Defendents getting away with a steal!

Ok, so I just read this editorial by Joshua Marquis, who is a district attorney in Clatsop County, Oregan and a member of the executive committee of the National District Attorney's association. The editorial was about people who are disobeying the law are practically getting a free ride. In my opinion, and the opinion of Joshua Marquis, this doesn't seem to be fair.

Joshua claims, "When the citizens are asked to bear the cost of providing a lawyer for anyone who can't afford one, it is not unreasonable to ask those found guilty to pay at least part of that cost. In Oregon, that means about $300 for a misdemeanor and rarely more than $1,000 for a felony.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2010-10-14-editorial14_ST2_N.htm

Given the value of the excellent legal representation many defendants receive, they are getting a bargain. Anyone who hired the same lawyers would be expected to pay a retainer several times that amount. And, unlike many of the portrayals on TV, public defenders usually offer outstanding representation".

With that being said, these rough economic times are hitting the crime commiters harder then the victims of the crime, which means that the people committing the crimes are mostly poor.

These people are getting away with what seems to be almost a free ride. Prosecuters have also come up with new early disposition programs, which recognize that most crimes commited don't require jail time-even if they still have disobeyed the law.

My personal belief is that this is wrong. The law is the law-rich or poor, yellow or green, a crime is a crime and one person shouldn't have to pay $12,000 for a lawyer while the other is paying next to nothing.

What's wrong with our government?

While I was browsing through abcnews.com, I came across an article that shocked and disturbed me to my very core. The article was about a family in Tennessee that's house caught on fire and the firefighters stood there and watched it as all of these peoples' belongings burned straight into the ground. Why on earth would these firefighters sit there and let that happen you might ask? Well, it's because this family forgot to pay a $75 dollar fee that this town knows as "Pay to Spray". In other words, if you don't pay this $75 fire protection fee and call your local fire department, they will show up to your house but not stop the fire. What's even MORE absurd about this crazy law (not to mention that these people shouldn't even have to pay a fee to the city when that's what these firefighters are getting paid to do, their job) is that the people outside of the city limits don't have to pay a fee, and still use the same fire department! This concept is truly beyond me, how could a group of people trained to stop fires sit there and watch a family's life burn to the ground over $75? I guess it's true when they say it really is all about the money.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/tennessee-familys-home-burns-ground-firefighters-stand-watch/story?id=11806407