OJ was recently released on bail while he awaits a trial date for his latest disaster. Much in our court system seems to be radicically violent to the sensibilities of anyone who values freedom: police are permitted to harass suspects without impunity, even if they are ultimately proven innocent; compulsory jury duty is a blatant enslavement of unwitting citizens, and is only marginally less reprehensible than the long since abolished draft (one wonders why jury quality is so bad); and much in the system overtly discriminates against the poor and in favor of the rich.
That last point is the one I wish to emphasize. Contemporary social critics despise free-market systems because of the supposed injustice that it inflicts on the lower rungs of society. We’ll leave discussion of that claim for another day, I’ll only point out that much of that criticism should be directed at the corporatist (modern mercantilist) system that has evolved, which anti-market forces dress up as a capitalist straw man. But one of the most insidious institutions that violates the rights of the poor is the justice system.
Is it not an invasion of the right to self-ownership to coerce defendents into showing up for their trials? After all, if the defendents are ultimately exonerated, then during the entire course of the trial, they have been held against their will unjustly. If defendents choose not to show up for a court date, that is fine – their chances of winning are smaller – but it should be their right not to do it.
If we were to enforce a prohibition against coercing an unconvicted person from showing up for trial, it would eliminate the blatant evils of the bail system. My apologies to Dog the Bounty Hunter, but it sickens me to no end that judges have the arbitrary power of setting a bail amount, and where regardless of the amount poorer defendents are clearly discriminated against. What if it was not OJ Simpson in the above system, but some poor little Mr. Jones? he’d be rotting in jail while OJ is back home in LA.
Why aren’t people enraged at the injustice perpetuated on the poor by the government itself? What would it take to reform the court system to be more respectful of the rights of persons to property in themselves?
Viva la revolucion! Mike, can you hook me up with a blog-roll residency, please? Also, Operation Destroy All Non-Believers/Naysayers is a go! I’m working with my tech-guy and will post as soon as the light turns green. We should get Selgin and/or Wood to post on there so we could possibly get legitimacy and get ‘rolled by Marginal Revolution or Cafe Hayek.