LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Does money buy justice?

Tuesday,  January 10, 2006

Dear Sir: 

Jamaicans like to talk a lot and skirt around the real truth of an issue especially when that truth exposes the negatives and hypocrisy of an action or lifestyle that they love. The truth is the justice system of Jamaica is similar to that of the so-called democratic world.

We did not develop or patent it. At the base of this system is the premise that every person criminally charged is innocent until proven guilty. This means that even if you have killed someone you are not guilty until the state has so proved this and it is your right to plead innocent. If the state cannot prove this, you should walk.

To prove a case means that the argument and evidence from the state must be more convincing than that of the opposition, provided that certain rules are followed.

Lawyers are like every thing else -- some are poor, others good and some great and their cost equates their quality. The best lawyers will/should be able to be more convincing and thus those who can afford the best will have a better chance of being found innocent.

That is the fact of the justice system we have and those who believe otherwise just do not like to face reality. Money, therefore, does buys justice and the poor have a greater chance of going to prison than the rich!

This is especially true at the appellate level which can cost thousands of dollars and a tremendous amount of time, which most poor citizens do not have! This though, is not unique to Jamaica.

This happens in all countries where democracy is practiced and guaranteeing the poor legal representation is not a cure to this because the best lawyers are not a part of any legal aid schemes, so please Jamaicans do not let Jamaicans for Selective Justice and Carolyn Gomes (who I think poses greater danger to the consciousness of Jamaicans than many of the dons themselves) and the other ego-motivated so-called humanists, brainwash you to believe that Jamaica's injustice is the greatest in the world. It is not!

DOES POWER, FAME AND INFLUENCE BUY JUSTICE?

If a jury is fair and unbiased it decides which side has the more convincing argument and evidence and thus votes a decision. But the truth is that it is impossible to get a jury which is totally unbiased and completely fair in most cases because humans do not live in a vacuum and cannot be 100% correct in any decision-making process and people that believe otherwise just do not like to face reality. But this is the system we have.

When a person has extensive popularity in a country it is impossible to get a jury which does not have a bias because they have read or heard or seen or spoken with him and has formed some opinion, good or bad. Power, fame and influence buys justice because they affect the minds, attitudes and emotions of jurors!

This is not unique to Jamaica so to condemn our justice system because of this is to not face reality. Sure a jury is supposed to be professional in its duties but the jury is supposed to be "of one's own peers" meaning that an uneducated as well as a Nobel prize winner should have the same chance of being selected.

If a high school graduate is on a jury there is no way that he can negotiate and reason with the same type of dexterity and depth with a holder of a PhD, especially if the evidence is scientifically complex and based on statistical analyses and correlations of all kinds.

No country requires jurors to be doctoral graduates and thus jurors will make mistakes because they are not all expert at reasoning, and induction and deduction and in many cases they are lost and confused by expert testimony because it is above their mental capacity!

But this is the system that we have.

England and the USA and Europe has no business criticizing Jamaica's justice system because the same thing is practiced there and in most countries around the world and in some, justice is completely absent.

In China the police can shoot and kill citizens who demonstrate and protest.

In Cuba they will lock up citizens who criticize the government and Castro (John Maxwell who continually praises Cuba never talks about this).

In Palestine they will shoot anyone who is suspected of collaborating with the Israelis.

It is rare for a police officer in the USA to be found guilty of murder or manslaughter when a unarmed citizen dies in his custody or as a result of his actions, regardless of how the case looks tight and even when one is found guilty punishment is extremely lenient.

We just saw in New York a judge who found a police officer guilty of killing a African man- could not bring himself to putting the police officer behind bars; instead he blamed his training and his superiors and gave him community service!

There was no outcry from Amnesty International who loves to target Jamaica because they see it as an easy soft target and a safe way to butter up its resume!

WHEN A NATION IS UNDER TERROR, THE RULES OF JUSTICE GET BENT!

The world just saw the British police murder an innocent Brazilian man -- unarmed too -- who they thought was a terrorist and I believe the officer will not be charged for murder! What was the response from the same British media who talks about extrajudicial killings in Jamaica?

What was the response from Dianne Abbott the British MP who is so busy taking care of her constituency, she can find time to be writing articles for Jamaican newspapers? (there must be some British statute which would rule this as some conflict of interest -- if not there should be and she should stop interfering in the affairs of Jamaica and look after her British subjects).

Police worldwide beat suspects, especially when one of their own is terminated. Jamaican-born NYPD officer Dillon Stewart was killed by another Jamaican, Alston Cameron a few weeks ago- Cameron said the police beat him after he was caught (he had unexplained bruises on his body) so this type of police abuse is not unique to Jamaica.

Following repeated frustrating attempts to shut down a grey market goods operation on 28th street in Manhattan, one morning last year the cops showed up and beat the sentry senseless and tossed him like a dead dog in the back of a vehicle, in front of a crowd of numerous persons right next to the busiest McDonalds restaurant in Manhattan and this was never even reported in the local press!

After 9/11 many security departments beat and harassed numerous suspects in a way they would never have done if there was not a terrorist attack.

People's sense of reason and right and wrong is affected when a nation or individual is under intense terror and they, rightly, in my opinion, will refuse to convict security officers who may use overly aggressive force to apprehend or terminate the terrorists. A person's emotional state affects his sense of justice!

The truth is as Wignall said but Jamaicans like to talk and do not like to face the truth. It would have been difficult to find any jury in Jamaica which would have found Adams guilty because:

1. he had expert lawyers (moneys buys justice)

2. power, fame and influence buys justice (he is well known and well liked)

3. a persons emotional state affects justice and when a nation or individual is under terror the rules of justice gets bent! (the spate of murders, rapes, robberies, and extortions has affected the common citizenry so that they will accept police extrajudicial killings that terminates the terrorist criminals) and thus see overly aggressive policing as needed to eliminate crime. If you ask any of those 100 returning residents who have been robbed and are in a state of emotional turmoil if they would join a mob to beat the suspects, they would perhaps enthusiastically shout WHEN and WHERE!

4. there is a tendency in Jamaica, a consciousness that says "kill de kriminal bwoy" or "kil de tief" etc so that when mob "justice" killings take place, no one- not Mutty Perkins or Ronnie Thwaites or Jamaicans for Selective Justice, or Sobers or even the NDM screams and demonstrates and write letters and call on the Interamerican Committee for Human Rights to investigate or call for the arrest and trial of the mob murder killers. Instead there is silence.....silence...silence ...and this silence convicts every Jamaican of murder because the majority of Jamaicans are willing to accept these murders because "im get wha im deserve". There was a mob "judicial" killing a few weeks ago and the Observer quoted someone from the community saying how they treat "tief dong yah". The whole nation is an accessory to murder and that is the truth!

5. the judges in Jamaica are indeed biased because of the ridiculous, undemocratic process by which they are selected but judges around the world are biased. The UK's judges are all biased against capital punishment as an example. United States judges were historically biased against African American defendants. All humans have biases and tendencies to biases and making them judges does not remove their humanity, it is supposed to reduce it or they are supposed to suppress it but there is no indicator to measure this and there will never be one!

6. personally I believe the justice system of Jamaica is biased against drug traffickers who are under extradition requests from countries who give large aid to Jamaica. This welfare nation agrees with the judges to send these men overseas, even on insufficient evidence, so the aid programs are not jeopardized! Then how then you can talk about biased judges -- this rank hypocrisy stinks!

SOLUTIONS ANYONE?

It would be interesting to see the system of Justice that could be used to replace the one we have now.

Here are a few choices.

1. USE GALVANOMETERS INSTEAD OF JURIES. Lie detector testing would eliminate the human mistake and emotion factors completely. These instruments though, are not used in some judicial territories as their results are questionable. Of course lawyers like Delroy Chuck, who criticizes the current system would oppose lie detector testing because this would mean that there would be little need for so many lawyers!

2. USE PROFESSIONAL JURIES. Frankly, I have often wondered why this was never adopted at all. It seems like a answer to the jury system we have now. Persons selected to juries should be required to be graduates from a jury college program - Jury Studies, The Science and Practice of Making Legal Decisions- so that dunce heads and low IQ persons and those who are poor decision makers are never selected! Of course these persons would have to be paid a salary commensurate with their education as they would have to be full time jurists. 

3.ADMINISTER TRUTH SERUM. Thiopental Sodium, also called Sodium Pentothal does make the recipient talk willingly but it actually does not mean everything he says is the actual truth. Secret spy agents are known to give this to suspects to elicit information.

Of course all of these options are ridiculous but they are raised to show that there is no adequate acceptable alternatives to the system we have now.

The poor citizen will always get shafted; that has always been the case from the dawn of human history and nothing will change this. This fact though has not been enough of a motivation for the poor to avoid having excess children in poverty thus contributing to more poverty.

Only the wise will take heed -- the poor have no voice, no power, no fame, no influence and no money, therefore do not become one of them. It is a choice to make!

John Anthony

  Back...

  Most popular articles: viewed, printed and e-mailed

  Printable version