Sep 092013
 

PRESS RELEASE

August 29th, 2013
Posted by The Department Of Justice

This post is courtesy of Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Jocelyn Samuels

The Civil Rights Division is acutely aware of the impact that the criminal justice system has on communities of color. As we reflect on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, it remains an inescapable fact that disparities at nearly every stage of the criminal process keep too many African Americans, Latinos and other minorities in poverty and deny them the opportunities that so many in the civil rights movement fought to achieve.

The consequences of these inequities are perhaps greatest for America’s youth. The adverse effects of early interaction with the juvenile or criminal justice systems can be permanent—often, they deprive those caught up in the system of opportunities for educational advancement, employment, access to housing and even the right to vote.

Under the leadership of Attorney General Eric Holder, the Justice Department’s commitment to ensuring equal justice and equal opportunity for America’s youngest generation—by, among other things, dismantling the school to prison pipeline and defending the constitutional rights of those in the juvenile justice system—has never been stronger.

To read more, click here: http://blogs.justice.gov/main/archives/3277

Jul 022012
 

book-cover

Book Cover

By Jeffrey Collins of New York (USA)
June 24, 2012

After reading this well written book [Louisiana v. Vincent Simmons: Frame-up in Avoyelles Parish] by Ms. [Katja] Pumm, I can very much say that she really did her research into a system that is mostly one-sided and very much saturated with lies. I believe that there are not too many people who can write a book about an individual’s innocence and the injustice of the criminal system without experiencing it first-hand. But, Ms. Pumm’s book actually comes really close and I think that is because she has put her heart into it.

I am an individual who has spent twenty (20) years in prison for a crime I did not commit, and that injustice continues as I write this review. So, I do see and understand the plight of Mr. Simmons.

The very first inquiry into a criminal case is the most trustworthy. An individual who looks (investigates) into a criminal case can be certain to find the truth of what happened and if the accused is indeed responsible.

The three (3) alleged victims in the Simmons case were indeed hiding something. I felt that they were untruthful about the gun and knowing the defendant’s name. It is a known fact, once you lie, you have to continue to lie or else the truth will reveal its self in due time. So the three alleged victims had to continue in their untruthfulness, when they were given support by those in authority, which were also family members and politicians.

What should be an eye opener for people who do not really understand what goes on within the legal system, is the fact that a man (Mr. Simmons) could receive 99 [100] years for a charge of attempted aggravated rape of two females, when such a charge was never voted on by the ‘Grand Jury’ who has to vote a true bill before an accused can plea to a charge. Also, if the facts given by the alleged victims state that they were raped, where does attempt fit into the charge?

For those lay individuals of the legal system, in order of a District Attorney to amend an indictment (Change of Charge), it has to present the amendment to the grand jury for them to vote on a superseding indictment. They are not supposed to just change the charge without going through the proper procedures first. But as Ms. Pumm pointed out, this is one of the many abuses that are taking place in the ‘legal’ system to this day. And it goes unnoticed by lay individuals. One of the main reasons why it continues is due to there being no accountability, or shall I say very little accountability by those who violate the law.

The law does not care about the truth of the matter at hand as [an] individual may assume. Law is only concerned with rights and interest of property. This is laws’ (constitutions’) main focus, property rights. Criminal law, as it is called derived from property rights law, which is commercial law. Therefore, criminal law is ‘Legal’ Rules and Procedures of Commercial Law. So, the key to understanding the very much complex criminal law, you must begin with understanding law merchant… They are intertwined.

I thank you, Ms. Pumm, for first being understanding to the plight of those innocent in prison and for this wonderful book.

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