The public defender's office in Alameda County, California, has recently appealed a local judge's recent rejection of its demands to fix an upgraded court software. That software led to the unconstitutional and erroneous jailing of some of its clients.
"These delays and errors violate Government Code § 69844's express requirement that Superior Court clerks enter judicial orders 'forthwith,' as well as the constitutional right to a complete and accurate record on appeal and the Fourth Amendment prohibition upon unlawful arrests and illegal searches," Charles Denton, an assistant public defender, wrote in his April 10 brief.
[...] As part of his March 2017 ruling, Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson noted that, while a state law mandates that such court records be kept "forthwith," it does not specify that such records be processed within 24 hours. Instead, the law stipulates that records should be processed within an unspecified "reasonable" time.
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Tuesday May 02 2017, @01:59PM (1 child)
The summary leaves out perhaps the most disturbing bit of TFA:
However, since then, the public defender’s office has filed approximately 2,000 motions informing the court that, due to its reportedly imperfect software, many of its clients have been forced to serve unnecessary jail time, be improperly arrested, or even wrongly registered as sex offenders.
"Sex offender" status is basically the "scarlet letter" of our modern American legal system. Even if such a registration is only temporary, it has the potential to stick with a person for life if the "news gets out". People can quickly lose jobs, be evicted from housing, etc., etc.
Obviously improper arrests are concerning. I'm not sure how much "unnecessary jail time" we're talking about here, but even a little can seriously harm someone's life or even cause the loss of a job. But sex offender status accidentally applied because of a software glitch?!?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 02 2017, @06:04PM
But sex offender status accidentally applied because of a software glitch?!?
Just one more reason to finally let any respect one had for the law go.
The law no longer represents justice, and this is one of many reasons to stop seeing illegal acts as offenses against society as a whole.
It's always been true that what's legal and what's right do not have a perfect correspondence, but those in power are no longer interested in attempting, day by day, little by little, to better align what's right and what's legal.
Illegal acts are merely offenses against those in power, because they have decided to take offense at these things, not because they are inherently wrong. (So be careful! But it's time we put away the kindergarten brainwashing that people who break laws are bad people. [I realize I preach to the choir.])