This Is Not Justice

In a curious editorial in the Times today, Jena prosecutor Reed Walters wants the world to know that he had no choice but to follow his solemn duty and prosecute Mychal Bell and a half-dozen other African American teens for beating up a white fellow student. But as many readers will quickly notice, Mr. Walters conspicuously fails to detail whether the initial blow allegedly struck by Mychal Bell to Justin Barker was with a fist or a deadly weapon. Nor does he describe why Bell might have intended permanent harm or death. His use of subjective words like "vicious" merely inflame.

If every person who ever delivered a sucker punch were guilty of attempted murder, then there were at least a dozen such felons in my high school alone. While not a fight, the Jena incident was the result of an ongoing conflict among kids. No, not hardened adult criminals, but children. Doesn't every childhood prank have an instigator? Instigation should have no bearing on whether the perpetrator is given the status of an adult. I would wager that the mistakes of white teens are dismissed far more often than those of black teens, so I have to wonder, what principle other than bias led to that initial adult charge? Indeed, why were the severe charges of attempted murder initially brought? One could easily argue that hanging nooses on a tree is tantamount to conspiring to commit murder. What message does it send other than "we want to kill you!"? And yet, no charges could be found for this so-called prank?

Hiding behind "just doing my job" doesn't change the fact that Mr. Walters has discretion over the cases he chooses to prosecute, and how he chooses to prosecute them. Why were no African Americans on Mychal Bell's jury? So many questions persist, and given the checkered history of justice in Dixie, the system there remains guilty until proven innocent.

- JT Compton

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Justice Bush

God forbid a wealthy white man be forced to go to prison. At least, that’s what President Bush seemed to be saying with his commutation of Scooter Libby’s prison sentence today. It’s okay to throw Blacks and Hispanics in jail for life in Texas on the flimsiest of charges, even when it can be shown that the state's legal system is fatally flawed. They’ve been charged with crimes and they're not white, so they're probably guilty.

But in the twisted mess of today’s conservative mind, Libby’s misdeeds are trivial—covering up potential crimes of the Vice President, crimes like outing a CIA officer in order to bolster lies that led us into the most costly and bungled war in our nation’s history. Why should anyone go to jail for that?

Bush left Libby’s felony conviction and $250,000 fine in place but commuted his 30 month sentence after the court announced that Libby would be required to serve time in jail while waiting for his appeal. In a lengthy statement, Bush declared that, in his judgment, Libby’s jail sentence was too harsh, and it was punishment enough that he will lose his license to practice law. After all, Libby has a family, he's been a loyal Republican soldier and he’s white. Cut the poor guy a break!

But this “punishment” is of minor consequence to Libby, who will now be handed a seven-figure job with a Republican think-tank, defense contractor, HMO or any number of other businesses controlled by conservatives whose profits depend on the greed and loyalty of conservative politicians.

Equally disturbing, the commutation was based on Bush’s judgment—as though that fact should impress anyone with a measurable IQ. This is the same Bush judgment that took us to war prematurely, failed to plan for the occupation, failed to hold anyone accountable for the abominations of Guantanamo, Abu Ghirab, rendition and torture, failed to find consensus on our Social Security mess, failed to rebuild New Orleans, failed to staff government agencies with qualified professionals and failed to uphold constitutional protections when it came to wiretapping and surveillance.

For a President and party who accused everyone else of lacking values, who laced speech after speech with words like evil and immoral, who scolded their adversaries for being soft on crime, the Libby commutation stinks. It has little to do with justice and everything to do with partisan politics. It is perfectly legal, but like so many actions of the Bush Administration, it is utterly unethical.

Sadly, the world would be a much better place without the judgments of President Bush and his corrupt, misguided, incompetent team.

- JT Compton

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