By Nita Johnson
Staff Writer
LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. —
Citizens in today’s society face dire circumstances. National deficit, continuing rising gas prices, unemployment, price hikes of utilities and subscribed television are just a few of the daily trials that citizens face, while rising crime rates, ongoing drug use and abuse and irresponsible parents continue to plague those who strive diligently to survive with respect and responsibility.
The working people have long been the base of society as we know it, which functions on the efforts of those who try and rewards those with low or no ambition by providing money, food, housing and medical benefits that many of the working class struggle to supply for their own families.
Our legal system is a prime example of the problematic evolution of our own country. When offenders of the law are incarcerated, they are fed and housed by the tax monies of the working class. Those who provide care for criminals and offenders are also paid with local tax money. An accused person without a job can have an attorney provided at no cost — again, provided by the taxpayers, while those who work are bound to pay for legal counsel.
When trial time comes, again the tab is picked up by the taxpayers who provide funds for court-appointed attorneys, the judge, court personnel and prosecuting attorneys who represent the state against the accused.
In the Commonwealth of Kentucky, juries (again, paid through the state who takes tax money from the working population) decide the outcome of a trial and set jail sentences. The fault here is that the panel that hears evidence is restricted from certain key factors in a case. For one, the accused’s past legal troubles cannot be presented in court. Prosecuting attorneys are allowed only to question whether the accused is a convicted felon and must accept the answer given. The accused is obligated only to answer yes or no and no other details of the past crime(s) are permitted, even though that past history may depict the actual character of the accused. If the accused chooses not to testify, the question cannot be asked to other witnesses, thereby leaving the jury uninformed of the accused’s past.
Prosecuting attorneys are challenged to present a case that offers no question that another person could have committed the crime. For experienced criminals, manipulating an unsuspecting person into performing the actual crimes sets the stage for “reasonable doubt” and sends the criminals walking free right back into the society they have robbed. The victim of the crime is more often than not left hanging in the balance--without justice, without restitution, without the satisfaction that the legal system works in favor of the victim. The guilty walk away with nothing, and so does the victim.
Even when a conviction does occur, criminals who exhibit ‘good behavior’ can receive early release, sending them back into the same society which they failed to respect. Statistics have already shown that Kentucky’s early release program has failed--with a majority of those involved violating probation and/or committing another crime within three months of their release. Violent offenders under Kentucky law have to pull a maximum of 85 percent of the sentence and drug dealers and thieves who do not use a weapon while committing the crime can serve as little as 25 percent before being released.
The legal system is just the tip of the iceberg. Society as a whole has evolved into a reverse Robin Hood cycle. An English folklore hero, Robin Hood and his Merry Men robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. What a travesty that our society has evolved into one in which the honest and innocent can be robbed — of material goods, self-respect and faith in the system they support — while the lazy and the guilty walk free with handouts from the taxpayers they steal from.
njohnson@sentinel-echo.com
