tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2304235862479840318.post6934137497030200923..comments2024-01-08T04:16:25.601-08:00Comments on Ché (What You Call Your) Pasa: The To-Do Over "Making a Murderer"Ché Pasahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01926630891287949373noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2304235862479840318.post-42809266022853215172016-01-12T05:56:16.941-08:002016-01-12T05:56:16.941-08:00Quite true Jackson.
There are some parallels bet...Quite true Jackson. <br /><br />There are some parallels between the Japanese way and the Manitowoc County way of policing, I think, in that not only were the Averys and their extended families well known to the local constabulary, they were intermarried with them. It's apparently a very close and tightknit community on the Eastern side of Wisconsin south of Green Bay. The relationships are very strong, and from what I could tell, the police, prosecutors and courts are perfectly aligned with one another to get convictions, not to produce justice, and the people of the region like it that way.<br /><br />They don't like the Averys. <br /><br />Thus when something happens, it seems that the Averys get blamed, whether or not they had anything to do with it, simply because "nobody likes them." This is basic scapegoating, it seems to me. Maybe it's human nature, maybe it's something deep-seated in the cultural context, but whatever it is, scapegoating is not justice.<br /><br />It's one of the issues that comes up all the time in connection with "community policing." What can far too easily happen is that police -- who are typically lazy and dumb in this country -- will rely on scapegoating particularly marginal or undesirable characters within communities in order to suppress or solve crime, regardless of objective guilt or innocence, regardless of any objective justice, simply because it's easier, and it satisfies some primal urges within the community as well. <br /><br />Scapegoating has gone on in this country since forever, so I don't think there's anything particularly unique in what happened in this case, but it exposes just how fundamentally wrong-headed the system is. It doesn't produce justice; it's not meant to. It's all about "victory."<br /><br />Apparently a lot of people in Wisconsin are pissed because this series lifted the veil on what's really going on. They're happy that Steven Avery and Brandon Dassey are in prison for life, whether or not they did the crime they were convicted of. It doesn't matter. What matters is that someone -- anyone -- who "deserves it" is punished for the crime. The Averys are always targets, they always "deserve" it -- because they do. <br /><br />And everybody knows it.<br />Ché Pasahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01926630891287949373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2304235862479840318.post-51940918429455983452016-01-12T03:22:02.897-08:002016-01-12T03:22:02.897-08:00A number of years ago PBS, probably Frontline had ...A number of years ago PBS, probably Frontline had a segment/show on how the Japanese train their police and detectives and then deploy then to neighborhoods.<br /><br />They require a college degree, I do not remember what kind of degree at this point but criminology or similar study I would imagine... <br /><br />They encourage a type of physicality derived from Judo that allows them to subdue suspects quickly and without much to damage to themselves or the suspect. <br /><br />Only under the most dire circumstance do they issue guns and if I recall only recently have they 'created' SWAT teams like are seen here in the USA..because they were downplayed in that old TV show. <br /><br />But the fact that really stood out was that the average conviction rate for cops and detective there in Japan ran around 70-80% and the show mentioned in passing that average conviction rates in the USA hover at 40-50%, while some cities police never get above 30%.<br /><br />With the coming of the Innocence Project we now learn how so many poor men are sent away for life times on very poor police work and its seems to be everywhere.<br /><br />The thing the show emphasized was that detectives and street cops are assigned to districts in the city in which they live more or less stay at these assignments for life and spend years learning the names, occupation and whether a particular individual is a violent person, a drug user, a wife beater, or just a average Jane or Joe. <br /><br />When armed with demographic understanding up close and personal or at least in contacts of friends in the neighborhoods they have policed for years - finding and getting evidence that is true to the real facts seems routine for them... <br /><br />Not so much here in the USA...<br /><br />American exceptionalism as it plays out, is a form of national decay and not proud trait to berate others with because there scant things to point to, that this exceptionalism produces, other than misery.<br /><br />A foul mouthed billionaire who makes it up as he goes along only proves exceptionalism is a sick ideological crutch of expedient hacks and simpleton politicians who have hijacked our national dialogue for the worst. <br /><br />It does not look good, with election machines made by shady companies aligned with the right wing and gerrymandering I doubt the fairness of the coming election... jackson8noreply@blogger.com