Ongoing U.S Police Brutality and Corruption Discussion Thread

I mean it's easier for us to dismiss the law when the case involves a privileged alt-right kid who fessed up to killing both people right after he did it and was publicly witnessed doing it by everybody that was there...

vs if someone of lower income who can't afford a lawyer and has to go with a public defender is accused of something they didn't do.

if conservatives had their way, it'd be easier to convict people on trivial evidence, and that's not something I want to gravitate towards. we already know of scores of people who were wrongly put on death row in the current system.

I want to pay wergild for my murders.

But if we all don't believe in the law then it will just fuck off and the prisons will disappear

The point is that there is quite literally nothing redeemable about the US legal system as it is, so while knowing its ins and outs is valuable, I don't actually put any faith in it. It's a field based in pain and death. Fuck it.

the problem with the legal system though is that it unfairly penalizes non-violent crimes that pose little harm to the community with stiff penalties, is weighted in favor of people with money who can afford rockstar legal representation as opposed to poorer individuals who can only receive the services of an overworked public defender. and that it punishes people of color disproportionately to Caucasian individuals. the issue with the legal system is that it is locking up too many people that do not belong locked up at all, locking people up for too long, locking the wrong people up, executing the wrong people, etc. Meaning the deck is stacked against the average civilian who runs afoul of the law. Suggesting more legal protections are needed for the average individual.

Yes, there are also people who aren't incarcerated who should be, but I've never understood the argument against our legal system to be that "more people need to be locked up", but that we need to overhaul and rethink the entire prison system, which encourages recidivism and makes it impossible for prisoners to re-enter society.

the example that harbl is talking about is an actual protection offered to civilians accused of a crime, mostly to prevent prejudicing the jury and resulting in an unfair trial that puts them away for many years. I wouldn't see this as an emblem of an unjust legal system because it's a protection that actually seeks to give defendants a fighting chance to defend themselves if they are wrongfully accused. and in this case, I don't think it's one that's going to have a significant role in the outcome of the case.

table i understand that, in fact i agree with you. i'm just not sure why you directed that at me like i'm proud of the legal system

yea, sorry. i apologize for that.

table i understand that, in fact i agree with you. i'm just not sure why you directed that at me like i'm proud of the legal system

― certified juice therapist (harbl), Thursday, October 28, 2021 3:02 PM (yesterday)

yeah ... it's a challenge to work within the system you have misgivings / major problems with to try and do harm reduction. I think you are awesome harbl, for what you do and being able to maintain your values and criticism of said system. Also Happy Birthday.

only complaint re: harbl is I miss the "superdeep borehole" display name.

aw thanks! flattered that my birthday is on sarahell's xls

fyi i don't do criminal law anymore i am now toiling in obscurity elsewhere ;)

lol, actually my xls only says ' harbl - Scorpio - awesome' -- and as Scorpio is the best sign, harbl gets a whole month of birthday

happy birthday to both of you

If this was posted here three months ago, you can ignore this. It came up in a Stereogum comment about the Travis Scott concert tragedy.

https://defector.com/the-myth-of-cops-overdosing-from-touching-fentanyl-persists-for-a-reason/

Looooooooool

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-police-lodge-jack-daniels-committee-investigation/2021/11/04/e035a92a-3377-11ec-a1e5-07223c50280a_story.html

united states cops - they aren't too smaught

“Look if what we did was illegal I think we’d know, after all I am a cop.”

I looked for an appropriately lolworthy quote in that article to repost here, but I gave up trying to decide which one after the first half dozen.

“He has good communication skills, and he is very neatly dressed,” the sheriff said.

The most important takeaway

So far, neither the lodge nor the leaders of the Jack Daniel’s committee have faced legal consequences. The D.C. police investigated, but prosecutors declined to file charges.

*screams*

Losing my fucking mind at the "police reform" proposals of Seattle's new mayorhttps://t.co/WmuvtO9d1F pic.twitter.com/gSl5PfJGZ2

— Michael Hobbes (@RottenInDenmark) November 7, 2021

jackoff motion optional

Mentioned it months ago, and a few days ago, but the other half of his proposal was that they can have a pizza party on Fridays if they don’t murder anybody that week.

Another in the "cops ain't too smart" series
https://www.insideedition.com/san-francisco-police-departments-sgt-davin-cole-charged-with-shoplifting-at-a-rite-aid-pharmacy

harbl if yr intersted in reading back

haha ok i do remember that!

oh whoops lol sorry

Houston police chief walks back the viral story that a security guard was drugged through a needle prick at Astroworld festival

“He said no one injected drugs in him” pic.twitter.com/tf6ljkIigC

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) November 10, 2021

No one, else.

pic.twitter.com/CTPBin7PwQ

— Corey Frazer (@OG_coreyfrazer) November 10, 2021

You have to get four paragraphs into this story to learn that the girl was shot by a cop who panicked and fired into a random car a block away from where the teenagers were https://t.co/QyBbyxRIeQ pic.twitter.com/zihv8Ocv88

— Daniel Radosh (@danielradosh) November 11, 2021

Yeah, that story is nuts.

The Bility family’s attorney, Bruce Castor, said Wednesday that the decision to charge the two teens was “a gutsy move” but said he believes that it will be difficult to convict them of murder.

not this guy again!

she was one of 4 ppl hit by police crossfire. insane.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/10/nyregion/queens-prosecutors-misconduct.html

https://www.inquirer.com/crime/a/philadelphia-murder-exonerations-wrongful-convictions-20210507.html

that's from may, i just saw a twitter thread about it. maybe it's already on this thread.

oh, duh, sorry. part 5 came out today or yesterday. that's why i saw it. and part 5 is very intersting!

"An Illinois police union on Wednesday ousted from its membership an officer facing criminal charges for exposing a squad car video that showed his fellow officers slapping and cursing a man dying of a drug overdose."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2021/11/12/union-ousts-police-officer-featured-in-usa-today-behind-the-blue-wall-series/6396601001/

HE's's facing charges for...sharing the video of THEM doing that?

wtf

the one cop that wasn't a bastard, eliminated

That headline is a real journey.

just a few bad ah fuck it

union leaders described his conduct as “reprehensible.”

And no, they weren't talking about the officer who shoved a baton in the mouth of a dying black man

The COPS Counseling Act, signed by Pres. Biden on Thursday, aims to help law enforcement officers recover from the ‘invisible wounds’ of the job

Read more: https://t.co/DFbed17lea pic.twitter.com/sH4E5tNBzR

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) November 18, 2021

(CW: Police violence)

Police spray and tase students at Little Elm Highschool in Texas after a walk out for a girl who was sexually assaulted and put on suspension. this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/SEenszaAdD

— 🥀_Imposter_🕸️ (@Imposter_Edits) November 19, 2021

The excuses being argued in the Ahmaud Arbery case are just beyond bonkers. Like that the shooter was just trying to "de-escalate" the situation - as if a routine afternoon jog is a situation requiring de-escalation. Or that Travis McMichael shot at Arbery in self-defense due to how much danger he was in, never mind the only reason he was in danger is because he and his dad chose to follow and trap him in their pickup truck and point a gun at an unarmed jogger.

Wouldn't be surprised if these defenses work though, standard blame-the-victim stuff, especially with Black victims.

If the killers walk, the country will react.

It would give a blank check to white supremacist vigilantes to harass every person of color and shoot them when they object.

Also, 'this wouldn't have happened had Arbery refused to talk to us when asked'. An unarmed unarmed jogger has no legal obligation to stop and talk to some gun-toting random strangers who track him down in a pickup truck, even if one of them was an ex-cop (but not a current cop). He had every right to do what comes naturally in that situation, try and get away as fast as possible.

I feel like the prosecution has done a great job of laying this out. Also seems like the defense doesn't have a really good defense? (In addition to being racist AF.) But I didn't think Rittenhouse would walk scot free, so what do I know?

Tucson cop kills shoplifter, shooting him 9 times in the back as he rolled away in an electric wheelchair. Wtf?! https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/01/us/arizona-wheelchair-officer-shooting/index.html