===================== I have found a truly excellent statement of a large part of the problem in the following webpage: https://www.hrw.org/report/2013/12/05/offer-you-cant-refuse/how-us-federal-prosecutors-force-drug-defendants-plead
This one itself cites: https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/12/05/us-forced-guilty-pleas-drug-cases It is long, but it is also very thorough and quite convincing. It focuses on drug crimes, and does not address my concern, "political" biases in charging and sentencing, but it is so descriptive of the problem that I will definitely be citing it in the Business Plan. I have also decided to contact Human Rights Watch, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Rights_Watch Theirs is a marvelous statement of the problem, but sadly it does not offer any kind of solution. Therefore, I am convinced that HRW will view positively my idea. The Wikipedia article describes HRW, expenditures as follows: "The organization's annual expenses totaled $50.6 million in 2011[3] and $69.2 million in 2014.[4]" Interestingly, it describe a funder as being George Soros, saying: "Financier and philanthropist George Soros of the Open Society Foundation announced in 2010 his intention to grant US $100 million to HRW over a period of ten years to help it expand its efforts internationally. He said, "Human Rights Watch is one of the most effective organizations I support. Human rights underpin our greatest aspirations: they're at the heart of open societies."[30][31][32] The donation increases Human Rights Watch's operating staff of 300 by 120 people. The donation was the largest in the organization's history.[33]" The importance of the involvement of HRW will not be as a sole source of funding; rather, I think it will open the door to its own funders, such as George Soros. I have little doubt that HRW will ratify my idea. ============================How to accomplish the below project: INFORMATIONAL REQUIREMENT: There is an online system called "PACER.GOV", which provides information on Federal Court records, both civil and criminal. This system can be searched to identify new Federal Criminal defendants, and likely their current addresses. (in jail, perhaps?) These records show full names, possibly addresses (home) as well, and the specific court in which the defendant was indicted. While I don't yet know this information, a given defendant for a given court is probably: 1. In unusual cases, is "bailed out", and allowed to live at home. His prior address will probably be valid.2. In the usual cases, he is arrested, and held in some sort of jail.2a. This might be some sort of Federal criminal jail, such as Seatac FDC in Seatac, Washington state. 2b. Or, it might be in some sort of county or city jail. What is needed is to identify his full name and current physical address, and possibly the name and address of his attorney. In 2016, there were about 77,000 new defendants, which amounts to 210 new defendants per calendar day. That attorney MIGHT be cooperative, and forward a letter to his client. At that point, all such newly-identified Federal criminal defendants should be mailed a letter, making the following offer: (announcement?) Dear Sir: Our records indicate that you are a newly-charged Federal Criminal defendant. We have what we hope will be some good news, a change from the bad news you have gotten. We have a project ongoing to encourage the use of the Jury Trial system in the Federal Criminal Court system. In 2016, of about 77,000 new defendants, 97.3% of those pleaded guilty. We think that's wrong. The large majority of those people were effectively extorted to plead guilty by threat of an increased sentence. We believe that the only people the Federal Criminal system should be able to convict and sentence are those who went through a jury trial. If that were to happen, the total number of people sentenced might drop by a factor of 20x. Most people in your position would have to be released without further charge. Therefore, we are telling you, and every other Federal Criminal defendant that we can find, that IF you plead not-guilty, and IF you demand a jury trial, and IF you receive that jury trial, we will be paying you $3,000 (three thousand dollars). This happens, regardless of whether you are found guilty or not-guilty. We encourage you to spread this message to any other Federal criminal defendant you may happen to meet. We have included extra copies of this letter for you to give to them. Further, please have your friends and family check out our website at: www.//liber....project.org. We believe that the Federal Court system can probably only put on 3,000 criminal trials per year. If "everyone" who is charged pleads not-guilty, and then insists on a jury trial, then the vast majority of those defendants will have to have their charges dropped. That's our intention. If you plead not guilty and insist on a jury trial, and receive it, you will get the $3,000. Our intention is that the vast majority of defendants will have their charges dropped and they will have to be released. If your charges are dropped, or reduced below the point that you can demand a jury trial, or you plead guilty, then you will not receive any money from us. But, hopefully you will get released, which is the goal. You do not need to do anything to "accept" this arrangement, But, we encourage you to respond to us by filling out the form, included, and returning it to us. It will speed the process. Sincerely,--------------------- Of course, there are 'mailing list' companies that make it a business to collect information and sell it. But this is a very odd and selective list. It is not "commercial": Ordinarily, it may not be possible to make money on such a list. Nevertheless, it may be possible to obtain this information (names and addresses of new Federal criminal defendants) via some existing source. FUNDING: The amount of money required for this project is: 1. Administration. Perhaps 10 people full time, paid with expenses perhaps $100,000 each. Or, perhaps $1 million per year. Each person can work from home. No central office should be needed. Mailing might be done automatically, using some automated commercial service, or perhaps manually. 2. Actual reward money: This will be limited by the product of the number of Federal Criminal trials that the Feds can put on yearly. Maybe that is 3,000, but shouldn't be much more. Multiplied by the amount of money that would be necessary to offer to each defendant, to get a large fraction of the Federal Criminal Defendants to plead not-guilty, and demand a jury trial. Currently I estimate that to be $3,000. It might be lower or higher, of course. While certainly there are defendants for whom a reward of $3,000 won't be significant or relevant, I believe that the large majority of them will be swayed by such an offer. And it is important that these people learn and know that EVERY new Federal Criminal defendant is being given the same offer. This will encourage them to act, as if they are in a group, and all will demand jury trials. Of course, it is my intention to virtually shut down the Federal Criminal "Justice" system, or at least drop its capacity for convicting people by a factor of about 20x. Who should be willing to give? It is not my intention that the burden of this project should be shouldered on libertarians, alone. Fortunately, I think there are many potential sources of funding, each with their own peculiar motivation: A: "Liberals", and especially "Hollywood Liberals". Newly rather beaten up by the Harvey Weinstein fiasco, liberals are famously in favor of illegal aliens (err...undocumented immigrants). While there are other ways to simply eject such people, one way requires a criminal trial: "Illegal re-entry", which is a felony, and conviction of that offense requires a trial, and they could insist on a jury trial. Liberals also should generally be against laws against currently-illegal drugs. B: "Conservatives", including "Libertarians", may actually believe in the 2nd Amendment, and believe that there should not be "gun offenses" except for people who actively employ a gun in the commission of a crime. ("Felons" were not prohibited from owning guns until the early 1930's, and even then the prohibition was against "violent felons". It was not until 1968 that "felons", in general, were prohibited from owning guns.) C: "Libertarians" will be against laws prohibiting victimless crimes, such as drugs, prostitution, gambling, etc. The figure of $10 million per year can either be seen as "very large", or "very small", depending on how you look at it. As I explain below, this will save the Federal government perhaps $6.8 billion per year in prison costs. And, this should produce an ENORMOUS amount of publicity for libertarians. It will "force the issue" for freedom, in a way that is not normally considered possible. And, of course, this system could be expanded to cover the state criminal systems also: Together, they are about 10x times larger than the Federal system. Naturally, the cost will be higher, but if it is worth it for the Feds, it would be worth it for the State systems. ============================== [something I wrote about a week ago] A few years back, probably 2011 I thought of a marvelous way to virtually destroy the Federal criminal "justice" system. At least, the people who make up that system will certainly think it is being destroyed. I mentioned it a few years ago. It might cost little more than $10 million per year. There are many high-profile cases which would militate in favor of initiating such a system. One, Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to two life terms for, ostensibly, running the Silk Road website. Another Kim Dotcom, who is threatened with extradition in New Zealand. Julian Assange, whose story is too well known here to need to describe it. Edward Snowden, who is presumably still in Moscow for leaking a huge quantity of NSA information. There are also major drug cases, such as El Chapo, Joaquin Guzman. In some of these cases, the defendant should have had a lot of money, such as Ulbricht, although it was lost to the Feds. Kim Dotcom may still be rich. Julian Assange could probably raise a lot of money, Snowden might do so as well. Guzman, and probably many other Mexican drug cartels, could easily raise millions per year, if they actually wanted to do this. Maybe even Martha Stewart would hold some residual grudges. Anyone who thinks he is at risk of Federal criminal prosecution would want to see the system essentially shut down. How? Well, let's go to the statistics. Last year, there were 77,152 new criminal defendants in the Federal criminal system, see http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/03/28/federal-criminal-prosecutions-fall-to-lowest-level-in-nearly-two-decades/ . According to https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/research-and-publications/research-publications/2017/FY16_Overview_Federal_Criminal_Cases.pdf , "In fiscal year 2016 the vast majority of offenders (97.3%) pleaded guilty." If that figure can be believed, then there were presumably no more than 2.8% x 77,152 criminal trials, or only 2160 trials. Perhaps this statistic would surprise most people. I think the average sentence is about 3 years. The ability of the Federal criminal system to actually put on criminal trials is very limited. There are only a limited number of courts, and judges, and prosecutors, and this system must share space and time with civil trials. It is quite possible that it would be very difficult to put on much more than those 2160 trials. That court space has to be shared with civil cases, as well. All, or at least most of those people had a right to a jury trial. If all, or most of those defendants were somehow motivated to demand such a trial, rather than plead guilty, havoc would ensue. Even if the number of trials could increase, say to about 3000, then the remainder, 77,152-3000, or 74,152, would have to walk free, because the system could not possibly try them all. The limitation is not merely court space: Trials are "expensive" in preparation, research, and evidence. And that led me to yet another "awfully wonderful, wonderfully awful" idea, to paraphrase Dr. Seuss and the Grinch. What would motivate all of these people to demand a jury trial? Well, currently they are threatened with much more punishment if they plead not guilty and demand a trial, and lose. Like a variant on the "Prisoner's dilemma", each one is forced to conclude that it is better to 'take the deal' rather than resist, and demand a trial. What would change this system around? Well, the lot of a prisoner in Federal prison is poor, if he has no money. No money, no commissary. No drinks, cookies, crackers, soups, candies, etc. I know: I spent 13 years in prison, time I shouldn't have spent. Many enter prison broke. What if they were offered, say, $3000 if they agreed to demand a jury trial, and thus forced the government to actually put them on trial, form a jury, and put on a trial. If the government dropped the case, or reduced the charges to something that didn't require a trial, the defendant would get nothing. If we assume that the Federal court system could put on 3,000 trials, one defendant per trial typically, the cost for such a project would be 3,000 x $3,000, or 9 million dollars. It would be limited by the number of actual trials the Feds could put on each year, multiplied by the dollar amount that would have to be paid to motivate a defendant to demand a trial. Tell each new Federal defendant that if he pleads not guilty, and insists on a jury trial, and if he actually gets that trial, he will be paid the $3,000. Guilty or not guilty, it won't matter. Have a trial, get the money, simple as that. I am merely guessing what the 'proper' figure would be, in order to motivate such people adequately. But if most people were already demanding a jury trial, and tens of thousands of fellow defendants were being freed due to lack of ability to give them trials, it shouldn't take a lot of money to induce these people to 'stand in line', and demand a trial. After all, they would know that if they didn't get the money, that would mean that they would have been freed. And that's the goal, isn't it? At least for the defendant, that is. You can imagine what would happen. The Feds would have to ration trials. Only the most "worthy" defendants would get prosecuted. And yes, there are definitely some worthy defendants. I met a few!! But the total number of people who could enter the Federal prison system per year would drop from perhaps 75,000 per year to 3,000 per year. This year, there are about 185,300 Federal prisoners. Drop the input to 3,000 per year, and the total population could easily drop to 20,000, and perhaps to as low as 10,000, after a few years. Dozens of prisons across the nation would have to close, maybe well over 100. It costs approximately $40,000 to feed and house a Federal prisoner. Most of that money probably goes to prison staff salaries and supplies, and most of the rest goes to prison construction. Drop the total Federal prison population from 185,000 to 15,000, and they will save about 170,000 multiplied by $40,000, or about $6.8 billion dollars per year. Doesn't this sound like a worthy goal? We may speculate about who would be motivated to fund such a project. Give them the ability to donate anonymously, and they might act. There might arguably be 200,000 people per year who fear some sort of Federal prosecution. A donation of $50 per year, average, would raise $10 million. It would not take many tax evaders, resistors, or avoiders to foot the bill. People who resented a prior prosecution would add up, as well. Why not? =================================
