> and what these numbers show is criminal. The so called criminal
> "justice" system in this country is nothing more than a way of
> railroading the poor to prisons.
I think you will find that the quote in my signature below indicates that this was also considered to be true in at least one other country, at at least one time in the past.
> Another question - is it possible to refuse to serve on a jury because
> of a belief that the justice system is fundamentally unfair? A sort of
> claiming the conscientious objector status in the war on the poor ...
> errr crime?
Actually, I once got myself dismissed from a voir dire by attempting to state the doctrine of jury nullification in such an addle-brained fashion that I think either the judge or at least one of the counsels considered me non compos mentis and chased me out of there. Sort of analogous to the tactic beloved by Vietnam-era draftees of convincing the shrink at the induction center that you were nuts. I don't know if this approach will work for you when you get your next jury call, but you might try it.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ A gentleman haranguing on the perfection of our law, and that it was equally open to the poor and the rich, was answered by another, 'So is the London Tavern.' -- "Tom Paine's Jests..." (1794); also attr. to John Horne Tooke (1736-1812) by Hazlitt