Trayvon Martin Case - The sentence/media reaction

[painted_neo_faerie]

What are your opinions on the case we have heard non-stop about? Here's mine.

 

Grown up in a semi-racist country hick community, I was quite irritated by the fact that this case drew out for so long. However, and as most can agree, my maturity has grown in the past few weeks at the realization that the sentence was far too weak. Murder is murder. No matter what. This was not racism; this was the flawed criminal justice system. (However, an all white 6-person jury certainly didn't help) Letting this man out on the streets, breathing and living after he took those rights away from a young man, is completely unacceptable. If he did it on purpose or not should still have a penalty.

I find the massive amount of media on this case obnoxious, but that does not change my belief that Zimmerman needs more punishment. As a 17-year-old working towards a Criminal Justice career, this case will without doubt change our weak spots in criminal justice forever. For one thing, it has mine! Please post opinions below.

[coltom]

The sadness, is that certain aspects of this cultural had the law changed, to the point that an armed man in the street could legal shoot an unarmed man/boy and it was still legal. Where is John Wayne when you need him? John Wayne didn't shoot unarmed men! There is so much sadness in this issue, more so because so many people see nothing wrong is this blasphemous act, this taking of a life. The biggest sadness that I feel, is because Florida nor any of the states with this ALEC derived "stand your ground" crap show any desire to want to change. I've grown rather depressed by the whole issue.

[kris10ly]

What's saddest to me is the fact that people can claim the shooting "wasn't about race at all," when it's so obvious that even if you give Zimmerman the benefit of the doubt and assume he really was just a nice guy looking out for his community~~ - if it had been a white boy walking home in the rain Zimmerman wouldn't have been suspicious at all, plain and simple.

 

That's what really gets me - America really is a different place for nonwhite people. I can't even begin to imagine.

[painted_neo_faerie]

The shooting itself was obviously racial, I agree! The worst is, he got away with it. It will probably go to a federal judge, so I pray justice will be served!

[emkatrine]

This case has just proven what I already thought about most of the American laws and the American judicial system - it is inhumane, non-functional, unintelligent and stone age alike with "eye for an eye"-views and a completely wrong attitude towards self-defence and weapons.

 

It worries me that a country as strong as America and with the power that the USA has is put together this way law wise and judicially.

 

I am so glad to live in a country in Europe where we do not have weird laws like this "Stand your ground law" and the "Three strikes and you are out law" or the death penalty for that matter.

 

Actually the European Court of Human Rights (probably not even known in the USA) won't even allow members to extradite prisoners to the USA, if there is even a small possible chance that the person can be sentenced to death, because it is considered inhumane.

 

I think it's amazing, weird and very scary at the same time, that a country as far developed as USA (developed in other ways), can have such a far out judicial system and so far out mental laws.

 

I absolutely agree with the person who made this post in her first posted opinion. Very well described.

 

I myself work in the judicial system, and I am happy ours is nothing like the American.

[coltom]

oThe shooting itself was obviously racial, I agree! The worst is, he got away with it. It will probably go to a federal judge, so I pray justice will be served!

I hate to be the old far(seeing) person that has to point out the grim realities, but the only federal case that can be brought would be a civil rights case, and best guess there isn't the evidence to prove a pattern. This is the sadness. George Z has been found innocent and under double jeopardy he'll can't be retried on the same charges, even in a federal venue. There might be a civil trial, but that would only be for the monetary loss.

 

You are inheriting a world that you're really going to have to work hard to make better.

 

Also, you have Nirvana as your tag? Isn't he way before you time? I hate to be an old far{ther} type, but that just struck me as odd.

[painted_neo_faerie]

I hate to be the old far(seeing) person that has to point out the grim realities, but the only federal case that can be brought would be a civil rights case, and best guess there isn't the evidence to prove a pattern. This is the sadness. George Z has been found innocent and under double jeopardy he'll can't be retried on the same charges, even in a federal venue. There might be a civil trial, but that would only be for the monetary loss.

 

You are inheriting a world that you're really going to have to work hard to make better.

 

Also, you have Nirvana as your tag? Isn't he way before you time? I hate to be an old far{ther} type, but that just struck me as odd.

I see Barack Obama spoke out against the "not guilty" charges, and I find it to be possible for even him to speak up enough to allow a new trial to be opened.

 

Yes, he died about a year and a half before I was born. My father constantly tells me, "At least I breathed when he did!" I am a weirdo; I hate modern music, and I love rock/grunge/metal, specifically the 90s. He is my favorite singer. I won't completely ramble as to why he is an inspiration to me (and yes, I see why he shouldn't in many cases) but one thing about him is something I love.

 

This case has just proven what I already thought about most of the American laws and the American judicial system - it is inhumane, non-functional, unintelligent and stone age alike with "eye for an eye"-views and a completely wrong attitude towards self-defence and weapons.

 

It worries me that a country as strong as America and with the power that the USA has is put together this way law wise and judicially.

 

I am so glad to live in a country in Europe where we do not have weird laws like this "Stand your ground law" and the "Three strikes and you are out law" or the death penalty for that matter.

 

Actually the European Court of Human Rights (probably not even known in the USA) won't even allow members to extradite prisoners to the USA, if there is even a small possible chance that the person can be sentenced to death, because it is considered inhumane.

 

I think it's amazing, weird and very scary at the same time, that a country as far developed as USA (developed in other ways), can have such a far out judicial system and so far out mental laws.

 

I absolutely agree with the person who made this post in her first posted opinion. Very well described.

 

I myself work in the judicial system, and I am happy ours is nothing like the American.

As an American citizen, I do disagree with quite a lot of laws and decisions. However, as Coltom said, it is far beyond reality to think this will change anytime soon. As of the death penalty, the state to be most strict (and one of the only participants left) is Texas. That state, in my opinion, is corrupt in many ways beyond the rest of the country. I'm not sure exactly why America finds it necessary to be so strict. I recently stopped believing in the death penalty, because up until then I thought people who murder many others has no use being alive. Despite that, I find it hypocritical to kill the killer, you know? "We should kill you because killing is wrong" is the most absurd thing ever.

[emkatrine]

I see Barack Obama spoke out against the "not guilty" charges, and I find it to be possible for even him to speak up enough to allow a new trial to be opened.

 

Yes, he died about a year and a half before I was born. My father constantly tells me, "At least I breathed when he did!" I am a weirdo; I hate modern music, and I love rock/grunge/metal, specifically the 90s. He is my favorite singer. I won't completely ramble as to why he is an inspiration to me (and yes, I see why he shouldn't in many cases) but one thing about him is something I love.

 

 

As an American citizen, I do disagree with quite a lot of laws and decisions. However, as Coltom said, it is far beyond reality to think this will change anytime soon. As of the death penalty, the state to be most strict (and one of the only participants left) is Texas. That state, in my opinion, is corrupt in many ways beyond the rest of the country. I'm not sure exactly why America finds it necessary to be so strict. I recently stopped believing in the death penalty, because up until then I thought people who murder many others has no use being alive. Despite that, I find it hypocritical to kill the killer, you know? "We should kill you because killing is wrong" is the most absurd thing ever.

 

I am hoping that America over the years will become more like Europe regarding laws and penalty, and hopefully with young Americans such as yourself, it can happen, but yes, it will take many years. I believe America is held very much back by all the lobbying going on especially regarding to weapons. We don't have lobbying in my country, it is frown upon.

 

The death penalty is just so cavemen like. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind in the end. And even though most people can feel like the only justice in some cases is the DP, then just remember how many innocent people have suffered the DP! It is so horrible and arrogant to have the DP when you don't have a bulletproof judicial system, which honestly, no country has.

[painted_neo_faerie]

Yes! I read that 1 in 8 executions consist of innocent people.

[emkatrine]

Yes! I read that 1 in 8 executions consist of innocent people.

See that is just so absolutely horrible :(

[Emily]

The part that gets me the most is apparently it's acceptable to shoot an unarmed teenager in "self-defense." What could an unarmed child (yes, he was still a child and had just only turned 17 years old) have done to provoke such extreme force? Just this alone makes me think it was motivated by race. It just seems like the Amadou Diallo case (1999), though admittantly less extreme, all over again. Additionally, looking at Zimmerman's past, it's clear that he had some issues, as his past violations included alleged domestic violence (his ex-wife) and assulting an officer of the law. Is it that far fetched to think he might have been a little quick on the draw in this case as well?

 

It's sad that even now in 2013, in our so called "progressive" society, people are not treated equally under the law. Whether you're white and live on the outskirts, like the infamous case of the West Memphis Three, or black and are "guilty" only of your race, the justice system is, sadly, heavilly based on more than facts and facts alone.

 

Remember Treyvon Martin. Remember Amadou Diallo. Remember Rubin Carter, Donald Marshall Jr, Darryl Hunt, Dewey Bozella, and the countless others rushed to conviction because of their skin colour, and tell me that race has no sway within the justice system.

[coltom]

I suppose I should thrown in a "Free Leonard Peltier" at this point.

[Emily]

I suppose I should thrown in a "Free Leonard Peltier" at this point.

Can't tell if you're being blasé or serious, but yes, that would be an appropriate sentiment, if it's genuine. Yet another case of rushing to judgement when the facts were blurry and misrepresented at best, leading to the conclusion of racial profiling.

[coltom]

Can't tell if you're being blasé or serious, but yes, that would be an appropriate sentiment, if it's genuine. Yet another case of rushing to judgement when the facts were blurry and misrepresented at best, leading to the conclusion of racial profiling.

 

A free Leonard is a little off topic, and not always received well by every audience. The fact that witnesses were tortured, testimony faked, evidence suppressed, etc, etc, does not always overcome the knee jerk reaction of some that since FBI agents died, that by dang someone has to pay for the crime. Nor am I pleased with the execution of my "bound by treaty and history" sister M'iqmaq.

 

Nor does it excuse the slimepuppy actions of the U.S. and Canadian government in the fireslime lies of the extradition. Some of that anger was in my heart years later during the Siege of Okie, part of the reason I was ever so politely asked to leave Canada and never return.

 

However, this is old wounds, Leonard will almost certainly die in prison.

[painted_neo_faerie]

Wow, Coltom! That's amazing. Good for you for standing up for your beliefs.

What is the Seige of Okie, and what caused it? I'm quite interested!

[coltom]

Oh painted lady, apologies, it was a battle from before you were born, although the place is not very far from you. I should also call things by their "proper name" because bad Haundansee puns are well appreciated outside of very few. Oka is a nickname for the Mohawk nation enclave in Canada near Quebec. Oki or Okie is also the word for, and this is a hard word to translate because some say spirit or soul, but I would translate more into Freudian terms as superego. It is the force that binds us to this world.

 

You can look it up at wikipedia under . However, my viewpoint it was an arrogant attempt for the recently empowered politicians in Quebec to seize a bit of prime real estate who's ownership was much in doubt. If Quebec had allowed the issue to go be decided in the national courts, I believe it would have been handled without blood shed, or at least without loss of life. Instead, Quebec tried to seize a parcel of disputed land, and the hothead Warrior/False Face faction armed, barracaded, and entered into seige warfare. Once battle was drawn, it drew almost every other First Citizen with a grievance into battle. Why, some bunch of hotheads even dumped a load of stolen sand into one of the main roads leading into Quebec (city) during rush hour (wink, wink). During that time, I was "detained for questioning" treated rather roughly, and rather amateuristic as those silly french canadian didn't seem to know how to effectively beat a prisoner.

I was asked politely to never return to Canada (I didn't have the heart to tell them I had dual citizenship anyway). While I was U.S. Military reserve at the time, it strangely did not seem to cause any of my superiors any concern. Not even when I was brought up on charges for not turning in my J.O. for being gay, Oka never was an issue. That always puzzled me.