A common complaint to call-in radio shows by the elderly who want all young people and immigrants to receive tough justice is that judges are out of touch with the rest of society (ie: the judges spend all day perched in their courtrooms, eat at fancy restaurants and drive expensive cars with long, superior sounding names such as Lincoln, Navigator, Excelsior, etc).
But a more accurate criticism is that the wheels of criminal justice system move too slowly. Here’s an idea to speed them up.
Set up a crack team of judges who respond on scooters (quicker to navigate traffic jams) to the incident where they could make a speedy verdict. Think about it: if cops are already on the scene, they have plenty of witnesses, and have someone in custody, why wait months or years for that person to go through a lengthy trial process? Why not allow the judge to make a preliminary verdict on the spot and have the bad guy hauled away to jail. Society would be better off because a bad guy is behind bars, and the bad guy would still be able to prove his innocence later while he waits for his real trial to begin.
Too far-fetched? In that case just transplant this idea to a sit-com starring Judge Judy (though she might be in one of those seniors’ scooters instead of a cool little Vespa.)
Brilliant or Stupid? You be the judge (geddit?)...
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