Justice or compassion

I recently saw a commentary on TV about an African American who had been on death row for thirty years in Alabama for a crime he did not commit. Another person recently confessed to the crime and he was released. The case had been poorly handled to begin with. The man had received poor legal counsel, African Americans were eliminated from jury selection, no witnesses, no murder weapon and only circumstantial evidence. A rush to judgment that would send a man to his death. This is just one of many cases where death row convictions have been found to be inaccurate.

 

Once the man was released from prison he was found to have stage four lung cancer and died shortly thereafter. When he was released the state gave him a $20 gift card and sent him on his way. While he was entitled to some compensation for being falsely incarcerated for almost his whole life the state said that since nothing was done illegally and since he had previous knowledge that a crime that he didn't bring forward he wasn't going to receive anything.

 

The state prosecutor was asked if he felt that was fair and if he, like many others, had any compassion for the man and what he had been through. The prosecutor said that he was not in. The compassion business and he was just following the law. A mistake was made thirty years ago, the state corrected it, and they were done. They had followed the law at the first trial and they were continuing to follow the law (the ones that fit them). Right or wrong has nothing to do with it. Justice is what they provide and he received delayed justice when he was released. 

 

Our justice system has become a farce for both justice and compassion. The laws are used to "punish" rather that "protect" the citizens. Ask any black person what the results of challenging a police command, even if being calm and non combative. Many people are incarcerated under mandatory sentence laws which do not take into account reasonable sense or compassion for the circumstances. Get killed for having a gun, rather well or fake, even in the same place where  white citizens can brazenly display guns and rifles in public. Criminals are released without even having a trial due to the plea bargaining by attorneys and judges.

 

I would hope that our legal system would be run to provide justice in a reasonable, even  handed, and compassionate manner. Serious crimes should have serious penalties but we should make sure as best we can that we get it right. Justice and compassion do not have to be mutually exclusive. We have more laws than any other country in the world, and by far more people incarcerated.