Monday, December 30, 2013

Pardons, Pardons of Innocence, and Exonerations: Whither Constitutional Rights?

For three years in the 1960s I was married to a man with a larcenous heart, but his family considered me the ‘bad guy,’ especially when I finally divorced him. But more than a year later he was finally ‘outed’ when he was arrested for bank robbery and kidnaping.


This was the first case I’d ever heard of in which a gang kidnaped a bank manager’s family so they could force him to open the bank and give them the money. It turned out they were extremely lucky: During their first week in county jail, the federal government removed the automatic death sentence that had been imposed on kidnapers since the notorious 1932 Lindbergh baby kidnaping.

My ex ended up serving two years in federal prison for his crimes. The only time I saw him after our divorce, he proudly explained in typical arrogant fashion how he and his three accomplices had pulled off the heist. Some years later, I learned that his well-connected family got him a presidential pardon, though there was no question of his guilt.

Perhaps that experience is the reason I don’t like hearing about pardons for people who didn’t commit crimes for which they were convicted or were convicted of breaking laws that violated their constitutional rights. Rarely do those judicial decisions indicate any clear distinction between innocence or guilt.
 

In chapters 10 and 11 of
The World I Imagine: A creative manual
for ending poverty and building peace,
I discuss creative ideas for improving the
justice system and ensuring civil rights for all.

 

That’s why I wasn’t particularly excited when posthumous pardons were finally granted this year to the "Scottsboro boys," nine young black men who were falsely accused of rape in Alabama in 1931. They could have received pardons as early as 1938, but Alabama Governor Bibb Graves withdrew his offer when they refused to admit any guilt for the crimes they did not commit. The case did focus massive media attention on racial inequities and led to two landmark Supreme Court decisions that forced some improvements to Jim Crow-era judicial systems.



But the end of those unconstitutional laws in southern states did not end legal discrimination in most of the country. One of the last official acts of outgoing North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue was to grant a "pardon of innocence" to each member of the "Wilmington 10," nine black men and one white woman who were falsely convicted in 1972 of firebombing a Wilmington grocery store. Their convictions were overturned more than 30 years ago, but their experience still had a devastating effect on the lives of most of those men.

So far, Texas is the only other state to grant a "pardon of innocence" to people who become ensnared in the legal system through no fault of their own. On the other hand, a person can be exonerated when evidence submitted to the court after their conviction demonstrates they didn’t commit the crime. Their cases differ from those in which factors such as racial bias or judicial misconduct lead to unfair convictions.

The term ‘pardon of innocence’ does seem to be an improvement over the traditional pardon that can be conferred upon anyone previously convicted of a crime, whether they were guilty or not. But all these legal designations are inappropriate in the case of a person convicted of violating a law that was later repealed because the statute violated the person’s civil rights, such as England’s 1952 conviction of Alan Turing for "gross indecency."

The mathematical genius helped develop modern computer programming, and his code-breaking skills were an essential element in the Allied victory in World War II. But in 1952, he was convicted of a crime because he was gay. Turing chose castration over imprisonment, but two years later his lifelong depression, intensified by the unfair sentence, led to his suicide. Fast forward to the present and homosexual sex has not been a crime in the U.K. for many years. But it wasn’t until this month that Great Britain belatedly issued an official pardon clearing Turing of all crimes and restoring his good name.

The United States is not immune to such legal crimes, especially since most laws governing private relationships and behavior are administered on a state-by-state basis.. In 1967, Loving v. Virginia brought about full national recognition of interracial marriages, and gay sex was illegal in many states until 2003 when the Supreme Court declared in Lawrence v. Texas that laws against sodomy were unconstitutional.

Yet while Windsor v. United States finally negated the misnamed Defense of Marriage Act and allowed federal recognition of all legally married same-sex couples, many states still prohibit gays and lesbians from entering into such unions within their borders. That won’t change until one of many cases now winding their way through lower courts finally reaches the judicial pinnacle and the Supreme Court upholds every person’s right to be legally bound with the person they love.

All these cases demonstrate the need for separate terms to indicate each point on the spectrum of guilt or innocence, and fairness or rights violations. After thinking about the issue, the closest I’ve come to a solution would be to add a legal designation to the lexicon: Exoneration due to Violation of Rights. Of course, I’m sure that if a panel of attorneys were to consider the possibilities, they could coin an appropriate phrase that will no doubt be longer and more complex than mine.

So, in all humility (which usually means the opposite), I propose a competition that will be open to anyone who can devise a brand new legal category indicating the person has been screwed over by Lady Justice and deserves a crack at getting satisfaction. Okay, all you Barrister Brains, go for it!

 

 

 
The World I Imagine: A creative manual for ending poverty and building peace and my historical mystery novel, Lion’s Pride, are available through your local bookstore. They are featured at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and most online bookstores around the world. Both are available for Kindle readers.






 

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Friday Peace Vigil, Casa Grande, AZ, and surrounding area, December 27, 2013:

PEACE VIGIL
CASA GRANDE, AZ
Friday, December 27, 2013
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
W. Cottonwood Ln.. & N. Pinal Ave.

Peace Vigils are held every Friday from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. in Casa Grande from mid-December to mid-April. Come and stand for Peace! Bring a sign or a sign can be provided - and bring another peace activist. The more the merrier! Call Debbie Jordan (520-494-0437) or Tony Fasline (520-426-0070) for details.
 


THIS WEEK:


Now that Christmas is over, we come to the observance that I admire and love most of all. Yes, today, December 26, is Boxing Day in many parts of the world, but that’s not what I’m talking about. The observance of Kwanzaa, in which people honor the vital principles of strong community values, is much more important to reaching the goals of ending poverty and building a peaceful world than the rituals of all other holidays of the year, including Christmas. I know December 25 is supposed to be about the birth of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, but excessive materialism and the spirit of overindulgence in everything from food and drink to greed has all but destroyed the true spirit of the occasion.

In many African-American households and communities, Kwanzaa is observed from the day after Christmas through the first day of the New Year. I believe that spending the final week of each year discussing the meaning and importance of Unity, Self-Determination, Collective Work and Responsibility, Cooperative Economics, Purpose, Creativity, and Faith (in more than just religion) can be a positive way to welcome the New Year. So, for every person who is about to begin this wonderful seven-day journey, I wish you a very Happy Kwanzaa.

Meanwhile, I hope that everyone is wise enough to enjoy a safe and sane New Year.

As always, I invite everyone to join me in a vow to use our blessings, skills, and talents to build a society without poverty or war in which everyone is able to enjoy at least the basic benefits of prosperity and peace.

Meanwhile, send out your positive thoughts and, for those who are believers, prayers for all the suffering souls all around the world!


The World I Imagine: A creative manual for ending poverty and building peace and my historical mystery novel, Lion’s Pride, are available through your local bookstore. They are featured at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and most online bookstores around the world. Both are available for Kindle readers.
 

Friday, December 20, 2013

Economists finally catching up with Peace Author

One of the bigger stories to blow up the holiday news bubble this week was the fact that consumers are spending less this year than retailers hoped they would. Along with that bit of dismal economia comes the Associated Press survey of economists who finally admit that the expanding income gap resulting from the malicious (my word) policies of the conservative power bloc hurts the economy and is slowing the long hoped-for recovery.

Well, duh.

I’ve been saying and writing about that very condition for years. More than two years ago, on August 2, 2011, I covered this issue in my article in this blog entitled "Rewarding the Rich at the Expense of the Poor and Middle Class: Bad economics, bad citizenship."

Even better, that fact is the gist of my essay on "The Price of Poverty" in Chapter 12, "Poverty and Politics," of my essay collection, The World I Imagine: A creative manual for ending poverty and building peace. In fact, all the essays in that chapter touch on the problems caused by the perpetuation of unemployment and generational poverty. In addition, The World I Imagine is a virtual trove of creative solutions to the problem of poverty in our society.

It’s interesting to note that in early spring of 2004, I wrote the first essay in my Imagine series as a newspaper column detailing the natural cause-and-effect relationship between poverty and conflict. I eventually published those collected essays as The World I Imagine in 2008. Since I was so far ahead of the curve in recognizing the dangers of conservative policies that have slowly but steadily ravaged the world economy for most of the last three decades, readers are certain to find inspiration for their own creative solutions by reading about the many positive things we all need to do to rebuild the economy that are discussed in this book.

Throughout The World I Imagine, I explain innovative ways we can develop and implement education and job training programs for everyone to the extent of their abilities and interests and match them to various jobs that are needed to run a successful economic system. More than that, everyone must understand that the powers-that-be must ensure that all basic goods and services necessary for a dignified existence are available to everyone at a cost of no more than half the amount the lowest-paid full-time worker is able to earn. That economic policy would ensure that no one is forced to subsist in a state of poverty and everyone will have at least a little more than just the basics and, thus, some measure of choice in their lives.

If such a system were ever implemented, if everyone earned enough money to do at least a little better than merely survive, businesses would thrive. If everyone was able to benefit at least to a small degree from a growing and successful economy, everyone would contribute their efforts to a steadily growing economy and no one would be considered an unnecessary drain on ever-dwindling resources of a bankrupt country. If everyone were able to enjoy at least a small part of the resulting prosperity, then poverty would disappear entirely.

While economists, corporate executives, and politicians continue to focus on the negative policies and keep on repeating the same old mistakes that got us into this mess, I’ll continue to concentrate on positive win-win-win ideas that could eventually pull all of us out of this mess. That is my dream for the future in The World I Imagine.

The World I Imagine: A creative manual for ending poverty and building peace and my historical mystery novel, Lion’s Pride, are available through your local bookstore. They are featured on most online bookstores throughout the world, including Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble, and both are available for Kindle readers.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Friday Peace Vigil, Casa Grande, AZ, and surrounding area, December 20, 2013:

PEACE VIGIL
CASA GRANDE, AZ
Friday, December 20, 2013
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
W. Kortsen Rd.. & N. Pinal Ave.

Peace Vigils are held every Friday from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. in Casa Grande from mid-December to mid-April. Come and stand for Peace! Bring a sign or a sign can be provided - and bring another peace activist. The more the merrier! Call Debbie Jordan (520-494-0437) or Tony Fasline (520-426-0070) for details.
 


THIS WEEK:

It has been several months since I’ve posted anything here. While my dear peace-loving friend Tony Fasline was enjoying his summer sojourn in northern climes, no one was standing vigil in Casa Grande to espouse peace and other worthwhile causes. During most of that time, I’ve focused my time and energy toward matters unrelated to this venue.

For a couple of months I tried to get a little more organized around our house. I have made small dents in the piles of superfluous flotsam haunting my domain, but the job is ongoing, eternal. I’ll keep chipping away at the chaos, a bit at a time, whenever I can do so.

Then there’s our long-term problem trying to find a responsible tenant to rent one of our duplex units. We absolutely adore our other tenants. They’re honest and dependable. We want them to stay as long as they enjoy the accommodations, and we try to do everything in our power to ensure they do. In the past some great tenants have occupied the now-empty apartment, but for a couple of years, people who seemed okay at first turned out to be renters from hell. We’ll keep looking though. We can’t afford not to.

While the aforementioned issues demanded too much of my energy for too many months, I recently broke through a case of writer’s block and am once again working on Two Worlds, a novel which will serve as a companion to my essay collection, The World I Imagine: A creative manual for ending poverty and building peace. My story will dramatize the gulf between a community in which the residents actively apply principles discussed in my essays to the conflict and chaos that naturally arise when people fear change. My story emphasizes the benefits of a society in which everyone respects the basic rights of every other human being.

Now that Tony is back in town and plans to continue his Friday afternoon peace vigils through mid-April, I’ll do my best to post weekly notices of his schedule here, along with these personal messages. In the meantime, I wish for a Merry Christmas to all who celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, and a Happy Kwanzaa and a Blessed Epiphany to all those who choose to observe either or both of those special days. I also hope that everyone is wise enough to enjoy a safe and sane New Year.

As always, I invite everyone to join me in a vow to use our blessings, skills, and talents to build a society without poverty or war in which everyone is able to enjoy at least the basic benefits of prosperity and peace.

Meanwhile, send out your positive thoughts and, for those who are believers, prayers for all the suffering souls all around the world!