HATERS – BERATERS – COMPLAINERS – OH MY!

I remember when I first got on Facebook! It was May of 2008. It was exciting to find old friends from grade school all through College. And, since my family is spread across the states, the web site made it possible to connect with those family members. Ultimately it gave me the opportunity to get a couple of college degrees. That, however, changed. As people began to migrate to Facebook, it appeared that the tone was changing. Now, as we enter 2019, it seems that Facebook is now replete with haters, beraters, and complainers.

It was and is a very sad experience watching how so many haters hate so many things. It is so prevalent that Dante’s Inferno could add another level just for these folks. From the issue with our justice system, to the current crisis with immigration, revived racial tension, and the list goes on. I wonder if their hate has such a strong hold on them, is there any hope for them to find peace and love? I am not sure.

Now the beraters are some of the worst. This is particularly evident with the Ink Master program. The rules are to critique’ the tattoo NOT to berate the artists. If I were to make a statement about this group, it would be, ‘arrogant, self-righteous, disrespectful, and oh so stupid.

Ah the complainers! This group seems to be self-perpetuating. People complain about everything from the weather to their personal lives. The latter has, in my opinion, been one of the biggest perpetrators of hate. It is like it started out as a small, manageable snowball, but now that snowball would cover the entire state of Texas.

So in the end, I could simply leave Facebook for a more positive experience, or, I could join one or all the groups, as there is a plethora of things I could spew over, or, simply ignore their post, or just delete them. I am still deciding!

Senate overwhelmingly backs overhaul of criminal justice system –

While all intentions are a welcome change to the judicial system, there is something that I have an issue with. Those in the Senate and Congress, for the most part, have no first hand (meaning personal experience) knowledge of what kind of overhaul would be most effective on both sides of the issue.

Now while it is a known and acceptable fact that, family and friends of loved ones incarcerated, write to their state and federal representatives. Keep in mind that many of those who write regarding the offender, think that person should not be locked up, when in all reality, prison is the best place for them.

And we must not forget the many individuals that have been exonerated –

How many innocent people are sentenced to death? According to a recent study, “more than 4 percent of inmates sentenced to death in the United States are probably innocent.” That means that 1 in 25 people sentenced to death are likely to be in fact innocent. ref:

Read Full article HERE

DNA Exonerations in the United States

• 1989: The first DNA exoneration took place 
• 362 DNA exonerees to date
• 37: States where exonerations have been won
• 14: Average number of years served 
• 5,014: Total number of years served
• 26.5: Average age at the time of wrongful conviction
• 43: Average age at exoneration
• 20 of 362 people served time on death row
• 40 of 362 pled guilty to crimes they did not commit
• 70%: Involved eyewitness misidentification
  • 41% of these cases were a cross-racial misidentification
  • 32% of these cases involved multiple misidentifications of the same person
  • 27% of these cases involved misidentification through the use of a composite sketch
• 45%: Involved misapplication of forensic science
• 28%: Involved false confessions

Fast facts:

49% of the false confessors were 21 years old or younger at the time of arrest

34% of the false confessors were 18 years old or younger at the time of arrest

10% of the false confessors had mental health or mental capacity issues

17%: Involved informants

264: DNA exonerees compensated  

187: DNA exonerations worked on by the Innocence Project

158: Actual assailants identified. Those actual perpetrators went on to be convicted of 150 additional violent crimes, including 80 sexual assaults, 35 murders, and 35 other violent crimes while the innocent sat behind bars for their earlier offenses.

So there is much more to overhauling the justice system than just sentencing, crime levels, etc.

THANKS FOR LISTENING

Demographics of the 362:

222 (61%) African American
109 (30%) Caucasian
27 (8%) Latinx
2 (1%) Asian American
1 (<1%) Native American
1 (<1%) Self-identified “Other”

Other facts:

• 130 DNA exonerees were wrongfully convicted for murders; 40 (31%) of these cases involved eyewitness misidentifications and 81 (62%) involved false confessions [as of July 9, 2018]
• 102 DNA exonerations involved false confessions; the real perp was identified in 76 (75%) of these cases. These 38 real perps went on to commit 48 additional crimes for which they were convicted, including 25 murders, 14 rapes, and 9 other violent crimes [as of July 24, 2018]
• 180 of the DNA exonerees (50%) had the real perpetrator(s) identified in their cases [as of August 22, 2018]
• 137 of the DNA exonerees had the real perpetrator(s) identified through a cold database hit [as of October 19, 2018]

How DNA makes a difference in the criminal justice system

• Since 1989, there have been tens of thousands of cases where prime suspects were identified and pursued—until DNA testing (prior to conviction) proved that they were wrongly accused.
• In more than 25% of cases in a National Institute of Justice study, suspects were excluded once DNA testing was conducted during the criminal investigation (the study, conducted in 1995, included 10,060 cases where testing was performed by FBI labs).
• An Innocence Project review of our closed cases from 2004 – June 2015 revealed that 29% of cases were closed because of lost or destroyed evidence.