Amendments: Criminal Law

Courts are our universal access to justice. No matter what you're accused of, you won't be punished unless you're found guilty. A judge and a jury will evaluate your case, and give you a fair outcome.

I'll wait until you've stopped laughing...

It obviously doesn't work that way. It should, but it doesn't. We need to fix a lot of things about our system of criminal justice.

First, being arrested or charged with a crime can do extreme damage to a person's reputation. Many people are arrested and charged, then found not-guilty. Our entire system is based on the premise of not punishing people until they're found guilty in a court of law, but that's not at all what happens. Even if the accused is never convicted, or if the arrested is never charged, there can be serious long-term consequences.

The best way to fix this is to simply not publish the names of those arrested or charged. Up until the point of conviction, the system is supposed to treat us as innocent. The public has no interest in knowing the name of an innocent person, while that innocent person is clearly and definitely harmed by the public knowing about what's going on. Only on conviction should names be published.

1) Persons arrested or charged with crimes have the right to privacy until convicted. No person accused of a crime shall have their name publicly released until and unless they are convicted. Purposeful violation of the privacy of the accused without their written consent, filed with the court, shall be punishable by law.

Second, how many times have we heard of people being freed on appeal, after years in prison? Because of that, an innocent person has had their life ruined. If the appeals process had been faster, that person might have had a normal life instead of having much of it taken away. It makes no sense to delay justice.

2) No person convicted of a crime shall be punished until all judicial appeals are exhausted. Appeals shall be conducted without undue delay.

Which raises the question, how long do you have to wait to get justice? If someone has done me wrong, and I have to wait a year for a court date, that is not justice. Justice delayed is often justice denied. The same goes for public defenders, who are overworked and underpaid, to the detriment of their clients. Both quick access to courts and easy access to defense are required for a functional system. Right now, we have neither.

If the government is going to fund anything, elections and courts should be at the top of the list. Local law clearly isn't going to fix this, or it would have already.

3) Every jurisdiction shall have sufficient judges and public defenders to ensure swift justice for all in that jurisdiction, including appeals. These positions shall be funded as necessary by the relevant jurisdiction, with a dedicated funding source.