American Justice电子书

PROLOGUE

Moving Pangs

PART I

CHAPTER 1: THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD!

Childish Play Going Awry

Growing Tension in the Neighborhood

“Get Her!”

Hindsight…

CHAPTER 2: A NIGHTMARE ENSUES

The Immediate Aftermath

Arrested! (Who, Me?)

“Criminal Mischief”…. “Aggravated Assault?”

The Next Twenty-Four Hours

CHAPTER 3: FROM BAD TO WORSE

The Mental Health Hearing

What Could Be Next?

CHAPTER 4: COMMITTED!

Being Admitted

Checked-In

A New Day

Her First Visit

Adjusting

Tests Loom

Under a Microscope

Last Day on the Ward

CHAPTER 5: FACING THE CHARGES

Keeping an Eye Out

A Conundrum!

Worries and Concerns

Taking Its Toll — on Both of Us!

Nothing Was Going Our Way

What Were We Thinking?

Was Divorce an Instigator?

Bombshells

The Nightmare Continues; the Mystery Deepens

Another Instance of Personal Intimidation

Trying to Set the Record Straight

CHAPTER 6: THE MOUSETRAP

Springing the Mousetrap

Trapped!

Committed, Again (!)

Back on the Psych Ward

CHAPTER 7: LIVING IN LIMBO (AND ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN)

Wear-and-Tear

Total Exile

New Developments

Provocation

Unable to Bear It

In Limbo and More Lawyers

Throwing in the Towel

A Potential Close to the Case

CHAPTER 8: EPILOGUE: GETTING AWAY FROM IT ALL? NOT REALLY.

2010

2011

2012

CHAPTER 9: THE AFTERMATH TO THE “PERFECT STORM”

The Motivation for Writing This Book

PART II

CHAPTER 10: WHEN AND WHY KIDS LIE

How Lying Develops in Kids

When there are Serious Reasons Prompting the Lies

Revenge

Cases of Physical or Sexual Abuse

Perjury in Criminal Cases

HOW TO DO IT BETTER

As Parents

As a Society

CHAPTER 11: ABUSES OF INVOLUNTARY COMMITMENTS

How Involuntary Commitment Works

Emergency Commitments

Inpatient Civil Commitments

Outpatient Civil Commitments

Common Abuses with Involuntary Commitments

Abuse of Emergency Commitments

Abuses of Inpatient and Outpatient Commitments

Uncovering the Policies and Procedures in Your State

HOW TO DO IT BETTER

CHAPTER 12: PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT

Major Types of Prosecutorial Misconduct

Playing Politics with Evidence

Ignoring Evidence of a Witness’s Lies, and/or Leaking Inflammatory and Prejudicial Information

Motivations for Prosecutorial Misconduct

HOW TO DO IT BETTER

Doing It Better

CHAPTER 13: POOR JUDICIAL BEHAVIOR

Abuses of Judicial Power

Improper Courtroom Behavior

Showing Bias

The Power to Do Harm

Pressuring Defendants to Take Plea Bargains and Make Guilty Pleas

Motivations for Judicial Bias

Political and Prosecutorial Bias

Personal Bias and Discrimination

Unaccountability in a Conveyor Belt System

Peers on Judicial Disciplinary Panels

Limitations on Citizen Complaints

HOW TO DO IT BETTER

CHAPTER 14: THE MEDIA’S ROLE

Abuses by the Media

Making a Defendant Look Guilty

Notorious Pre-Trial (and Trial) Publicity

Across Multiple Platforms and from Unnamed Sources

Racial Bias

Stereotyping

Criminal Profiling

HOW TO DO IT BETTER

CHAPTER 15: THE PROBLEM WITH THE POLICE

Police Misconduct and Abuse

Stop and Identify

Search and Seizure

Police Brutality

Incentives for Police Misconduct

Is there Effective Recourse against Police Misconduct?

At the Federal Level

At the State and Local Level

Police Backlash

HOW TO DO IT BETTER

CHAPTER 16: COLLATERAL DAMAGE TO FAMILIES

The Impact on Families

On a Personal Note

A Loss of Privacy

Psychological Damage/Familial Fall-Out

Far worse still is collateral damage to families of those in prison.

Deterioration of Family Units

Financial Woes

A Family’s Future Picture, Financial and Otherwise

Damage to the Children

HOW TO DO IT BETTER

CHAPTER 17: A NATIONAL SHAME: OUR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

It’s enormously expensive to incarcerate so many people

How did we get to this point? The Deleterious Effects of the War on Drugs

Disproportionate Effects on Minority Communities

HOW TO DO IT BETTER

CHAPTER 18: EIGHT REMEDIES FOR OUR BROKEN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Fixes for the System

Remedy 1: Strict Limits on Immunity of Prosecutors and Judges

Remedy 2: Separate Courts for Urban, Suburban and Rural Areas

Remedy 3: Reform the Bail Reform Act

Remedy 4: More Legal Assistance for Low-Income Defendants

Remedy 5: Reduce the High Rate of Incarceration

Remedy 6: End the War on “Pot” to Reduce Violence and Bring Revenue to Cash-Starved States and Cities

Remedy 7: Establish More Drug Treatment and More Drug Courts

Remedy 8: Overhaul the Criminal Justice System

Bibliography

CHAPTER 10 Notes

CHAPTER 11 Notes

CHAPTER 12 Notes

CHAPTER 13 Notes

CHAPTER 14 Notes

CHAPTER 15 Notes

CHAPTER 16 Notes

CHAPTER 17 Notes

CHAPTER 18 Notes