Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Padilla's Sentencing
I have to say I am oh so fond of how caring our judges are to terrorist conspirators and how concerned we all are over their "treatment." It seems that we are quick to forget that these conspirators sought to kill, maim, destroy Americans and our interests. Regardless of their status as a citizen or not, upon committing treason and such acts, in my mind you have in large part forfeited your generally applicable constitutional rights. I do not condone detention of innocents and people who have no formal charges brought against them, but then again I am not for indefinite appeals and abuse of our legal system by terrorists and criminals. A "Quick and speedy trial" is not just the government's duty to ensure, but is also a responsibility of the accused. So often I see our system abused by those who have informal connections with other governments, private interest groups or other wealthy backers. Justice is not blind in this country. We have become a country full of people who sell our justice for a price, and sometimes it doesn't even cost that much, and our judges just coddle criminals because they have their own agenda, which is a far cry from the oath which they are supposed to uphold. See article on Padilla's sentencing.
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2 comments:
Innocent until proven guilty. This is an important principle in our criminal procedure. Citizens of our country are entitled to certain rights, and due process is one of these rights. We can't just throw this principle out the window because someone is accused of heinous or treasonous crimes. I agree that Padilla's sentence is too lenient, but I disagree with your claim that citizens of the U.S. forfeit constitutional rights when they are accused of certain crimes. The rights of the accused are an integral part of the rule of law, whether the accused is innocent or not.
There are direct correlations between Padilla and terrorist plots. Terrorist plots are for all intents and purposes treasonous. Treason is not rewarded by full protection under the law which they most vehemently deny and attempt to destroy.
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