local marketing center|Paul and Sarah Edwards |Working From Home |

local marketing consulting

  • Home
  • Working From Home Hotline
  • Elm Street Library
  • Media

If justice delayed is justice denied – what can we do about it?

May 12, 2014 by Paul Edwards Leave a Comment

The headline yesterday in the Los Angeles Times was “Cutbacks in California court system produce long lines, short tempers. The statement that “justice delayed is justice denied” has its origin that traces back to Biblical times. Martin Luther King, Jr., stated it “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”  This applies both to civil and criminal law.

INJUSTICEMany people have been sharing their frustration with Sarah recently about not being able to get legal matters through the court system.  For example, if a person is being harassed by a stalker or an ex-spouse tries, we expect them to get a restraining order. According to the law of California,  restraininig orders must be ruled on within 24 hours. But in too many cases, they are not because the judge hasn’t seen the order.

What are people going to do when they’re unable to get timely responses to even simple but pressing issues like retraining orders, legal separations or custody resolutions? If people become too desperate, might they protect themselves by hurting  or even killing  the stalker. For working poor and middle class people the legal system is not working. They face demoralizing and sometimes scary long waits and delays for resolution of legal matters.

What I have in mind is a new profession of professional jurors or adjudicators.  What gave me the idea for this at the time of the runaway verdict when O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murdering his wife. I envision a program for training such experts in legal process and impaneling them as small juries. I trust the cumbersome and costly process of impaneling juries will be simplified, but the main benefit would be the availability of justice rendered at much faster pace . Governor Brown has been quoted as saying courts need to reinvented or restructured. If can have justice and save money in the process , concepts like this need to be tested in one or more places. If we are to have a civil society, we need to restructure our processes.

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Share this:

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Print

Filed Under: The Future Tagged With: California, Governor Brown, justice, professional jurors

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

About Me

Paul with his wife, Sarah Edwards, are award-winning authors of 17 books with over 2,000,000 books in print.

Paul provides local marketing consulting through the Small Business Development Center. He is co-founder of a new website: DigitalDocumentPros.com.

Prior to becoming an author, I practiced law, served as CEO of a non-profit, and operated a public affairs consulting practice. [Read more...]

Categories

Encyclopedia Book

New! A "master" e-book
on working at home
[Read more...]

Contact Us

Contact us today!
[Read more...]

Encyclopedia Book

Buy a book from the comprehensive
library of The Elm Street Economy
[Read more...]

Copyright © 2012 - 2023 Paul & Sarah Edwards · All Rights Reserved · Developed by Short Results