HapppY New Year

As, we all watch this year comes to an end, and the new one is soon to come. I would like to say Thanks to all that have taken time out to read my blog.

I pray that I have not wasted your time. But have brought ideas and thoughts for change to make life better for all.

It is my hope as I journey on this trip of learning more about the justice system and myself. That I make the changes that need to be made in me to give to myself, family and community the best of all that I have to give. In, both words and deeds. Let my words be truthful and useful as I share my thoughts.

It is my hope and dream that as we all travel on the road of dealing with the criminal Justice system that we take a look not only is justice being served. But the part we play in the system. Are we contributing or a contributor?

The effects having a love one come back home? And being ready if the ties were broken?

In the coming New Year, I hope to bring and support changes. Empower the ones whom need an ear. Explore new ideas for change. As we now witness the many that are getting new trails for crimes that they were found guilty of. But were in actually were innocent of the crime.

Let us all not turn our heads or even try to bury them when we hear a crime has been committed. But find the truth and the real truth and face the challenges that may come along with it. After all it is our self esteem and love ones that are at stake in this challenge.

So a Happy New Year to All! May we learn to accept the things that have gone wrong. Bring change to the laws that are wrong. And empower one and all to stay strong and get through the mess if need be.

Lanugage

Speaking with my oldest son the other day was every up lifting and enlightening for me.

It been a while since I have posted anything on the blog. Life got in the way of blogging. Since I do this in my spare time. And that has gotten very spare lately. Job moving me to a new location. Updating myself in the legal justice arena and finding a new love (literally).

But what that phone call from my son, was if a door into my world had open wide and understanding had walked in and took a seat. All the reason why the event that had come into my life made sense. The acting out, going to court, the feeling. All of it made sense. I am where I am suppose to be in life.

These thing happen for a reason not only for me to support others in the walk of shame of being in the position of being a Mother of a felon. But for my son to join me in enlightening others to the plight or fate in  this,life.

My son told me that many give up their right in the criminal justice system because we do not know the language that is used in the court. Or do we understand the sysblomlism of the courts. While there are many young adults that graduate from high school. And many that drop out of school although. The language do not change to address these very facts.

In fact, as I stated that in my last blog about Plea Bargaining. It is the very basic fact the we give away our rights because of fear that justice will not be served and will have the book throw at us if we face a jury. There are many document cases where movies have been made based on these people being innocent and spending a month to several years in jail. And were in fact innocent of the crime that they were accused of.

My son went on to say that he now understands that language is very important especially when dealing with the criminal justice system. You must know and understand what you or your love is agreeing to except in the  plea deal. You Must look up the words that are being used. Fear must not be your companion in this matter.

Such as when one asked, if you understand, just what do that mean? What are they trying to get you or them to agree to, with when asking you if you understand?  Plus be prepared that if you question the process that retaliation might be part of the process to put fear into you.

It ‘s a well-kept professional secret that no lawyer knows more than a relatively infinitesimal part of the law, nor does any judge. Taken from “How to Find the Law”.

 

Pleading guilty and what do it really mean?

Well I have finally got over my son catching a case and plea bargaining. So now I am blogging about the experience. So just what does it mean to plead guilty, to a crime? And is there such thing as innocent?

There are three primary sources of the law, statutes, judicial opinions and administrative regulations and adjudications (cited from “How to Find the Law”)

The adversarial system is the two-sided structure under which criminal trial courts operate that pits the prosecution against the defense. Justice is done when the most effective adversary is able to convince the judge or jury that his or her perspective on the case is the correct one. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

In  a guilty  plea or copping a plea. There are many faucets to the pleading, take for example: charge bargaining, court charging and sentence and fact bargaining. They all represent something that gives and takes away of the charges.  And also whether, your love will spend time in jail or even a chance to be placed on a bracelet.

Yet if your child is innocent why would you or they not fight the charges?

Over the years, plea bargaining, has become means of resolving criminal cases in America. According to” Plea and Charge Bargaining Research Summary ‘While there are no exact estimates of the proportion of cases that are resolved through plea bargaining, scholars estimate that about 90 to 95 percent of both federal and state court cases are resolved through this process (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2005; Flanagan and Maguire, 1990).

Ex-offenders face tens of thousands of legal restrictions, bias and limits on their rights

This article also points out the collateral consequences of the plea bargain and why it must be repealed. But I will save that for another blog.

Now with this being so; we see why many are plea bargained? In plea bargaining, a defendant is faced with a charge at arraignment.

While being found innocent or being acquitted is, of course, the best way for defendants to avoid jail time and other penalties, going to trial is perceived as risky, because it is impossible to predict what a jury will decide. As a result, many defendants enter pleas (Bar-Gill and Ben-Shahar, 2009)( found inhttps://www.bja.gov/Publications/PleaBargainingResearchSummary.pdf

 Consequently, some believe that without plea bargaining the number of cases coming to trial would remain the same or would be reduced (Bar-Gill and Ben-Shahar, 2009:740).( research). Those who are taken into custody are more likely to accept a plea and are less likely to have their charges dropped (Kellough and Wortley, 2002). More generally, legal characteristics increase the likelihood of accepting a plea, because there is more uncertainty in outcomes for both chronic and more serious offenders.

There is almost no such thing as innocent when plea bargaining you were charged with the crime. Now it is time to pay. Also plea bargaining is made to give you a deal, if you go with the flow.

When interacting with the Police, in Wisconsin

FPC Informational Memorandum: Confirmation of Warrants Prior to Arrest
Issue:
Under Wisconsin Statute Section 968.07, a law enforcement officer may arrest a person when the
law enforcement officer believes, on reasonable grounds, that a warrant for the person’s arrest
has been issued in this state. The information that a warrant for a person’s arrest may exist is
usually obtained when an officer “runs a wanted check” either via radio with the district station
console operator or through the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) laptop squad computer. The
district station console operator is usually a civilian office assistant with access to the National
Crime Information Center (NCIC), Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB), and local warrant
databases. Once the possibility of an existing warrant is identified through an initial check of the
databases by the console operator, it is the responsibility of the officer executing the warrant to
determine that the subject is the person for whom the warrant was issued. A person can be
identified as the subject named in a warrant by matching various factors such as date of birth,
social security number, physical description, fingerprint, photograph, or other means of positive
identification.
Once a person is identified as the subject named in the warrant, it must then be confirmed as a
valid, active warrant with the police agency that entered the warrant into the database.
Confirmation of a warrant is always necessary, since the computer database may not accurately
reflect the most current status of the underlying case upon which the warrant was originally
issued. The existence of a warrant in the database merely indicates the likelihood of a valid
warrant. Authority to make an arrest does not exist until the officer has confirmed the actual
existence of the warrant. If the warrant is issued by another police agency, the console operator
must contact the originating police agency either telephonically or electronically and request the
status of the warrant. The length of time required to confirm the existence of a valid warrant
varies but is typically a matter of minutes rather than hours. Since the majority of warrants are
confirmed as valid, some officers have made it a practice to take a subject into custody before a

Beliefs and Superstitions in the Law

There are many beliefs in the upholding of the law, of the criminal justice system. Such as if you do the crime, you must do the time. Crime does not pay. Yet there also exist the superstitions that locking up people will put an end to crime.  Couple with the belief that people are bad, not the system Now, if this was truly the case then. Why are there so many new laws on the books on how to lock people up? Since we can no longer convict people and burn then at the stake or cut off their head or hands for misdeeds neither.

 Who questions any of this? Or do we struggle with belief or superstitions when complying with the law.Here is a prime example; my sister got a parking ticket awhile back. But this was not just any old parking ticket that was just waiting on her car to be picked off the windshield of her vehicle.  Plus the place was once designated as no parking because it was a bus stop. This ticket was tucked in the windshield, to the point that my sister’s anger at just leaving work late and unable to settle a job related issues. She just could not see the parking ticket at that time. So, this did not allow her to notice that the parking ticket was placed on her car, until something flew up in the wind and was carried way as she drove off in a huff.

Upon reaching home, she then places a call to find out yes, she did have a parking ticket and the amount of it was troubling to my sister. She was also given instruction on how to pay for her mistake.

Believing that she should pay, as we all do. My sister paid the ticket. This was part of her belief. But it was through getting on her nervous that made her question her actions. I questioned her about “was the spot marked; saying no parking”, were there other people parked there or sign that would have stated park at your own risk? This is what drove her to call and take action on the ticket matter.

The location as she finds out was no longer designated as a bus stop for more than two years. Yet while trying to tell her story to various departments that she called to get some relief to the matter at hand, it fell on deaf ears. She was even told why you paid the ticket then? Never mind the fact that other might have been given tickets for parking there.

However, it was my sister’s feeling guilty because she had broken the law and had to pay. That made her not hold back and see if she was indeed wrong for parking there like some many others. She also stated that she did not want to go to court. Yet after paying the ticket and now wanting her money back, she still has to file a contest complaint. After all she wants to be a good citizen and believes that the laws should not be questioned.

So in closing. Remember that belief are important. Belief in what is right also matters. But belief in something that does not exist that is just plain superstition. There might be a few missed guided individuals. But plenty of the laws on the books should not just be accepted as facts or belief. But questioned to see if the still hold true, and what are they importants and impacts.

Good and Mad Reading for the Weekend

Good and Mad Reading for the Weekend

Time of crisis

Just what value is need when in a time of crisis?

I just had a conversation with one of my daughters. I have five. And for me that makes a good balancing point having these various points of views to deal with.

Now what the conversation was about is my PD’s convictions. (By the way PD means precious darling.) Please do not act like you do not have one at your house. It just might be the one that goes to court/ jail all the time. By the way we all have one, two or more PDs’.  But that will be another story.

Well here what happen? On December 5^th, 2012 I get a call, stating, “I am being taken into cusdesty”.  A call, from my oldest son, the “precious darling”. Then he goes on to say” I am here at Potawatomi.” Then the phone goes dead. Now I am experiencing some loss, regret and shame all over again.

I spent three days trying to find out where he is and what the charges are.  The security at the casino would not give any information as to the nature of why or what prompted the incident. But saying” here is the number to the police station.”  The outcome is that I find him and someone willing to talk about what the charges are.  I was blown away. After listening to the correction officer list them for me. Then, the officer asked, if I wanted to come and visit my son. My response was “hell no”.  And then I went on to say. “Those charges, does not sound like a political prison to me.”  It is Five O’clock in the morning. However, my PD was facing some serious time as the officer was reading the charges to me.

So, after about six months of court time, my PD is serving some time in the House of Correction. Plus, placed in a drug treatment program. It was the surveillance camera and some drugs that were filmed, jumping out of this pocket, that a guest had reported that he seen because he was behind him.  So as a family we are glad it worked out well for all. He getting the treatment he needs and he is paying for it out of his own pocket. You do the crime. So he must pay, this is my motto. I get a story to tell to hopefully will encourage others to be much more involved with the charges and tickets that loves get.

However, when questioning my son’s attorney, his response was, “Did he deny not having them?”

So here is the lesson. You must do some looking around as to what your love one is being charged with. Ask questions. Keep your emotions in check. Cussing, hollering and feeling bad will not help. But prayers and actions will. Research the laws surrounding the siltation. There some chances that your attorney do not know it all, or even have the time to do the needed research. My PD was facing some serious time as the officer was reading the charges to me.

Businesses have the right to call the police. And the state will step in to prosecute. So in closing, this is what I told my daughter about how the casino should spell out in their rules.

If you are found guilty of this we will call the law to come on our property and have your taken away to the full extent of the law. Surveillance camera is every where. There is a new law for their use. Understand it and what it means for you and your family and, how it will affect the case.

As stated before just what value is needed in the time of crisis. Education and a clear head with the emotions in checked. Owning up that your child did wrong is hard and bitter. I am not pointing any fingers but we need to share and make a change in either the system or our selves.

So by the way, here is what the rules states for that casino: Over consumption of alcohol or use of controlled/illegal substances will not be tolerated.

 But this is where I differ with my daughter , and a attorney, on the rule. Ti should state if you are believed to be guilty of this we will call the law to come on our property and have your taken away to the full extent of the law. Surveillance cameras are every where. There is a new law for their use as evidence. Understand it and what it means for you and your family.

So in closing, as stated before just what value is needed in the time of crisis. Education and a clear head with the emotions in checked. You might be able to get to the truth of the matter. Because someone has been hurt, or suffering and it was action that has gotten them there or was it?

 With prays use action.  Find what will work your and you.

Thanks!