INTEGRATING INTEGRITY INTO AMERICAN JUSTICE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT

Integrating integrity into American justice and law enforcement Integrity is lamentably lacking in the American judicial process to such an extent that the nation's Attorney General, Eric Holder, has declared that the justice system is "broken!" Hardly surprising was this austere conclusion from one, whose ancestors were, by constitutional law, counted as only 3/5s of a man, at best, since 1789. Given this disparity in the dispensation of justice, whether distributive or restorative, respecting black 'citizens,' it is apparent that integrity has never been a part of the law enforcement, judicial, nor political processes of the United States of America. Never. While exceptions did prevail in rare and unique individual cases, such "exceptionalism"establishes the rule. Now, scientific evidence has established a plethora of rigged pathology reports in different states. Moreover, independent forensic investigations have documented too many other violations to document them all herein. But, among these is: planted evidence, lying professional "informants," illegally withheld exculpatory evidence, rigged line-ups, unfair juries, improper jury instructions and charges, etc. The foregoing irregularities are routine, resulting now in the release of hundreds, if not thousands, of wrongly convicted persons, in state and in federal court; not counting those who may have already been "lawfully" and irrevocably executed! Just as there are irregularities on the criminal side of America law, there have also been similar abuses on the civil side of American law, again, exceptions notwithstanding. Integrity must be inculcated on both sides of the law: civil and criminal. This means that people of integrity must be hired, appointed and/or promoted in law enforcement as well as in the court system, itself. While the attorney general of the country may have been too polite and too politic to speak more boldly, when addressing the American Bar Association in 2013, I am not so constrained as he! The truth is that the justice and law enforcement system is 'broken,' because its handlers are broken: judges, prosecutors, police, and their allied support personnel, particularly those politicians who appoint them and the people who elect them! Integrity means honesty in the even application of ethical principles, and the rigorous adherence to its pursuit. That is the missing ingredient in American justice. Simple integrity.