When imperfections in our legal system have deadly consequences

[alp227]

The big news flying around right now is that the US and UK knew that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who tried but failed to blow up an airliner of Christmas Day, was dangerous and tied to radical Islam. That just shows that criminals and terrorists just keep firing bullet holes into airport security and American justice.

Although he's the only one hurt (having gotten leg burns), I'd like to share a couple cases in my area where imperfections in the justice system (that's apparently supposed to keep society safe) have caused innocent civilians to be gone forever.

Edwin Ramos: Gang member accused of murdering Anthony Bologna and his two sons. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that although federal immigration officials knew that he was an illegal immigrant and convicted of felonies as a teenager, they never bothered to detain Ramos for proceedings. Ramos is currently held without bail in county jail awaiting trial.

Arthur Lee Clark, Jr.: Suspect in the hit & run death of World War II veteran Isaac Hudson in San Francisco. Clark was a ghetto youth who got caught selling cocaine and carrying a loaded gun at age 16. Living with his grandparents at the time, he was sentenced to home confinement probation. Because he violated that, he was served probation at a group home and youth camp until April 2007. He got busted again for selling coke five months afterwards, booked and released pending court hearing, got shot, and then went to a state rehab program (created by Proposition 36). Despite failing multiple drug tests, he got to stay. Although he was arrested three more times (twice driving without a license, once failing to appear and possessing weapon/coke), three different Superior Court judges let Clark walk free on a plea bargain of "credit for time served". Prosecutors sought sentences from 90 days in jail to 16 months in state prison. What BS! Now Clark is being held on $1 million bail pending trial.

[Ozymanithrax]

1. We put more people in prison in the U.S. than anyone else in the world.

We have horrendous problems with recidivism. Clearly, sticking vast numbers of American's in Jail isn't working.

[TheDebbieDee]

3. Agreed. Prison is the place where violent offenders

should be housed. Other than that, I've got no other solutions besides being more selective about the laws we choose to enforce!

[alp227]

5. Let's also get rid of crooked judges who can't enforce the law

like those 3 judges that let Arthur Lee Clark off the hook!

[Luminous Animal]

2. G. Dubya Bush. Arrested for drunk driving. Cocaine user and alcoholic.

AWOl from the U.S. military. Escaped consequences through connections of his CIA daddy and went on to lead the most powerful military known to humankind to kill innocent Iraqi citizens.

[evan2]

4. Yet who amongst us believes he or anyone else should be

subject to arrest because they used cocaine?

[alp227]

6. I forgot someone: MAURICE CLEMMONS!!!! (the man who killed the four Washington State cops)

Former Arkansas governor, 2008 Republican presidential candidate, and Family Values patriot Mike Huckabee reduced Clemmons's prison sentence...Clemmons then committed more crimes after he walked free but still got to walk free because the justice system had butterfingers.