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In Jail Without a Lawyer: How a Texas Town Fails Poor Defendants

nytimes.com

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Re: In Jail Without a Lawyer: How a Texas Town Fails Poor Defendants

#161

Post by mixologist »

robertlagrant wrote: post #147
Vilian wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course they would be demanding that, they wanted Europe to buy Usa guns

I think they just want to stop feeling as though they have to fund all that defence out of their taxes and then be made fun of by the people they're defending that they don't spend enough taxes on US social safety nets.

No sane person will tell you that EU should accept all the consequences of US starting wars in our neighborhood and also pay for that privilege.

Nobody is forcing US to field the largest army in the world. It is their own choice. We all would much rather if they didn't have such an incentive to arbitrarily start wars just to justify their defense budget.

BTW, if US is such a mighty nation as they advertise themselves, they should have no problem providing safety net for their citizens. The problem is that they just don't want to do that. They don't care about their citizens. All administrations just want to avoid taxing the rich and shift the blame to made up external enemies.

Re: In Jail Without a Lawyer: How a Texas Town Fails Poor Defendants

#162

Post by johnisgood »

A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #138
AngryData wrote: post #38

Anyone who has ever dealt with the US justice system as just some regular bloke knows it is broken. 90% of it is about extorting the population for funding for the courts and cops. If you can't afford a lawyer, they will provide you with a joke. And if you can afford a lawyer, now its just a question if you are willing to spend more on your lawyer than the state is hoping to extort from you. If you are, you will get…

I agree 100%. I've written about this here before, but I've been involved in two civil lawsuits in my life. One was in the USA, the other was in mainland China. I should stress that I am an American, and I wasn't even in China when the lawsuit over there was moving along. The Chinese process was very fast -- it went before a judge who reached a verdict in something like ten months -- and it was extremely inexpensive.…

Pretty much what OP said, at least here in Hungary.

Re: In Jail Without a Lawyer: How a Texas Town Fails Poor Defendants

#163

Post by lurk2 »

A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #138
AngryData wrote: post #38

Anyone who has ever dealt with the US justice system as just some regular bloke knows it is broken. 90% of it is about extorting the population for funding for the courts and cops. If you can't afford a lawyer, they will provide you with a joke. And if you can afford a lawyer, now its just a question if you are willing to spend more on your lawyer than the state is hoping to extort from you. If you are, you will get…

I agree 100%. I've written about this here before, but I've been involved in two civil lawsuits in my life. One was in the USA, the other was in mainland China. I should stress that I am an American, and I wasn't even in China when the lawsuit over there was moving along. The Chinese process was very fast -- it went before a judge who reached a verdict in something like ten months -- and it was extremely inexpensive.…

> Two years on, and we were just at the beginning of "discovery" -- an amazingly invasive process that appears to be unique to the US legal system.

It’s a part of most common law legal systems.

Re: In Jail Without a Lawyer: How a Texas Town Fails Poor Defendants

#164

Post by energy123 »

AngryData wrote: post #38

Anyone who has ever dealt with the US justice system as just some regular bloke knows it is broken. 90% of it is about extorting the population for funding for the courts and cops. If you can't afford a lawyer, they will provide you with a joke. And if you can afford a lawyer, now its just a question if you are willing to spend more on your lawyer than the state is hoping to extort from you. If you are, you will get…

System designed by lawyers is good for lawyers

Re: In Jail Without a Lawyer: How a Texas Town Fails Poor Defendants

#166

Post by psd1 »

mindslight wrote: post #98
psd1 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Irony noted, but I think it's rare for the horrors of a codebase to be deliberately inflicted for self-enrichment or cruelty.

Isn't that the whole point behind A/B testing? Find the accidental dark patterns that will maximize extraction?

Ah, I see. I was thinking in terms of spaghetti hell.

I wrote a big chunk before I recalled that this is just an analogy. We're wandering off topic.

Re: In Jail Without a Lawyer: How a Texas Town Fails Poor Defendants

#167

Post by [deleted] »

briandear wrote: post #160
jajko wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are separate issues. Healthcare aint cheap anywhere for the state, but its perfectly fundable for any but the most poor and broken countries in the world, to a very decent level. But US is broken in another way - everything is for-profit, no real oversight, and unrestricted capitalism full throttle. Then you get what you got. There are 2 absolutely basic pillars of modern free society worth living in - 1) how i…

> no real oversight The US health system is excessively regulated. It’s anything but unrestricted capitalism. I would argue that the regulation is what makes the system so broken.

[deleted]

Re: In Jail Without a Lawyer: How a Texas Town Fails Poor Defendants

#168

Post by CrossVR »

AngryData wrote: post #38

Anyone who has ever dealt with the US justice system as just some regular bloke knows it is broken. 90% of it is about extorting the population for funding for the courts and cops. If you can't afford a lawyer, they will provide you with a joke. And if you can afford a lawyer, now its just a question if you are willing to spend more on your lawyer than the state is hoping to extort from you. If you are, you will get…

> Now you better not lose because you are on the hook for all of the money the court wants to believe it cost them to prosecute you.

In a criminal case you aren't liable for the legal costs of the prosecution. I think you're confusing criminal court with civil court.

Re: In Jail Without a Lawyer: How a Texas Town Fails Poor Defendants

#169

Post by [deleted] »

briandear wrote: post #160
jajko wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are separate issues. Healthcare aint cheap anywhere for the state, but its perfectly fundable for any but the most poor and broken countries in the world, to a very decent level. But US is broken in another way - everything is for-profit, no real oversight, and unrestricted capitalism full throttle. Then you get what you got. There are 2 absolutely basic pillars of modern free society worth living in - 1) how i…

> no real oversight The US health system is excessively regulated. It’s anything but unrestricted capitalism. I would argue that the regulation is what makes the system so broken.

[deleted]

Re: In Jail Without a Lawyer: How a Texas Town Fails Poor Defendants

#170

Post by lurk2 »

SauciestGNU wrote: post #69
kubb wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this where the whole Europe bashing on social media comes from? US needing to believe that a better society, rule of law, social services isn’t real in Europe and impossible in general?

Not only that, but it explains the disdain for Europe in the current American government. European society proves that Americans could have true freedom and quality of life if it weren't for corporations and oligarchs effectively owning our government. Fascists hate a counterexample.

> European society proves that Americans could have true freedom and quality of life if it weren't for corporations and oligarchs effectively owning our government.

Europeans have far more restrictions on their rights of speech, self-defence, and freedom of conscience than the Americans. They are also substantially poorer than Americans, and those numbers get worse when you account for America’s average being skewed lower by having a higher proportion of recent immigrants with lower earning potentials.

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