{"id":14802,"date":"2014-06-08T08:49:36","date_gmt":"2014-06-08T15:49:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/?p=14802"},"modified":"2016-06-08T15:57:15","modified_gmt":"2016-06-08T22:57:15","slug":"wa-justice-system-sux-says-public-meeting-called","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wa-justice-system-sux-says-public-meeting-called\/","title":{"rendered":"WA Justice System Sux says public–meeting called"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"justice\"<\/a>

Public Vote of No Confidence<\/p><\/div>\n

Olympia, WA (6-8-14) —<\/strong>\u00a0Washington residents think the State’s justice system really blows. It has gotten so bad an overwhelming majority of the public feel it’s intrinsically unfair. Though most judges have never met a cop they didn’t like or a pro se litigant they do, there’s an uneasy epiphany in the State’s high court about the low esteem in which citizens hold our court system–a virtual cesspool of corruption, incompetence, and routinely turning a blind eye to perjury by public officials. If Benjamin Franklin’s concerns have come to pass, we have entered the land of oppression and gilded miscarriages of justice. (“When the people are afraid of the government, that’s tyranny. When the government is afraid of the people, that’s liberty!”<\/em> -B. Franklin-)<\/p>\n

Today, our courts have become mere extensions of a police state, a tool for state sponsored terrorism and oppression. But, not to worry, a meeting has been called to TALK about it. After all, the same justices set on sucking up to a system designed to threaten\/intimidate the masses into submission will do the right thing, once they’ve been enlightened?–umm, Right!<\/p>\n

Actually, even the U.S. Supreme Court, normally exceedingly deferential to the lower courts has said Washington’s suck–big time. (In Troxel v. Granville, calling the State’s predilections in custody disputes “…breathtaking in scope”!) Richard Fellows, the director of Media Island in Olympia and a father who was caught up in a custody\/visitation dispute had \u00a0a Minnesota judge opine (again, uncharacteristically berating another court) Washington’s court system appeared to be all about the money rather than the child’s best interests. Yeah, you heard that right. Even other courts think ours suck! In a conglomeration of mutual backscratching, this kind of castigation among sister courts is highly unusual. Space does not allow for the exceedingly long litany of examples.<\/p>\n

You can throw in your 2 cents or just come for a dark comedy if you can make it to DSHS headquarters in Olympia this Monday (tomorrow) morning @ 8:30 am – noon<\/strong>.\u00a0Cynthia DeLosTrinos (<\/span>cynthiadelostrinos@courts.wa.gov) would like folks to ‘register’, so drop her a line or risk getting in without. The Law & Order (e.g. Agnew) crowd would like guns and public events attendees registered because both are equally dangerous. Whether the fear factor indicates we’re already free is anyone’s guess. Feel free to come.<\/p>\n

Location: DSHS Headquarters Bldg @ 1115 Washington St, Olympia, WA.<\/span><\/p>\n

Internet survey: Public says Justice System Unfair<\/span><\/h2>\n

by Brad Shannon<\/em><\/p>\n

A public opinion survey done for Washington courts shows a sharp racial divide in public views of how fair the justice system is in the Evergreen State.<\/p>\n

The report, which used an Internet-based survey of 1,500 residents in 2012, was done for the state Supreme Court\u2019s Minority and Justice Commission and is scheduled for a public presentation and discussion Monday in Olympia.<\/p>\n

Among the findings, the report shows more than 40 percent of the public does not think the justice system treats people \u201cfairly and equally.\u201d More than 65 percent of all respondents thought a black person would be more likely to be convicted of a crime he or she did not commit than a white person charged with the identical crime.<\/p>\n

While just 11 percent of whites reported disrespectful treatment by police on at least one occasion, the figures show up to 62 percent of African-Americans reported a negative experience.<\/p>\n

The survey also found Latinos report more \u201ccontentious contacts\u201d with police and the courts than whites, but \u201csomewhat fewer\u201d than do blacks, while experiences of Asian-Americans are comparable to those of whites.<\/p>\n

The sample was weighted to increase its match to the state\u2019s population, according to the report. Researchers said group differences were noted only when the odds of them occurring by chance were less than 1 in 20.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe report provides an excellent opportunity for us to continue our work toward enhancing confidence in our courts,\u201d newly appointed state Supreme Court Justice Mary Yu, who is co-chairwoman of the Minority & Justice Commission with Justice Charles Johnson, said in a statement. \u201cWe look forward to working collaboratively with all of the other entities in our criminal justice system on improving the delivery of justice and addressing these findings on how the wider community experiences us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s session, which includes a forum with questions, runs from 8:30 a.m.-noon at the Department of Social and Health Services headquarters building, 1115 Washington St., Olympia. Attendees are asked to register by email to cynthia.delostrinos@courts.wa.gov.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy guess is that it will be a lively conversation,\u2019\u2019 said Ed Prince, director of the Washington State Commission on African American Affairs, who was helping to organize the forum. \u201cMy hope is that a larger conversation about this gets started. The data don\u2019t tell me anything I didn\u2019t already know as far as perception.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Prince said he thinks the involvement of the high court can make a difference in broadening the discussion. The commission plans to report its findings to the nine-member state Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

Uriel Iniguez, director of the Washington State Commission on Hispanic Affairs and a member of the justice commission, offered a similar assessment.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me this is nothing new. But how do we mainstream this issue so people are aware of it and what\u2019s going on? We sometimes tend to isolate it, segregate it \u2014 (we say) it\u2019s not my problem,\u201d Iniquez said.<\/p>\n

Iniquez said that getting people to acknowledge what the public perceptions are may lead to a better conversation and eventual changes in the system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese discussions are not easy \u2014 at times they bring out some hurtful feelings,\u201d Iniquez said. \u201cPeople jump to conclusions, \u2018you\u2019re calling me racist.\u2019 No \u2026 this is what people are saying. It may not be reality, but it\u2019s what they are saying, and we have to come to terms with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The research was done by a team of investigators that included professor Jon Hurwitz of the University of Pittsburgh, professor Jeffery Mondak of the University of Illinois, and professor Mark Peffley of University of Kentucky.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Olympia, WA (6-8-14) —\u00a0Washington residents think the State’s justice system really blows. It has gotten so bad an overwhelming majority of the public feel it’s intrinsically unfair. Though most judges have never met a cop they didn’t like or a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14802"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18073,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14802\/revisions\/18073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}