This sort of thing is why I consider gross abuse of the public trust to be one of the crimes for which the death penalty should be an option. Admittedly, these days it just isn’t done in the old-time style:
[QUOTE=Herodotus]
Sisamnes… being of the number of the royal judges, had taken money to give an unrighteous sentence. Therefore Cambyses slew and flayed Sisamnes, and cutting his skin into strips, stretched them across the seat of the throne whereon he had been wont to sit when he heard causes. Having so done Cambyses appointed the son of Sisamnes to be judge in his father’s room, and bade him never forget in what way his seat was cushioned.
[/QUOTE]
Actually this is why im 100% against the dead penalty. We are talking about corrupt judges here, theres another thread in the pit about an asshole cop, and yet somehow people still think its ok this people should have power over someones life or death. Not to mention lawyers and the weakest link in the chain, juries of our “peers”.
I must be missing the source of the outrage. The judge used two privately owned detention centres. The report doesn’t say that he imposed inappropriate sentences to use them. Clearly what he did was incorrect but unless there is further information confirming that he did impose extra sentences to get extra kickbacks I can not get too excited.
There is a lot of prior information about the inappropriateness of his sentences, which were often more severe than the prosecution recommended, and hinged on his sending people to those two detention centers (for some reason, he was permitted to close the county-owned facility and make exclusive use of them) in exchange for kickbacks. Do a little googling on the judge’s name for details; it’s scattered over a significant period of time.
Strangely enough, I am of the view that sufficient information should be provided within a thread. It should not be required that the reader have to do significant research to understand what is being spoken of.
Juries are the strongest link in this chain. You might read about a case every few years where the jury is just plain wrong, and sometimes that isn’t because of bad reporting. But bad juries are much more uncommon than bad judges or bad lawyers IMHO.