2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: I Would Like To Put A Question Forward... How Does One Legislate Social Justice ??? [View all]Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)You got to jail for profiling. Alright. I know that it can be proven that a department is profiling, by comparing stops against demographics and such. But how does that go down to the individual level?? How do you prove, before a court of law, that profiling has taken place by an individual officer? it comes down to trying to prove what a police officer is thinking, which is damn hard for anyone - and of course our system runs by innocent until proven guilty, (yes, there is many an asterisk there, I know) so the courts give the cop the benefit of the doubt on this one. shy of the cop being on video telling the person he stopped that he stopped them for being brown, such a law will get more press than results.
Speaking of the way our courts treat cops. Send them to jail? Oh, yes, I know it SHOULD happen. In fact legally it has to - police are not above the law, after all, and should face the same punishment of any other citizen for committing a crime. but they don't. because there are nearly no judges who will convict a cop, much less actually put them behind bars.
Cannot profit from imprisoning people? Oh, THAT'S ambition. You know that one goes all the way up right? it's not called "the prison industry" to be cute, and the people who profit from it are our "esteemed leaders." You think congress is going ot pass a law that would result in most congresspersons getting arrested and jailed? i would welcome it, but you and I both know it's not going to happen.
a law against all-white juries sounds like a damn fine idea. At minimum, a law that says Juries cannot be mono-gender or monoracial is needed. Ideally, full demographic considerations would be a factor. Though I'm not quite sure how that would work, without leaving defendants from very small demographics (like native Americans in Alabama, or well, black people in Alaska) still screwed.
Fair housing? Low income housing? School fixes? Community revitalization? Wasn't this the sort of stuff you were just writing off as that terrible scourge of "economic justice"? The stuff that won't help black people at all? Is it just that economics are bad when "white liberals" (Snarl! Sneer! Spit!) like WillyT or myself bring it up, or what?
Ending the drug war? I'm all on board for that one. Apparently though, our Sensible Leaders are not.