Essays: The Criminal Justice System
by Stella Kaye
Most law-abiding citizens assume that the Criminal Justice System is fair and just and exists to protect the innocent. We put ultimate faith and trust in it. Only when someone close to you suffers a great injustice at the hands of the system - and there is nothing you can do to save them - does the whole system crumble before your eyes and reveal itself as the true shambles it really is. Only then, when someone you love is treated unfairly by the very powers that exist to protect them, do you begin to question the credibility of a system that can imprison an upright citizen with no former convictions, on no concrete evidence whatsoever, purely on the grounds of hearsay and the false evidence of liars. Now where is the justice in that?
This is how, in the U.K. in ten easy stages anyone can be imprisoned indefinitely for crimes that never even happened. One of the Ten Commandments tells us not to bear false witness but nowadays, U.K. citizens are being encouraged to do just that.
It is exactly like the witch hunts of centuries past...
"That woman wears black... she mixes potions and owns a black cat... she must be a witch... burn her!"
But nowadays the scenario goes something like this...
"That man is unmarried... he still lives with his parents and hangs around schools... he must be a pedophile... imprison him!"
1. Accusations are made against you by erstwhile friends who bear a grudge or are purely spiteful and malicious out of jealousy. Perhaps a woman scorned, knowing she can exact vengeance might accuse you of sexual crimes, or a former partner might accuse you of abusing her children. Whatever their reasons, your accusers have nothing to lose, confident that their anonymity is protected, knowing they can even gain compensation for their lies and enjoy the sympathy they will doubtless receive because they will be viewed as your "Victims." They have the law on their side and now have the power to abuse the system.
2. The police, who are not concerned with either truth or innocence are eager for a conviction. Their job is to gather as much evidence as they can to bring the matter to court. The public like to feel safe, confident that the police are doing their job. You become a statistic; nobody cares that an innocent man has been snared in their nets. The Police raid your house gathering anything they deem to be incriminating. They begin to delve deep
3. The police continue with their "Trawling" methods and more liars eager for compensation miraculously "Come forward" even though they have remained mysteriously quiet for umpteen years previously (funnily enough they also know the first set of accusers). They soon invent further crimes that supposedly happened years ago to corroborate the present lies. How can anyone defend themselves against things that never happened past or present? The police dangle the carrot of compensation in front of these liars and use their trawling techniques to dredge up more allegations up from years ago. You are a like a dolphin caught up in nets intended for tuna. With the "No smoke without fire" attitude of the police, you soon lose friends left, right and centre.
4. The Crown Prosecution Service with no limit of financial resources at their disposal take over from the Police and by this time you are already viewed as guilty by accusation alone. Whatever happened to: "Innocent until proven guilty"?
5. You soon discover you will not be allowed a proper defense - you are told there is not enough legal funding. Even your barrister now says it would be better to admit guilt to get a lighter sentence!
6. The jury believe the lies they are presented with. You are not allowed a fair trial because all the good people who know you are innocent and offer to come to court in your defense are excluded - again on the premise that there is not the legal funding available.
7. The press are by now having a field day, painting you as a complete monster, and adding more fuel to the fire with more untruths. You will not be burned at the stake as the witches of centuries past but your life will be taken from you just the same. At this stage all but your most loyal friends and relatives have deserted you.
8. The jury view the allegations as coming from separate sources. The fact that your accusers know each other is not placed before them.
9. You have now lost your life without dying. You are imprisoned. You are now an "Offender" although you have done nothing wrong and the people who have stolen your life can now enjoy their compensation
10. In prison you soon learn that "Innocent" is a dirty word. The prison and probation services and the parole board will not recognize that the Criminal Justice System has made a mistake, instead you are considered "In denial." You have by now lost all hope of ever proving your innocence. In order to lodge an appeal you are expected to submit new evidence... but how can you ever do that when you had none to begin with? Your barrister will now point out another illogical quirk of the Criminal Justice System... being innocent is not viewed as a valid enough reason in itself for mounting an appeal!
It is obvious to me now that the Criminal Justice System I once respected is not concerned with truth or Innocence at all. It is concerned with "Justice being seen to be done." A public relations exercise to make the general populous feel safe. Another criminal behind bars but who cares if an innocent man is incarcerated for crimes that never happened? The system would rather send an innocent man to jail than let a guilty one go free.
Unless it happens to a person you care about, someone you know to be 100% innocent, someone you trust with your life and your children and someone you know is not a danger to the public, you will still put ultimate faith in an outdated, flawed institution that is incredibly unjust.
Now when I see the symbol for Justice - the lady with a sword in one hand and scales in the other, I want to send her toppling from the roof of every courtroom in the country as I know firsthand that the system she represents is corrupt.