Justice is no longer blind, it's merely broken

Lady Justice/Image courtesy of Pixabay free images

So, I'm watching "I Am a Killer" on Netflix, working my way through the entire series. Since the interviews are with people on death row — so far all males — the death penalty is on my mind.

Here's how I feel about the death penalty (not that anybody asked, but it's been on my mind): I am NOT for the death penalty because far too many people have been put on death row, only to be released years or decades later because they were proven innocent, usually by DNA or other evidence that exonerates them.

Damien Echols of the West Memphis 3 is an example. I met Damien in person after he was released from prison, in 2011, after spending about half of his life in there. After reading his book, "Life After Death," as well as hearing and reading about other accounts of life in prison, I'm certain that life in prison, especially Close Management/solitary confinement, is probably a fate worse than death.

While I do believe in severe punishment for those who are guilty of murder and other such heinous crimes, I cannot, in good conscience, agree with the death penalty if even ONE person is innocent and ends up dying because of a life-altering error or a vendetta orchestrated by the justice system (and believe me, the West Memphis 3 case is a horrifying example of that). To me, that's simply government-sponsored murder, whether state or federal, and I'm not down with it.

Some of you might say, "Well, I'm sorry if someone's innocent and they die, but..." Oh, easy for you to say that if YOU are not the person falsely imprisoned and waiting to be killed by lethal injection or the electric chair! NO, executing an innocent person and brushing it off as mere collateral damage is heartless and insensitive, at least to me.

I strongly believe in the work being done by The Innocence Project, described as "a non-profit legal organization that is committed to exonerating wrongly convicted people through the use of DNA testing and to reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice." http://www.innocenceproject.org

Again, I absolutely and unquestionably believe in justice for victims and severe punishment for criminals who are guilty. However, in our zeal to mete out justice, let's not be in an irrational rush to throw people in prison based on false witness accounts, political motivation, personal/professional vendettas, or false/coerced confessions. When you're holding another's life in the balance, the process of arriving at a final result of guilt or innocence must be thorough, meticulous, unbiased, and measured.

In America, justice is supposed to be blind, meaning objective and impartial. We all know America is failing at that ideal and has been for a while. If justice is not blind, then I submit that justice is not legitimately or properly served. The system is broken and must be repaired. Until it is, you'd better hope you're not one of the people who is accidentally caught in its web.

Guess they didn't deserve a burger or a future day in court, huh?

Too bad Terence Crutcher, Keith Lamont Scott, Michael Brown, and other black men shot and killed because police *thought* they were on PCP, reaching for a gun, carrying a gun, stealing cigarettes, looking at them the wrong way, acting funny, [insert excuse here], etc. weren't Dylann Roof (the white guy who murdered 9 black parishioners at Charleston's AME Emanuel Church) OR Robert Lewis Dear (the Planned Parenthood killer) instead.

If they had been Dylann Roof, then maybe they, too, would've been taken alive and driven to Burger King for a burger like Dylann was before he was transported to the police station. Gotta feed that murderous asshole, right?

Or maybe they would've been taken alive, just like Robert Lewis Dear was. He was the murderous asshole who took over a Planned Parenthood office here in Colorado Springs, killed a UCCS officer, injured other officers, and killed two innocent people. That son of a bitch is still alive, isn't he?

Now, what if Dylann Roof and Robert Lewis Dear had been black? Any bets on whether a black perpetrator would've been taken alive in those two scenarios? I guess allegedly stealing items from a store or walking with your hands up in the air both merit being shot to death right then and there as opposed to committing cold-blooded murder and being given the chance to remain alive for a future day in court.

And no, I'm not against cops, so don't start that bullshit with me. I used to work in a police department and I know how hard and risky being a police officer is because I've seen it firsthand.

However, I am against badly trained, psychologically unfit, or trigger-happy civil servants with bad judgment. Cops are human beings; therefore, not all cops are good, and not all cops are bad.

And yes, police officers' lives do matter. I never said they didn't and I never will. To assume such a thing is ludicrous and shows a lack of critical thought.

The entire system needs an overhaul because there is systemic failure occurring throughout the country. The more the issues are ignored, the worse things will become. Let's save lives -- both police officers' lives and civilian lives -- before more are needlessly lost.

Need I say more? I don't think so.