Florida 'stand your ground' law yields shocking outcomes depending on how law is applied
• .Those who invoke "stand your ground" to avoid prosecution have been extremely successful. Nearly 70 percent have gone free.
Those who invoke "stand your ground" to avoid prosecution have been extremely successful. Nearly 70 percent have gone free.
From the Article:
Its expanded use comes at a cost to the court system.
In April, a hearing on whether William Siskos should get immunity for killing his girlfriend's husband included the all-day use of a Brooksville courtroom, a judge, a public defender, two prosecutors, clerks and bailiffs and an expert witness who was paid $750 an hour.
The judge denied the motion and the case is pending.
"The court system is overburdened enough without having a bunch of expensive, unnecessary, time-consuming hearings on stand your ground,'' said Dekle, the University of Florida professor.
I wonder how much of that "overburdening" is for non-violent drug (and other) offenders being processed for housing in a prison-for-profit?
I wonder how the cost of that day in court compares to the costs saved of those spared jury trials?
I wonder how the cost of that day in court compares to the costs saved of those who would otherwise be incarcerated?
And that's just the tangible money costs. What about the cost of everyone who is "arrested by example"? How can anyone breathe free in their liberty when incarceration is so readily applied?
This country has too many people in jail. Cells should be reserved for those who demonstrate a tendency toward initiating violence against others.
DC Treybil