AIBU to think the American justice system is spot on!

[babyno5]

I'm not a big fan of things American but reading this sentence I think UK should have far tougher sentencing for serious crimes
www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-48036512

The UK is 8 positions above the US (11 vs 19) in the Rule of Law Index. You can pick anecdotes out of either but the US does seem to have a particular problem with institutional racism.

On the ground level, I'm appalled that in 2019, a US police officer can call for the execution of LGBT people (and obviously we've all seen the frequent stories of police killing black people for no apparent reason).

That they still have capital punishment is barbaric.

That judges are appointed on a partisan basis is problematic.

That the US has the highest incarceration rate in the world, but still one of the highest (if not the highest) murder rates suggests something isn't working.

I do not envy anything about their justice system tbh.

Knife murders proportionately more common in the US. And why do you think we and other countries dont have a free press? The UK and about 20 other countries are higher than the US on the Human Freedom Index. Not that im sure what this has to do with the OP?

www.euronews.com/2018/05/05/trump-s-knife-crime-claim-how-do-the-us-and-uk-compare-

Interesting read. World press freedom. UK- 33rd, USA- 48th.

rsf.org/en/ranking

Georgiagirl All child protection cases in the U.K. going through court have a solicitor appointed for parents and one for dc, parents do not pay for these. It is not a one off affair but something that takes a minimum of 9 months with regular court appearances. The parents solicitors always turn up, sometimes parents don't.

Go and read the victim statement in the case of Brock Turner. And then come back and say American Justice is fair and equal.

YABVU. American justice is for sale like everything else over there.

You are terribly naive if you think this.

I agree with you OP. This sentence would never happen in the U.K. Pedophiles get off very lightly here

Thank you to those who took the trouble to comment. I will read and watch the recommendations.
I should have worded it " In this case AIBU to think the American justice system got it spot on"
Interesting to hear an American perspective.

As I’ve just read on Twitter from Bishop Talbert Swan,

“Something is wrong in America when Michael Thompson, a Black man, who sold 3 pounds of weed in 1994, is still in prison in Michigan, a state where it is now legal, yet, Joseph Meili, a white man, who kidnapped & raped an 11-yr-old in Missouri, just got sentenced to probation.”

Michael Thompson, a Black man, who sold 3 pounds of weed in 1994, is still in prison in Michigan, a state where it is now legal,

You couldn't make this shit up! Land of the free

Are you serious? They still have capital punishment

Umm not all states do, 50 states, 50 different systems 18,000 different police forces.

I think the UK just need tougher sentences in tougher prisons.

There is no doubt that the UK could do with heavier sentences for very serious crimes, but we definitely do NOT want to copy the US's justice system.

I studied aspects of the American justice system at uni, it made me very grateful that I don’t live there! A great book if you are interested in how horrific it can be is ‘Actual innocence’, by Scheck, Neufield and Dwyer. They are the founders of the innocence project.

Props to OP for coming back and admitting she'd got it wrong, though.

I thought from the title of your post you were being ironic. JFC! I have no idea where to start!

The private, for-profit prison system here has far more to do with the length of custodial sentences than the actual impact of the crime.

It is very, very, very deeply flawed.

Capital punishment and gross racism - no,no,no

I read somewhere that an American judge rejected an appeal which proved a man innocent on the basis that being innocent wasn't a good enough justification for over turning the verdict. Doesn't sound particularly 'spot on' to me.

BollocksToBrexit

I thought that has to be untrue and then Googled it and is TRUE! Bloody hell!
Love these guys

YABU op and you seriously need to educate yourself on the American justice system. It's very corrupt with so many loopholes and inconsistency plus there is the massive issue with racism. Regardless of whether or not they got it right with one case you shouldn't make sweeping statements like that without doing further reading. Though appreciate you have taken everyones responses on board.

You should watch Making a Murderer OP, and seconding the podcast recommendations above.

Pedophiles get off very lightly here

In America if they are white and have money then they also get off very lightly

Oh and seconding @bitoffun. Plus public defenders are horrendously overworked, so not only do they have less time to work on a proper defense for you, they're also more likely to encourage you to take a plea bargain to get it over with. Believe this was noted in the podcast Serial.