By Raul Hernandez
[email protected]
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
from American Justice Notebook
I am optimistic going into 2016. Thanks to all my readers.
The statistics for 2015 as of Dec. 31 for American Justice Notebook are as follows, according to Google Analytics: there were 39,100 visits and 119,878 pages were viewed.
Not bad. But I love the annual average bounce rate, which is 13.09 percent.
What is the bounce rate? Simply put, that is percent of people who log into American Justice, read one page and log out. This means that for every 100 visitors 13 leave after reading one article.
The remaining users read an average of three pages while on my website, according to Google Analytics.
The numbers are higher at Webalizer, which I have through iPage.com: There were 192,839 visits and 2.4 million pages viewed in 2015.
But I was told that Webalizer counts every visit on American Justice Notebook, including spam.
I believe Google Analytics only counts Google users. Maybe, I’m wrong. But it’s been difficult trying to chase down this information to find out if it’s true.
Prosecutors Investigating Police Officer Fatal Shootings
The credibility and integrity of prosecutors taking police fatal shootings behind closed doors is being challenged and needs to change in 2016.
A state grand jury not indicting the cop who shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice comes at no surprise: The shooting was tragic but reasonable prosecutors said, according to Cleveland.com.
As long as prosecutors are allowed to take police shooting investigations behind closed doors before a grand jury under the guise of an “investigation,” the outcome and the outrage will always be the same.
These grand jury investigations rarely end up with indictments against cops.
People distrust prosecutors and police departments. This is because for year police and prosecutors along with elected officials have done very little or nothing to clean up this national mess where bad cops kill suspects; good cops say nothing about it; police department heads keep the bad cops on the payroll and some continue to kill people, and prosecutors pretend to investigate.
There have been nearly 1,000 fatal shootings by cops in a year. How many police officers have been indicted by state grand jurors?
The Los Angeles Police Department believes its cops walk on water.
The Los Angeles Times recently reported that more than 1,000 complaints against L.A. cops in a year, and no police officer was disciplined.
That fact alone also speaks volumes about how broken the system of holding bad police officers accountable is, not only in Los Angeles, but throughout the country.
Of course, there are justifiable shootings where criminals are killed because they posed a danger to cops or others. Also being a police officer is a tough job that takes its toll of wear and tear on the mind.
The killing of a human being, especially by someone who is sworn to protect and serve is a very serious matter, and by taking an investigation behind closed doors to get a grand jury to justify putting its official seal of approval, sometimes in the most egregious fatal shootings, is a legal con being perpetrated on the American people.
The numbers and facts speak for themselves as to why the system is rigged: Prosecutors stand in front of grand jurors during these secret proceedings and are the ones who issue subpoenas for witnesses, including police officers and expert witnesses.
Prosecutors also ask all the questions to witnesses who appear before grand juries. So they have the power to lead the jury in a certain direction.
Fatal shootings should be investigated by an independent body like the FBI or another federal agency that have the resources to do a good and thorough job. The investigation results and reports should be made public since the matter has been concluded.
Cops and prosecutors have always had a close relationship within the criminal justice system. They both need each other to take cases to court and get convictions.
Covering the courts for 18 years, I’ve had front-row seats in watching the close relationship between police and prosecutors.
Some is healthy, much of it is not because there are unscrupulous prosecutors who partner with bad cops to lie or twist and distort the facts simply to get a conviction.
Also district attorneys seek and rely on the endorsements of police unions when they are up for reelection so they can maintain political bragging rights that they are tough on crime. Police union members benefit by dodging indictments and criminal prosecution no matter what they do on the streets.
These cozy relationships have been fueled for decades by gullible citizens who believe cops can do no wrong and serve on juries.
This has done a lot of damage to the relationship between police and communities, especially in minority neighborhoods.
Living Wages
Hopefully, in 2016, many more cities will start paying workers a living wage like Seattle. People work hard, and they deserve to be fairly compensated for their labor.
My New Year’s Resolutions
