BALLOT QUESTION EDITORIAL FROM EXAMINER.COM - Seems that some will be hard pressed to agree with the staff of the examer. This doesnt seem like a no brainer, but rather a chipping away at the rights, liberty and freedom of regular citizens. The first of the two ballot issues seems something of a no-brainer, one of those problems created by changes in the law that requires us to amend our state constitution to stay current. We have all seen courtroom dramas in which the judge says bail is denied. Under our state constitution, that can be done in New Jersey if, and only if, the suspect is charged in a capital crime--one in which the death penalty is a potential sentence. The problem is, in 2007 New Jersey eliminated the death penalty, which incidentally eliminated the category of capital crimes. Thus the purpose of the ballot issue is to change the constitution, removing reference to this now non-existent category and giving judges discretion to refuse bail in any case with a significant risk of flight, or a danger to innocent person or persons, or a likelihood of the defendant obstructing the criminal justice process (which would, presumably, include witness tampering). Everyone appears to favor it; it seems a necessary update. says the Examiner. In times of terrorism and homeland security, why not introduce a law that redefines capital crime (life in prison as the max punishment) and acts of terrorism or treason or what have you rather than the subjective interpretation of judges and lawyers alike that could abuse this more loosely written law that doesnt define the crimes at all just at the whimsy of the current judicial court system giving them the potential to detain people for years on end without a fair trial. This doesnt seem like a no brainer, but rather a chipping away at the rights, liberty and freedoms of regular citizens who can find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time and left to sit and rot in jail. One should always be cautious when lawmakers are writing laws that are too general, it gives them greater control and flexibility to model the application of the law in their favor. It gets increasingly difficult for the man on the street to even have a firm grasp of their rights.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 10:00:00 +0000
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