[airborne]

In America, defendants are no longer innocent until they are proven guilty. They are guilty the minute they are charged, and the system works to process the guilty, not to determine innocence or guilt.

Unfortunately, this is truer than I'd like it to be.

[A. Pole]

Almost all (95 percent to 97 percent) felony indictments are settled by a coerced plea.

Bump!

[cornelis]

Take a minute to say a prayer for the wrongfully convicted.

[PeterPrinciple]

American prisons are full of wrongfully convicted persons. Many were coerced into admitting to crimes they did not commit by prosecutors’ threats to pile on more charges.

There is a new tv show now to prove this...........

[A. Pole]

Unless you believe Americans are 12 times more criminally inclined than Europeans, why is one of every 80 Americans (not counting children and the elderly) locked away from family, friends, career and life? Part of the answer is the private prison industry, which requires inmates to fuel the profits of investors. Another part of the answer is career-driven prosecutors who want convictions at all costs. Yet another is the failure of judges to rein in prosecutorial abuses. Another part of the answer is the hostility of Americans to defendants and indifference to their innocence or guilt.

Sad.

[yarddog]

I was forced to be sedentary for a couple of months back around 1995 and watched a lot of Court TV.

I really was surprised at just how awful some of the jury verdicts seemed to me.

I frankly would love to go before an American Jury if I were guilty and would be scared to death if innocent.

[ColdSteelTalon]

I learned in the cold war that if you interrogate a person long enough and deprive them of sleep feed them at irregular times and and mess up their sleep patterns they will confess to anything.

[Logophile]

I was willing to give Mr. Roberts the benefit of the doubt until I read the following:

The U.S. invasion of Iraq has brought the breakdown in American moral fiber to the fore. The horrific tortures and abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, the public justifications of torture by the president and vice president of the United States, and the CIA kidnappings and torture of detainees in secret prisons put the American “liberators” in the same camp as Saddam Hussein. It is ironic that mistreatment of Iraqis is one of the justifications that Bush uses for overthrowing Saddam.

From what I have seen, the "tortures and abuses" committed by our troops at Abu Ghraib fell far short of "horrific." And to equate them with mass murder committed by Saddam Hussein is beyond belief.

[Onelifetogive]

...why is one of every 80 Americans (not counting children and the elderly) locked away from family, friends, career and life...

Do we not lock up criminal children (16-19 year olds) or the elderly (65+)? Or are these groups excluded from the denominator but not the numerator in order to produce a shockingly large number?

[ThanhPhero]

The horrific tortures and abuses

I could read this through to see what evidence he has but this phrase tells me enough. This fellow has a totally warped perception and sense of proportion.

[knuthom]

The horrific tortures and abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, the public justifications of torture by the president and vice president of the United States, and the CIA kidnappings and torture of detainees in secret prisons put the American “liberators” in the same camp as Saddam Hussein.

This hyperbole makes me question his credibility.

[metesky]

This is twenty years old, but relevant:

The Law Enforcement Growth Industry by George Gordon

[inquest]

One thing that bugs me about the current criminal-justice system is the way the deck is stacked against the defense just in terms of resources. The prosecution has all the resources it needs to make its case, while the court-appointed defense only gets a pittance. If there's supposed to be a presumption of innocence, why does the state spend far more money on the proposition that you're guilty than on the proposition that you're not guilty?

[Lancey Howard]

Just as the person on the rack admitted to guilt in order to stop the pain, the present day defendant succumbs to psychological torture and cops a plea, whether he is innocent or guilty, in order to avoid ever more charges.

Sure. Happens all the time. Perfectly innocent people "cop a plea". Yep.

[PAR35]

What a crock. There are far more guilty folks running around loose than there are innocent folks in prison. The Free Tookie crowd must be looking for a new cause.

[o_zarkman44]

The title is true to form. Just ask Tom DeLay or President Bush about how they are convicted already because someone, usually the media or the Dirty Dozen Democrats in concert, have made accusations.

[jazusamo]

Mr. Roberts seems to have all of his facts down pat. I would ask him if he thinks that the thousands of judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and police officers in America have joined together in a vast right-wing conspiracy? I personally don't believe it.

[castlebrew]

Did someone forget the barf alert?

[Congressman Billybob]

I used to respect the work of Paul Craig Roberts. I no longer do.

Are there convictions of the innocent? Of course. With about a half million people being convicted of crimes in the US every year, some miscarriages of justice are inevitable. However, it rel=mains true that the American justice system is slanted in favor of defendants, and there will always be many more guilty people who beat the rap, than innocent people wrongfully convicted.

Roberts' facts are wrong, so his thesis falls. He used to be an able writer and reporter. He is neither, in this piece.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column: " 'Domestic' Dishonesty -- the Press and NSA 'Wiretaps' "

[Auntie Dem]

Does this apply to the Dim prosecuting Tom Delay?