico dump their fucking prisons on us is such an enlightened policy position to take. We don't have to bend over and beg to be fucked - there's more than enough that will attempt it anyway. Though you could never convince a lot of our "leaders" and their defenders of that simple notion.


    We should stop allowing ICE to dump illegals, released felons and all, on unsuspecting American communities. And stop making sanctuaries for people of other nations that have come here uninvited to evade the law. US citizens - especially released convicts - don't get the luxury of having sanctuaries provided by ideologue mayors where they can become immune from federal law.


    I bet you don't put an "All invited -- come on in" sign in your front yard and then go to bed with the doors wide open. I also bet you don't petition the local prison to release its murderers and rapists so you can provide a sanctuary for them in your kids' bedrooms.
     
  13. Decriminalize drugs


    1. Get caught using a drug like, meth, heroin, coke, get a warning and sent to a dissuasion committee, where they tell you the dangers, how to get help.


    2. Get caught second time pay a fine, like 50 bucks


    3. Get caught third time, higher fine, rehab, Dont pay or attend rehab, go to jail.


     
  14. or take the ever so enlightened approach by realizing that a person's body is his or her property and they can put into it whatever they want and there is nothing you can do about it.
     
  15. I agree, your really just doing harm to yourself, and if you want to do that then its your business, but I think a responsible government needs to look out for the best interest of its people and the country by having some deterrence towards harmful drugs.What good is a country with a bunch of junkies on every corner who just abuse social assistance and healthcare instead of being productive members?
     
  16. insert a non violent society here aka anarchy
     
  17. I want to agree with you. and i subscribe to the philosophy of John Locke and the Portuguese idea of decriminalization and legalization but there is the issue of junkies feeding their addiction with crime
    is it then not the responsibility of society to prevent addiction by forcing people into either rehab or prison?

     
  18. I think anarchy would lead to some violence. as a portion of the population would use the relative lawlessness to further their criminal career


    you could always wait for them to break into your house so you can shoot them. i dont feel good about it but im not completely against tht idea :p

     
  19. #19 parkster, Aug 7, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 7, 2015
    Lol uh... I think your a little mixed up, Anarchy is the exact opposite of non violence, without laws theres no order.


    Drug wise, theres nothing "non violent" about the fiends who steal for their habit, or the guy hopped up on meth or pcp that assaults, murders or rapes someone.
     
  20. You need to read chomsky, mises, Molyneux etc. And that will be easily proven wrong.
     

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