I agree and understand 100 % - I know that does not help much but I feel the same way -

The legal system is in the mess it is because of plea bargaining and mandatory minimums. This allows the prosecutor, not the judge to decide penalties and be the de facto judge. Let's be honest, most people taking pleas are guilty. Prosecutors are stacking the charges up and because of mandatory minimums get you to plead to whatever they think is fair for the crime. A prosecutor's idea of what fair can be a ways from the truth. This is partly because of their personalities, but also because of what they encounter on a daily basis. They see the worst of the worst people and talk to their victims, it's their job. This skews their sense of morality towards being unduly harsh. It's the exact same problem that people on the other side have, both sides are unduly biased. The problem is the defense does not have the power to enact the penalties, the prosecution does. The judge is supposed to be a neutral third party, but with plea bargains they are completely left out of the picture.

Plea bargains lead to inherently unfair sentences. If you hire a good lawyer prosecutors may give you a great deal by plea bargain so they do not have to spend alt of resources fighting the good attorney at trial. Good lawyers may also get a better deal because they are better negotiators. It's not a fair process, but at least in theory it would be if the judge was allowed to be a judge and took that back from the prosecutors.

Sometimes the opposite is true though - for instance in my sons case he got what is considered a very light sentence for the crime - especially in FL. Although the lifetime registration is hell and the restrictions that go a long with it the adjudication part was very light for the prosecutor offering a plea. I was dumb though because if I had known then what I know now the outcome might have been a lot better - the lawyer was a wimp and he let them intimidate him but I realize that the judge knew there were holes and problems with the case and that is the only reason the prosecutors offered what they did. If i had more education about the system and the way it worked I would have realized it and pushed back harder. when they revealed in court that there had never been any forensics done on his computer that should have been a red flag and I think it was to the judge and it should have been to our lawyer but it wasn't -

I think the sheriff office and the prosecutor office screwed the pooch in his case but we just did not know it ...

I agree while my husband was sitting in county jail there was a doctor arrested for sex crimes to patients (kids), the doctor did not get charged with any kind of sex charges and is doing a minimal sentence while my husband got 10 to life for his charge. Another young guy got the same sentence as my husband and he had sex with his girlfriend who was underage and someone turned him in. You always hear about people getting away with lots of crimes due to money and who they know - not fair at all.

it always comes down to money, prestige, power and the strings that you can pull.

Justice is expensive. I don't know about Bill Cosby's case and if its true or not but any man his age who wasn't a celebrity would have already been arrested somehow, someway by the time the 2nd or 3rd allegation hit news.

Not really because all but one of the allegations was outside the statute of limitations (in my opinion by design) and the other it has already been shown that he was not at the party that was alleged an attack took place -

really??? LOL i'm sorry, but i simply can't help but being highly suspicious when "victims" start coming out of the woodwork.

Exactly Echo - me too. Some think the more victims that come out the more it shows guilt - in the case of a celeb like Cosby I am just the opposite opinion

The biggest misconception most people have arises when people keep equating our criminal justice system with justice or fairness. We do that, I think, because we were brought up with the idea that there is some kind of justice in the courts and that if there was an injustice, someone would correct that injustice.

We all are painfully aware that that is just not true. It might be true for story books and fairytales, but it is not true for most of the people in America.

Justice is one of those words that is difficult to define and it has different meanings to different people. Justice is one of those intangibles that is difficult to really define such as love, but we know when there has been an injustice. Then, when imperfect beings such as DAs become involved, those with an agenda, the hope of fairness slowly disappears.

What we have is not a justice system, but a purely legal system. Our system is an adversarial system which pits two sides against each other-----the state or the government vs the defense. Whichever side can convey their story the best, regardless of innocence or guilt, wins.

Innocence, guilt, or fairness really does not play into the definition of our criminal justice system in this country.

Sometimes the facts are on our side, yet we lose and get convicted. Sometimes we get really lucky and have a favorable outcome. But too much of this is not predicated on fairness or common sense, as outside forces such as politics have gotten in the way.

Politics have taken over enough of our criminal justice system that there is no real fairness for anyone unless you have a lot of money or have influence with people in positions of power.

We have a system of laws----a legal system---and not a justice system.

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Well said REW - I guess to me justice should be the fulfillment of every one involved Constitutional rights are upheld - but that is not happening

I believe we all think justice still exists, until we get caught up in the legal system. I was naive, too, thinking that judges are fair and "criminals" get what they deserve. Boy, was this an eye opener. First off, there possibly can't be that many "criminals", but there are too many actions that are deemed criminal activities, and the list gets bigger each and every day. The reason for activities being deemed crimes has to do with money, of course, and unless everyone in this country knows each existing law, there is a pretty good chance that they, too, will become "criminals". Way to go!

mtbfan - you are correct. I read something a while back about over-criminalization that said there is an estimated that all people have committed a felony and not even known it! that is absolutely ridiculous

not to mention that those laws can have a tendency to be swayed, bent, overlooked and/or even entirely disregarded.

I agree if you have the money or you know someone you can practically get away with anything. But if your struggling in the world forget it you will never see justice no matter what you do or how good a person you have previously been. Face it our legal system SUCKS!