tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post930121173657543263..comments2024-01-25T14:51:13.377-05:00Comments on Gamso - For the Defense: Fear ItselfJeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-41401438733734419362011-11-01T03:50:53.349-04:002011-11-01T03:50:53.349-04:00I could not agree with you more. Once you fall und...I could not agree with you more. Once you fall under the radar of the police or prosecutors, their goal becomes figuring out a way to prosecute and jail you somehow. Every step of the way, they will all say their hands are tied, that they are just doing their jobs.<br /><br />I can't count how many cops have said to me that even if they wrongfully convict someone, there were surely other crimes committed by that person that went unpunished and for which their current false prosecution is compensation. "They're all guilty." <br /><br />We incarcerate more people as a percentage of our population than any society in human history. Anyone who doesn't think they can easily become a part of that trend is sorely mistaken. Being "innocent" has nothing to do with it, which people probably naively mean in the sense of being equitably innocent in some common sense way. <br /><br />Well, sad to say, but the very concept of such innocence is foreign to the modern police officer or prosecutor. The funny thing is, our laws are so vague and numerous, we ARE all indeed technically guilty of something. Modern law enforcers are required NOT to exercise common sense and discretion in enforcing those amazingly broad and vague laws but to pursue any possibility of technical guilt. This pressure dismays and upsets some law enforcers, but their "hands are tied," a phrase they will repeat to you endlessly as you are processed for prison. The pressure comes from mandatory arrest/charges/minimums, political pressure from every direction, and the underlying drumbeat of the financial incentives of the prison industry and the prison guards unions.Peternoreply@blogger.com