
Three Years on Rikers Without Trial - whiddershins
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/06/law-3
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hkmurakami
My good friend's gf is a psychiatrist at a bay area prison. She had taken a
young man under her wing, who had been incarcerated via the three strikes
rule. Without going into too much detail, his strikes against him was
possession of firearms without a license, and protecting himself inside a
prison vs gang related targeting thus giving him a disorderly conduct strike.

He was sentenced to life in prison and was being sent back from protection to
where he "had a mark" on him and was going back into hell on earth.

The day before he was to return to the prison, he hung himself. He was 18.

The system is terribly broken.

~~~
rayiner
The system isn't broken, but rather that Californians are awful. The three
strikes law, the most oppressive in the country, works exactly as designed.
And California's voted for it by referendum by a 72:28 margin.

~~~
swartkrans
In 2012 the 3 strike rule was changed such the final strike has to be due to a
"serious" or "violent" offense:

[http://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_36,_Changes_in...](http://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_36,_Changes_in_the_%22Three_Strikes%22_Law_\(2012\))

The entire thing, including the original story the parent comment, is Kafka-
esque. We need massive prison reform.

Victim's rights are such a sham. I don't want to attack victims, it's not
their fault most of the time, but nobody would think a court would be fair if
the jury were comprised of victims because victims are inherently impartial
due to their suffering. Victims are unreasonable, and punishment of the
offender does nothing to undo the harm they've done so I think instead of
considering victim rights we should consider what's best for society instead,
which probably involves rehabilitation. I'm not sure that except in the most
extreme circumstances someone should ever go to prison for 15+ years. After 15
years in jail, with focus on rehabilitation, I doubt most would go back to
crime. No you wont get punishment and suffering out of the offender for the
crime, but that's a stupid thing to want in the first place.

~~~
tptacek
"it's not their fault most of the time"?

The people in this country most oppressed by crime are not well-off
conservative white people. Crime is a scourge of low-income communities, and
_most_ of it is violent.

~~~
swartkrans
I was simply saying that victims are most often not to blame for being a
victim. I didn't expect that to be a controversial statement.

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javajosh
This is what happens when prosecutors get unlimited leverage and no
accountability. I get it that the system is stressed; but the right thing to
do in that case is _drop cases_ , starting with the least violent. Sure,
you'll release some (perhaps many) legitimate law-breakers, but that's
preferable, in my opinion, than promulgating gross injustices like those
suffered by Browder.

I'm glad, though, that Browder avoided suicide and is taking positive action
against the system that perpetuated a gross injustice on him. Other New
Yorker's would do well to pay attention to and support this case, lest they or
someone they know get caught in the same horror show.

------
noonespecial
_But, because Browder was still on probation, the judge ordered him to be held
and set bail at three thousand dollars. The amount was out of reach for his
family..._

He committed the worst crime of all. The one that adds up to more jail time
for those that commit it than any other. Being poor.

~~~
a8da6b0c91d
I would be far from surprised if the court had good reasons to set bail high
and wanted him off the streets. A good kid does not just up and steal a truck
for a joyride one day. The cops probably knew exactly who he was and knew what
happened with the new theft charges.

The story should have been about the plain fact of an unjustly delayed trial.
I suspect the journalist unnecessarily painted a falsely sympathetic picture.

~~~
judk
A good black kid doesn't, apparently. A good rich white kid does this sort of
thing rather frequently, it seems.

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bmmayer1
This makes me so angry.

The miscarriage of justice, the way that police and prosecutors can and will
get away with this behavior with impunity. How no one is accountable.

I hope he wins his civil suit for some relief, but that doesn't really solve
the problem...

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yuliyp
Ah, the criminal justice system, a completely self-contradictory system of
principles that only apply to random degrees of completeness, where 6 months
means 3 years, and indictment is a low enough bar as to not even matter, and
plea bargains and overly harsh sentencing mean proper results often don't
happen.

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anigbrowl
Good grief. Reading this made me want to throw up.

------
shire
wow sometimes I'm scared if something like this will happen to me. Innocent
people end up in jail nowadays for nothing they didn't do and end up doing
time for 30 years or so. Happens all the time depressing stuff.

~~~
ams6110
No, it doesn't really happen all the time, but the few times it does are
sensationalized.

------
cgtyoder
Fucking depressing.

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pessimizer
It's important to know that without help, this is a dead kid. This is the kid
you hear about getting shot by the police, overdosing, or going to prison for
life for murder.

The justice system would have killed this kid if somebody from a magazine
hadn't picked him as an example. Our society kills thousands of kids just like
him on a weekly basis.

~~~
judk
Ah, but if the prison turns him into a violent criminal, then his fate is his
own fault and the rest of us can relax in our sense of justified vengeance.

