So, I went to Justice Court

[Tuuvi]

Last December I got a ticket for failing to stop while entering a roadway. I thought that I did stop so I decided to fight the charge in court. The whole process took nine months and I had to go to court several times for my arraignment, pre-trial conference, trial, and then sentencing which was this morning (I lost). I'm not sure if this is how it works in other states in the US but where I live they schedule multiple cases for the same courtroom and time and then go down the list in alphabetical order, which means you have to sit through everyone else's case until your turn comes up. Most of the time it was boring as hell but there were some interesting cases.

Just about every Mexican person there was charged with operating a motor vehicle when never having obtained a driver's license. I thought it was interesting just how many people there were that got charged with this violation, it was more than a few. Here in Utah they require that you bring in your birth certificate, social security card, and other documents that I can't remember to get a driver's license, in an effort to deter illegal immigrants from moving into the state by making it hard for them to live here. It seems as though many people are just choosing to drive without a license and take the risk of getting caught.

There was a woman during one of the court sessions who was charged with domestic violence in front of a child. According to her story, Her and her husband were on their way to pick up their teenage son from wrestling practice. He was waiting for them by the curb and the husband acted like he was going to run him over to scare him. Then when the son got into the truck, the husband starting telling him how he was a loser, how he was never going to amount to anything, and stuff like that. The woman was tired of him abusing her son so she slapped him across the face and jumped out of the truck. What does our honorable gentlemen do? He calls the cops on her for slapping him. She had to pay a fine of around $2000, if I remember correctly, and take some sort of counseling class that I can't remember the name of. This case seemed like a terrible misapplication of the law to me.

This morning there was a girl who was a former polygamist, I could tell from her accent and her last name. Her highest level of education was the 6th grade, and she was 18 or 19 years old.

This morning there was also this big woman who was riding a Jazzy, one of those four-wheeled scooters with a big seat that the elderly and the morbidly obese like to ride. She had a brain injury and had to have an attorney appointed to her because she had a difficult time understanding the judge. Apparently she got hit by a car while she was riding her Jazzy down the road so the police officer gave her a ticket for riding a bicycle or a moped in the wrong lane of traffic.

[Husar]

Sounds great to me, you break the law, you get punished.

If the punishments were harsher, these crimes would happen less often.

[Visor]

There was a woman during one of the court sessions who was charged with domestic violence in front of a child. According to her story, Her and her husband were on their way to pick up their teenage son from wrestling practice. He was waiting for them by the curb and the husband acted like he was going to run him over to scare him. Then when the son got into the truck, the husband starting telling him how he was a loser, how he was never going to amount to anything, and stuff like that. The woman was tired of him abusing her son so she slapped him across the face and jumped out of the truck. What does our honorable gentlemen do? He calls the cops on her for slapping him. She had to pay a fine of around $2000, if I remember correctly, and take some sort of counseling class that I can't remember the name of. This case seemed like a terrible misapplication of the law to me.

You did only hear one side of the story. I wouldn't make a judgement based on that.

Sounds great to me, you break the law, you get punished.

If the punishments were harsher, these crimes would happen less often.

I'm not sure that punishment as a deterrent really works. Maybe for certain people, but if they've committed to the crime they're not doing it thinking about the sentencing.

[Rhyfelwyr]

Sounds great to me, you break the law, you get punished.

If the punishments were harsher, these crimes would happen less often.

Spot the German in the thread.

[Lemur]

I went through a brief, non-criminal legal thing. Had to spend a bit of time sorting it out at the local Judicial Center.

What I miss now is the regular parade of neck tattoos.

[Husar]

Spot the German in the thread.

I merely wanted to say that before anyone else does and makes me angry.
I could've made a comment about the US justice system but that only makes other people angry and we only have anecdotes here.
Was an interesting read though.

[Sp4]

[Lemur]

Almost forgot the other thing, in addition to neck tattoos.

In the Judicial Center parking lot—and pretty much nowhere else—there were a lot of cars with giant decals of their brand. I have no explanation for this. You'd be like, "Hey, that's a Honda, because there's a giant sticker on the windshield that says HONDA, so now I know."

Why? Why not, I guess.

So: Neck tattoos and giant car brand windshield decals. These appear to be the markings of criminal masterminds.

[Montmorency]

I envision a future in which all humans have their entire skin removed and replaced with a polyurethane coating.

[drone]

I envision a future where everyone's tatted up all over. Love it.

I envision a future where the last surviving industry in the US is laser tattoo removal.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

GC:

You live in Eugene Oregon.

Eugene, less than three years back, voted against saying the Pledge of Allegiance before their monthly meetings (I read they compromised about it and say it before the meetings closest to 4 July, Veterans Day, Memorial Day and Flag Day). One of the councilors likened saying the Pledge as being equivalent to reciting from the Communist Manifesto.

And you wonder why such a politically incorrect term would generate ostracism in that community?

[Ironside]

All in all, an interesting place. For a bastion of liberal thought, the city's status quo is valiantly defended.

By the sound of it, it's more that Eugene is really born in the USA.