Op-Ed Article

Lady Justice is Anything But Blind

We all recognize Lady Justice with her scale, sword and blindfold as an allegorical depiction of the moral force upon which our legal system is built.  Perhaps it once applied but anyone witnessing the daily miscarriage of justice in today's courts will agree that our criminal first, victim last or woman good, man bad or plea bargaining expediency over full trials shows our courts to be anything but blind.  When you add to this the anonymity afforded young offenders under the Youth Criminal Justice Act and the light sentencing meted out across our entire legal spectrum, I feel that Lady Justice's sword should be replaced with a feather, her scale with a deck of cards and her blind fold removed entirely.  

What passed for justice in the Jesse Imeson triple murder case recently speaks volumes for how broken our justice system really is.  Imagine handing down a second degree murder verdict to a cold blooded killer who terrorized then took the time to bind up two of his victims before methodically shooting them multiple times (the other victim he strangled).  A similar murder took place in Kansas in 1959 when four members of the Clutter family were tied up and murdered in their home by two killers.  This was a crime deemed so heinous at the time that a best selling book and an academy award winning movie called "In Cold Blood" resulted.  Needless to say, the two killers were found guilty and hung in 1965.  

But today what passes for justice here is 25 years of T.V., free education, conjugal visits, free medical care, good food and voting rights for our modern day murderer, then freedom.  Wow!

Mickey Moulder