Graphic Perspective
February 25, 2010
MEREDITH BOYD / ART
Justice is not always just
February 25, 2010
By Sarah Sheafer
<ssheafer@hilite.org>
Guilty or innocent? This appears to be a straightforward question, but in fact, it is the exact opposite.
As I grow older and I continue to learn more about the judicial system, I am struck by the growing areas of gray that lie between the ideas of guilt and innocence. Nothing ever seems to be black and white within the system.
When I was in AP Government last semester, I read a book titled Guilty: The Collapse of Criminal Justice by Harold J. Rothwax, former New York state Supreme Court judge. In the book, Rothwax explains that criminals and their defense attorneys use complex and often confusing laws to escape conviction.
Although I agree with the concept “innocent until proven guilty,” I can’t help but feel frustrated with the current system. If the Fourth and Fifth Amendments were intended to protect the innocent, then why are criminals roaming free? Instead of protecting the innocent, these rights are actually harming them.
For example, the Miranda rights are intended to protect a criminal suspect’s Fifth Amendment right to avoid coercive self-incrimination. If that case was intended to prevent innocent people from being forced to plead guilty, then why should this pose a problem? Before Miranda came before the Supreme Court, police stations frequently used interrogation as a method of finding the truth. That has all changed. Police officers now find it more difficult to convict criminals. In some cases, criminals willingly admit they are guilty before a police officer even speaks to them, but because they were not told of their Miranda rights prior, their confessions get disregarded.
Another aspect of the criminal justice system that has been misconstrued deals with discovery rules. Although these rules were originally intended to aid in the search for truth, in reality, they actually hinder the process. These statutes require the prosecution to turn over all of its files and evidence to the defendant’s attorney; however, in most jurisdictions, the defendant doesn’t have to do the same. This is because the prosecution must prove the defendant guilty, but the defendant doesn’t have to necessarily prove his innocence. Because of this, the defense can build a case around refuting the evidence. In a typical scene, the defense can shift from saying, “I wasn’t there,” to, “Okay, I was there, but it was self-defense,” to, “Okay, I did it, but I was crazy,” based on what evidence the prosecution turns over.
As I continued to read Rothwax’s work, I became frustrated with how lawyers grasped at anything to fog the issues and true facts. Perhaps the law I found most frustrating dealt with the Mappruling. The Fourth Amendment protects individuals against illegal searches and seizures, but nowhere does it say exclusion of evidence is the remedy for violation. However, the Mapp ruling changed the meaning of the amendment when it decided that illegally obtained evidence must be excluded. Sometimes criminals escape sentence because the evidence obtained violated the Fourth Amendment and was disregarded.
I understand that the Fourth and Fifth Amendments are crucial in protecting the innocent, but I can’t stop myself from feeling the frustration of how these rights become misinterpreted to mean something else. Justice is meant to discover the truth, not misconstrue it. Unfortunately, justice is not always just.
All joking aside, legalizing marijuana is a valid economic argument
February 25, 2010
By Michelle Hu
<mhu@hilite.org>
Though it’s been an issue for longer, I first heard the idea of marijuana becoming legal during the 2008 election. Back then, there were more serious issues to care about – issues that are still on the forefront of American social policy today; issues such as the economy and international relations.
But perhaps it was the way society treated the idea of legalizing marijuana as a laughing matter—something, in other words, only Libertarian Ron Paul and potheads advocated. I wish someone, anyone, had treated the topic seriously, because the idea deserved, and still deserves, more attention and respect than it received.
Not only is legalizing medical marijuana a legitimate belief, but so is advocating the legalization of all marijuana. Back in the 1960s, most people who smoked it did so recreationally, just as one-third of Americans do today.
From a completely rational point of view, legalization means taking away a highly popular product from the black market and allowing the government to benefit from sales.
And this, if represented in numerical form, is something with which many economists agree. In 2005, a group of over 500 economists signed a document headed by Jeffrey Miron, economics professor at Harvard, and included Nobel Prize-winner Milton Friedman.
The bulk of unnecessary expenses, as outlined in that report, came from the fees of detaining and prosecuting offenders who possessed marijuana or used it. In all, a year of fighting marijuana use cost $7.7 billion, and if pot were taxed like a consumer good, it could bring in several million dollars. If pot were taxed like alcohol or cigarettes, that number rises to $6.2 billion.
And we still haven’t considered the effects of legalization on foreign relations. Ever since average people in both the United States and Central and South America realized how profitable growing narcotics became, entering the black market seemed obvious. According to PBS’ “Frontline,” most of the pot in plastic baggies came from Mexico, but marijuana is able to grow well and abundantly (as it did in the 1600s) in Virginia and the South. Legalization means farmers would have another crop to rotate on farms and another profitable market to enter.
For many who have adverse side effects to prescription pain killers, doctors prescribe medical marijuana in states where it is legal as a natural alternative. According to the Washington Post, it allows AIDS patients to sleep and gives them back an appetite.
And guess what? In California, which approved medical marijuana over a decade ago, a majority of citizens hope to legalize all marijuana in a referendum this year because they’ve realized that taxing it could bring in over $1 billion annually.
It’s about time most Americans treat the illegal drug trade as a serious issue, both economically and socially. Legalizing marijuana hasn’t been very high (no pun intended) on the radar for political leaders since the 1970s, with Jimmy Carter, but it’s about time we stopped joking around.
Older sibling’s funny slip-ups lend to valuable life lessons
February 25, 2010
By Marianna Cooper
<mcooper@hilite.org>
As I started my junior year in high school, my older brother Nick started college. Nick is my only sibling and in his absence, I’ve experienced what life as an only child might be like. There have definitely been some perks; I get the car all to myself, no one ever kicks me off of the computer and I leave for school at a time convenient for me. But I miss having someone else around to roll their eyes when my parents are being crazy, to sit around and watch TV with and to walk the trail with every morning.
As the youngest child, I have been able to learn from Nick’s experiences and mistakes, rather than have to make them on my own.
While I learned quite a bit about driving in driver’s ed, it was Nick who showed me what not to do as a driver. During the week of Homecoming my freshman year, Nick was once again running late. To get us both to school on time, he was speeding 72 miles per hour down Meridian Street, which has a speed limit of 55 miles per hour. Of course, we were pulled over. I sat, dressed as a pirate for a spirit day and watched Nick shake as he rolled down the window for a Carmel police officer. As the officer wrote him a ticket, I learned not to speed.
A few weeks into Nick’s senior year, and my sophomore year, Nick won a parking pass for the entire school year in a fundraising raffle. Two weeks later, I happened to be home from school sick. As Nick was turning left out of our neighborhood on his way to school, he turned in front of an oncoming vehicle and totaled his car. Thankfully, he was okay. But when my parents read the police report and found out Nick had been rushing out of our neighborhood at 7:20 a.m., they were not pleased. The rest of the school year, I watched the parking pass sit on his desk while my brother, a senior, rode the bus. That was when I learned the importance of leaving early.
My brother taught me about more than just driving safely. After watching my parents ground him for missing curfew, I have never had the desire to do the same. Nick was the first one to start high school and look at colleges, making my parents more relaxed when my turn came around for these experiences. When I have teachers that Nick once had, I always know what to expect.
All in all, Nick is crazy. He’s always running late, leaving the bathroom a mess and waking me up in the morning. When I tell older students that Nick is my brother, I sometimes hear the sarcastic response, “You’re Nick Cooper’s sister? I’m sorry.” While Nick can be difficult sometimes, I am most definitely not sorry. Nick has always been a great older brother. My whole family, Nick included, is supportive of all the activities and plans I have. And what I have realized most while Nick has been in college is that I am grateful I am not an only child.
Despite all donations, Haiti still needs our help
February 25, 2010
By Hilite Staff
It’s ironic that tragedy always seems to bring people closer together. This remains true in the wake of the devastating earthquake in Haiti. A country which already sat in the ravage of poverty now sits in rubble and hopelessness.
The response that has come from not only the United States but countries around the world has been unbelievable. These countries rightfully deserve commendation for their contributions, but they must remember that recovery will take years; everyone, CHS students included, should do his or her part to continue to help even though the earthquake itself has started to fade from our immediate memories. Read more
Speaker teaches quality lesson: don’t take time for granted
February 25, 2010
By Emma Neukam
<eneukam@hilite.org>
Another convocation. Another speaker with a heartwarming message. That’s all I thought Sarah Panzau, a guest speaker who travels the country recounting the tragic drunk-driving accident that changed her life, would be. Honestly, I was a little doubtful that she could get through to my classmates and me. I mean, how many AIDS/drugs/alcohol/drunk driving convocations have been presented in high school alone? I was sure that this would be yet another presentation I could sleep through.
I was dead wrong (no pun intended).
For those who weren’t able to attend the presentation, here’s a brief synopsis. Panzau, a high school varsity volleyball player who seemed to have her life together, decided to drive home one night after some heavy drinking with friends. When she left the bar on the morning of Aug. 23, 2003, her blood alcohol content (BAC) was .308 (almost four times the legal limit) and inevitably, she crashed. Panzau suffered innumerable physical consequences for driving drunk that morning, the most noticeable being the loss of most of her left arm.
It’s frightening to hear that one poor decision can leave scars that never fade and a once “perfect” life can shatter into a million pieces. It’s terrifying to hear that the people who you think will never leave your side might be the first to run away when tragedy strikes.
That’s what happened to Panzau, and since her accident, only one of her so called “friends” has visited her. The rest have disappeared from her life altogether. Still, what scared me the most about Panzau’s presentation was that her life was completely devastated in a fleeting instant, a millisecond, a turn of the head or a blink of the eye.
Who knows if the world will end tomorrow or the day after? Someone’s world does end, every day. And tomorrow that person could be me or someone close to me. Too often, I let trivial matters come between me and others I love, blowing silly things way out of proportion. What if one of these petty arguments was the last conversation I had with my family or a friend? Even though I can’t honestly say I haven’t let an inconsequential argument get out of hand since Panzau’s speech at the school, I can say that I have paid more attention to the decisions I make every day and the way I treat others. I never want to put myself in a dangerous situation that will leave me to suffer such horrific consequences as Panzau did on Aug. 23, 2003.
Still, I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, and people can turn their lives around. Panzau is living proof that life doesn’t end when disaster hits. She has bounced back from the lowest point in her life and said she feels more successful than she’s ever felt before, telling teens in schools across the country to hold their loved ones close and to think before they act. Four years later, after undergoing over 40 surgeries, there she was last month in the school’s auditorium, a living, breathing miracle. But aren’t we all?
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