Posted on 06/16/2019 10:36:23 AM PDT by John Semmens
California State Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) has introduced legislation (SB 310) that would put convicted felons on juries. Current law bars ex-cons from serving on juries—a practice that Skinner calls “profoundly undemocratic.”
“I am ashamed that it has taken so long for my Party to realize that routinely excluding victims of the justice system from playing a role in the judicial process is wrong,” the Senator asserted. “Who among us is better suited to assess whether others should be subjected to the brutality of our prison system than individuals who have had to endure it themselves?”
“The criminal element is a segment of the population that should be represented in every phase of our governance,” Skinner insists. “To exclude them denies them a basic human right and deprives us of the benefit of their unique insights in judging whether the accused may have had justifiable cause for the actions for which they are put on trial. While the law-abiding juror might be quick to decide that theft is wrong, a former thief on a jury may not be so hasty. For example, our welfare system extracts money from those who have more than they need in order to aid those who have less. If an accused thief can demonstrate that his need was greater than that of the person he robbed should we be in a hurry to send him to jail simply because he took the initiative to redistribute wealth that the government probably should’ve already done?”
Skinner acknowledged that “violence during the course of a privately undertaken redistribution of wealth may be problematic,” but pointed out that “law-enforcement officers often engage in excessive violence when inserting themselves into social situations involving disputes over the ownership of property or personality clashes between individuals. Perhaps adding felons to juries will yield a more balanced perspective regarding the appropriate boundaries of legitimate uses of force.”
if you missed any of this week's other semi-news/semi-satire posts you can find them at...
https://azconservative.org/2019/06/15/calif-dem-wants-felons-on-juries/
If I understand the logic correctly, criminals must be represented in all aspects of society for the sake of social justice. So those who call Trump a criminal should celebrate his Presidency.
Or are we only talking about leftist criminals? Never mind.
Can’t do it, jury of your peers would indicate the accused was guilty, if felons were his/her peers.
Listen, those people might be criminals themselves, but I bet they’d return fair verdicts, but still, inmates don’t get to be on juries.
“Calif Dem Wants Felons on Juries...”
Why not... felons are running the government.
“...that routinely excluding victims of the justice system from playing a role in the judicial process is wrong..”
To the democrat criminals are the victims??
Seems like a perfectly legitimate reason to never, ever vote for a Democrat who holds this view, or a Republican who might also hold this view.Some apparently do.
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