Any One Else Frustrated with the Criminal Justice System?

**anyoldhead** · 01-10-2013, 12:57 PM

I was robbed, a felony, last year. They caught the guy, mostly because he confessed. However, I received 6 subpoenas requiring me to appear in court & I showed up. Each time, the defendant didn't show. Since he's been on house arrest since last month, I really don't get why the police didn't do anything to make him appear. Before house arrest, he was in jail for 10 months. No one bothered to make sure he appeared. But me? I was threatened by the police that a bench warrant would be issued for ME if I didn't show, even though the defendant didn't.

Yesterday I sat in that courtroom (again), kind of disgusted that they kept halting the other cases in order to take 1/2 breaks to see if the defendant had shown up, which of course he didn't. I had to take 1 bus & a cab to get there.

Has anyone else experienced this? Where the victim is threatened with arrest & having the defendant not show - 3 times?

**raider.adam** · 01-10-2013, 01:04 PM

This has been a common problem and how criminals and defendant attorneys have been gaming the system. The Inky did a huge and well done multi-part feature on the problems.

Justice: Delayed, Dismissed, Denied | Philadelphia Inquirer

Allegedly the courts are working on reform since then.

**drewrob23** · 01-10-2013, 01:14 PM

A friend of mines found out they had a bench warrant and was threatened with jail, even though no letter was ever received and my friend was blamed for not checking....even though there was nothing to check. The system seems screwy on both sides. But as some people will say, we have the best system in the world.

**anyoldhead** · 01-10-2013, 01:20 PM

Originally Posted by raider.adam

This has been a common problem and how criminals and defendant attorneys have been gaming the system. The Inky did a huge and well done multi-part feature on the problems.

Justice: Delayed, Dismissed, Denied | Philadelphia Inquirer

Allegedly the courts are working on reform since then.

Thanks for that. I didn't see that victims are an afterthought, but can be charged & arrested for not showing. This study doesn't address that & who's to say the guy won't come after me, as the are police apparently itching to serve a bench warrant for me! Never arrested in my life, but now I'm being threatened with it, by the police. I seriously doubt they know a victim from the bad guy.

**lucidinnature** · 01-10-2013, 01:25 PM

You're lying. Wtf would the police have to do with it once in the DAs hands? Making **** up as you go along.

Originally Posted by anyoldhead

Thanks for that. I didn't see that victims are an afterthought, but can be charged & arrested for not showing. This study doesn't address that & who's to say the guy won't come after me, as the police apparently are. Never arrested in my life, but now I'm being threatened with it, by the police. I seriously doubt they know a victim from the bad guy.

**ShoshTrvls** · 01-10-2013, 01:25 PM

Probably the most frustrating 6 months of my life were the result of a similar circumstance, except I was dealing with both family court (which is just as inept at having prisoners brought down for hearings, making sure paperwork is in order, etc.) and criminal court. There's really no solution except it got to the point where I would show up at the appointed time, muscle my way over to the prosecutor -- even while everyone would tell me that I couldn't -- and demand to know if the case was being heard that day. And I wouldn't leave his side until he checked to see if the defendant had been brought down, checked with the clerk to see if the psych report was in, checked to see if the parole officer was there, etc. Nine times out of ten I was out of there in 15 minutes.

**anyoldhead** · 01-10-2013, 01:42 PM

Originally Posted by lucidinnature

You're lying. Wtf would the police have to do with it once in the DAs hands? Making **** up as you go along.

Hey, whiny baby, it's my experience, not yours. if you think I'm lying, prove it using the docket of my case. Get it yet?

**lucidinnature** · 01-10-2013, 01:48 PM

Originally Posted by anyoldhead

Hey, whiny baby, it's my experience, not yours. if you think I'm lying, prove it using the docket of my case. Get it yet?

Cops can not threaten to jail you for not showing in court. It's not their job. You are a liar. Fine, post your docket number to prove me wrong.

**anyoldhead** · 01-10-2013, 02:05 PM

Originally Posted by lucidinnature

Cops can not threaten to jail you for not showing in court. It's not their job. You are a liar. Fine, post your docket number to prove me wrong.

Hey whiny, You made the accusation, so it's up to you to prove if. Back to block for you, you have nothing to say. Just another King Baby whining for attention. Big bad baby..

**lucidinnature** · 01-10-2013, 02:29 PM

Originally Posted by anyoldhead

Hey whiny, You made the accusation, so it's up to you to prove if. Back to block for you, you have nothing to say. Just another King Baby whining for attention. Big bad baby..

Sooooo... Post the docket number!

**bootsywannabe** · 01-10-2013, 03:04 PM

What's really crazy is that the witnesses, and apparently not the defendant, are required to show up for all the pre-trial hearings, which makes it very easy for friends and or relatives of the defendant to identify and subsequently intimidate the witnesses. No need for immediate reform there though, right?

**drewrob23** · 01-10-2013, 03:18 PM

I heard that the accused has a right to see the people testifying against them. Nothing wrong with that. But why does the rest of the public have the right to see the accuser if it just leads to intimidation?

**lucidinnature** · 01-10-2013, 03:25 PM

Where exactly are all of these intimidation occurrences? You people watch too much law and order.

**raider.adam** · 01-10-2013, 03:36 PM

Originally Posted by lucidinnature

Where exactly are all of these intimidation occurrences? You people watch too much law and order.

Read Part 2 of the Inky story I linked up thread.

**lucidinnature** · 01-10-2013, 04:01 PM

Originally Posted by raider.adam

Read Part 2 of the Inky story I linked up thread.

Ummmm, yeah-I'm familiar with the story. 99.9% of street crime we're involved in isn't gangland murders and drug deals.

A basic robbery, burglary, etc? The idiot on trial is too stupid to give a ****, and why should they? They know that they'll do a little time served and that's about it. It wouldn't pay to intimidate a witness

**bootsywannabe** · 01-10-2013, 04:56 PM

Originally Posted by lucidinnature

Where exactly are all of these intimidation occurrences? You people watch too much law and order.

There have been several in the news in the last couple years. Just this year a woman was shot and killed inside her grocery store, because she planned to testify; they caught the shooter in that one. A lot of witnesses don't show up or recant. You do the math.

**lucidinnature** · 01-10-2013, 05:06 PM

Originally Posted by bootsywannabe

There have been several in the news in the last couple years. Just this year a woman was shot and killed inside her grocery store, because she planned to testify; they caught the shooter in that one. A lot of witnesses don't show up or recant. You do the math.

OK, I'll do the math-according to the article.

for the years 2006-2008, there were 1,000 cases of intimidation

within that time, 225,000 criminal cases went through philly.

Your chances of being intimidated by those rough numbers would be .4% Even less if you consider that all of you corn bred kids aren't exactly standing on the corners of the badlands witnessing murders or hardcore drug deals.

Once again-law and order mentality vs. reality.

**govtstatistic** · 01-10-2013, 05:08 PM

What is and what are the dockett #s for czar carl green?
or
the queen of philly school system mrs ackermann
i guess if they were never taken to court there is no cause for perjury
where is this investigation that the taxpayers paid for, have they now been registered in the city of philadelphia's drop program ?
keep up the good work

lucid with you being so crystal clear
why have you not answered my other questions ?

lucid the coward slithers back into his hole or someones hole & refuses to answer questions

post95

**bootsywannabe** · 01-10-2013, 05:08 PM

Yeah I forgot all cases of intimidation were automatically reported to the police and the news media. How about posting some stats about how many cases were dropped in Philly because the witness didn't show or backed out or otherwise recanted? Even the number you quoted is high - several hundred documented cases per year. Your argument is pointless.

**bootsywannabe** · 01-10-2013, 05:11 PM

Originally Posted by lucidinnature

You're lying. Wtf would the police have to do with it once in the DAs hands? Making **** up as you go along.

So the Sheriff doesn't handle this kind of stuff, when people don't show up in court? Do you think the DA goes and gets them? Perhaps lucidity is not your strong point.