The Worst Prosecutor of the Year Award

I would love to say that I wrote this article about some of the worst prosecutors of the year. Instead Radley Balko wrote this excellent and tragic article detailing some of the most egregious prosecutorial misconduct of the year.

Check out this list of bad prosecutors and vote here!

Of course those listed are not alone. Every day, prosecutors around the country destroy the lives of innocent people in order to assure themselves another election victory as the "100% conviction rate" candidate. That is not to suggest that there aren't fine people out there in the job doing good work. There are. But the bad so over shadows the good that the "incarcerate for cash" system that we have threatens to make us a nation of convicts.

Historically 2% of the population of any country is either currently or previously in some form of incarceration. The US figures are inching up on 20%. That is 20% of the population left unable to get most jobs, avoid welfare, vote, get educational benefits, etc etc. This dooms not only the person tossed in jail for increasingly minor offenses, it dooms their entire family to a life of poverty.

Justice reform is on it's way to being a major issue as people are increasingly touched by bad prosecution, jailing for cash scandals, and increasingly oppressive laws. The economy takes center stage today, but as conservatives, historically "law and order" voters are waking up to the realities of "justice" in their own back yard, the tide is turning with calls to prosecute those who use their power for evil.

Happy New Year's Blog Cleaning

OK, I admit it……I can be a tad on the “wordy” side.

When I started writing, I had a hand me down, IBM Selectric III typewriter. There was something wasteful and rather lazy about just typing a couple sentences….all that empty, white paper. And so I filled up each and every page, a proud member of the literary version of the “clean plate” club.

Over the years, being comfortable writing hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of words for training manuals, corporate prospectuses, and ultimately screen plays and books served me well.

For years, my blogs have reflected my penchant for long winded prose. But times have changed. The reflective, research heavy, commentary has gone the way of the dodo bird. Today people seem to want “sound bite” summaries, twitter length quips with a link to bullet point information, for those who want a more in-depth analysis of an issue.

Over the course of the next few days, I am doing some blog-cleaning, which is a lot like spring cleaning your home. I will be packing away posts that aren’t relevant or useful due mostly to changes in the law. Airing out and altering (summarizing) posts that are still relevant. And embarking on a more user friendly method of commentary.

“Surviving Stalking” will continue to be the place to find resources, current cases, and legal opinion on stalking, harassment, and bullying in the United Kingdom, Europe, and America.

“The Justice Myth” will be the home of my work on prosecutorial misconduct, justice reform, tort reform, and general legal issues and will include updates on my current project “The Justice Myth.”

I promise to try to keep things brief…..and appreciate both your patience over the next few days of house keeping and your continued support and interest in my work. - VA