a call for justice
Jul. 29th, 2011 05:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drewkittyI am not fond of the court of public opinion as a medium for justice. Talk is cheap, gossip is malicious and to quote Mark Twain, "A lie will go round the world while truth is pulling its boots on." The best advice I've found, and it has sustained me through dark moments when I've been slandered (links reluctantly redacted), is a line from Lois McMaster Bujold, "Guard your honor. Let your reputation fall where it will."
I am also not fond of the criminal courts. The burden of proof is steep, justice is expensive and not very blind, one must rely on the sense of the average person (!) and the system says from the start that they'll let a guilty person go before they mistakenly convict an innocent (they do anyway!). Punishments are severe (and more often than not deservedly so) but essentially random.
I'm going to throw the gauntlet down to the entire alternative community. This includes but is not limited to the science fiction fandom. SMOFs take note.
We need to come up with a justice system within the community, that is responsive to the needs of the community, that functions according to and within community standards, which protects us from the asshats yet has safeguards against abuse.
Oh, wait. Wikipedia's done that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Arbitration_guide
We need something like this for former fen who should no longer be welcome to purchase a badge, because they have abused the trust of the community by committing serious offenses.
I am also not fond of the criminal courts. The burden of proof is steep, justice is expensive and not very blind, one must rely on the sense of the average person (!) and the system says from the start that they'll let a guilty person go before they mistakenly convict an innocent (they do anyway!). Punishments are severe (and more often than not deservedly so) but essentially random.
I'm going to throw the gauntlet down to the entire alternative community. This includes but is not limited to the science fiction fandom. SMOFs take note.
We need to come up with a justice system within the community, that is responsive to the needs of the community, that functions according to and within community standards, which protects us from the asshats yet has safeguards against abuse.
Oh, wait. Wikipedia's done that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Arbitration_guide
We need something like this for former fen who should no longer be welcome to purchase a badge, because they have abused the trust of the community by committing serious offenses.
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no subject
Date: 2011-07-31 08:49 pm (UTC)Our present criminal justice system is very broken. Get a good enough lawyer, and yes, you CAN get away with murder. Can't afford a good lawyer, that public defender may be so incompetent, or lazy, or corrupt and-or collaborating with the prosecution, that you will get convicted of murder even though you didn't do it.
Meanwhile-- Juries of our so-called peers appear to have a real bad problem distinguishing between the "beyond a reasonable doubt" (what the standard of evidence for conviction is supposed to be) and "beyond all possible doubt" (an impossible standard to ever reach).
Our system of "justice" does still beat lynch mobs, and it does still have potential-- if the problems with buying and denying justice (based on the cost of decent lawyers and spin doctors) and stupid juries can be fixed.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-01 06:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-01 11:05 pm (UTC)The preceding comment of mine was in response to Gridlore's comment (the part starting with "this is why I like our system of justice"),not your original post or the other comments apparently intervening on this thread. I suppose though that starting a discussion within the comments section of one of your posts that's about something else-- well, this may not be the right place for my response to Gridlore.