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Dec. 13th, 2002 06:34 am
(no subject)
. . . And when, as part of a plea bargain, innocent people confess to a crime they did not commit, that isn't a breakdown of the system. It is the system working exactly as it is supposed to. If you're the suspect, sometimes this means agreeing with the prosecutor that you will confess to jaywalking when you're really guilty of armed robbery. Sometimes, though, it means confessing to armed robbery when you're not guilty of anything at all.
Frell that. If I'm not guilty, there is no way in hell I'm pleading guilty to anything, even a lesser charge, even if it means walking. If I'm convicted of a crime I didn't commit, I'll do my time, try my hardest to clear my name, and know that whatever the rest of the planet thinks, I know the truth.
Of course, I already have a conviction and time served (in a group home) for a crime I never committed, and which I plead guilty to on the advice of my parents, so I know firsthand how that can fuck your head up. I'd never do that again, and if I had it to do over, I'd tell my parents to frell themselves before I plead guilty. The only thing that saved me was that the therapist I worked with in the home figured out really damned quick that I was innocent and did everything in her power to make things better.
There was an episode of Boston Public recently in which a man died after a fight with the Principal in his office, wherein he slipped and fell -- the Principal never touched him, only grabbed the coatrack he'd swung at him with out of his hands. Every single one of his colleagues was advising him to take the plea bargain and serve the two or three years it would mean in prison. And all I could think was what the hell are they thinking??? Were I Harper, I'd have been screaming at them all. Especially his daughter, who wants her dad to plead guilty so he won't go to prison for 20 years and she won't be alone.
What the hell is wrong with this planet?