Probable Cause

Some of you will wonder why this article is going to start off, in a minute here, by talking about and quoting from comments made at so-called “town hall meetings” regarding Obama’s health care plan.  Is this blog “going political” or something?

There are actually two answers to that, the most simplistic of which is “no.”  Although, in a way, this blog is unavoidably political: the legal system is, at bottom, the reification of the politics of a given jurisdiction — or to be more honest about it, it is the reification of the politics of those who have the power over the legal system, such that they can reify their political views in a concrete system of law.  But I really want to save that discussion for another post.  At any rate, it must be admitted that, on the one hand, this blog has always been political.

On the other hand, this blog does focus on the legal system; it is my “professional” blog and I am an attorney.  We don’t typically think of discussions of the law as being political discussions, per se.  This post will maintain a focus on the legal system; not health care.  In that sense, then, this post is not a sign that the blog is “going political.”

The most I will say about Obama’s health care plan is that I’m not a socialist.  But, again, that particular issue is for discussion for another post and, with respect to Obama and/or political footballs like health care plans, for another blog.

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On page one of today’s San Francisco Chronicle, above the fold, is another article concerning California’s prisons.  If I did the math right, California’s prisons hold 7.2% of the nation’s prisoners, which currently number about 2.29 million.  (Today, with more than two-and-a-quarter million prisoners, the United States has the world’s highest documented incarceration rate. Even with its supposedly-high level of political oppression, China is number two with only 1.5 million.  The United States holds just 5% of the world’s population, but 25% of the world’s incarcerated population.)

Why so much?

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For eight years, off and on, I had a relationship with — lived with — someone. It was a toxic relationship. She not infrequently berated me for what were really insignificant and only actually perceived slights. She was a wonderful woman.

I have a memory from high school of a friend who engaged in what today would be considered an act of felony vandalism. It may have been then, too, but in those days we understood that sometimes kids did destructive things, because, by definition, they’re immature. We didn’t saddle them with felonies because of it. But I digress (as I am unfortunately wont to do). He was a great guy.

These days, I ostensibly make my living as a criminal defense lawyer in Fresno, California. As you might imagine, I rub elbows with a number of deputy district attorneys. Not infrequently, I’m mystified by their attitudes towards people accused of crimes where there is little (or even no) evidence beyond innuendo and supposition to support the charge. These DDAs forge full steam ahead towards a conviction, sometimes stretching the law — in some cases even breaking the law — in order to obtain a conviction. The majority of them are pretty nice people.

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The worst thing you can have is power and lack of knowledge. — psychologist Habsi Kaba.

Last Friday, I was privileged to attend the (Juvenile) Behavioral Health Court Quarterly Meeting in my county.  I was a little surprised to learn that I was the only private practice criminal defense lawyer to take advantage of this opportunity, but that’s a story for another blog article, another time.  Believing this to be a better alternative for some of my juvenile clients than repeated episodes of pointless incarceration which merely exacerbates their conditions, I wanted to learn more about how the behavioral court worked.

One of the first, saddest, and most difficult things I learned of concerns the struggle the Behavioral Health Court has just to survive.

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Sometimes, when things don’t go your way, you have to take things into your own paws.  Well, that’s one less court hearing I have to worry about, I guess.

At least until she’s caught again!

You can almost hear the two at the door: “Wait!  What about us?!”

Listen to this CNN report and you’ll understand the reason for the title of my post. The only real problem is that while the mentality expressed in the report is typical of what bigoted white people often express, I think the actual reporters were black themselves. Maybe I need to do a post on Stockholm Syndrome.

News reporters interviewing black students express surprise that the students believe there is racism in America. After stating that blacks have more rights than ever before — “they don’t have to sit in the back of the bus; they get to go to school” — the interviewer can’t believe what he’s being told. “You believe…today? 2008? The United States of America is a racist country?”

The report goes on to explain that blacks don’t base their beliefs on “personal experience,” but on news stories. In other words, the story implies, even though the black students who were interviewed haven’t experienced racism, they believe that America is a racist country. The report implies that this is just wrong; it implies the most black people do not experience racism. There’s even another interview with a black man stating that this is “just an excuse.” (I’m fairly sure the short clip is taken out of context.)

What these white (at least on the inside) interviewers need to do is some research.

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