United States Myths - and their realities
By Rey Barry
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It nearly always does, because Justice doesn't mean what we think. It doesn't mean fairness. When fairness triumphs, it makes the front page and a made for TV movie because fairness is rare. Fairness lies trampled when a jury scampers for the door at long last after being locked away from family and career for a year as amoral lawyers endlessly dissemble. Fairness is absent from the table when plea bargains are struck to keep court backlogs in check. The needs of a legal system are the everyday reality, not the ideals of what's fair. The blunt truth: A prosecutor seeks to convict, a defense attorney seeks the best outcome for his client, a judge seeks to enforce the rules of the game. None of them is under oath to seek justice. Look for yourself: the word Justice is not mentioned in their job descriptions or their oaths. In the US Constitution the term Justice appears three times and each time means government authority. In the Preamble we seek to "establish Justice." In Article IV, Section 2, it mentions "flee from Justice" across state lines. The third is a reference to the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court. It is pure myth that the term "justice" in the American legal system means fairness. It never did. It means government authority. Choose another?
Introduction - How these myths began |
