If you can't do the time...

I'm not a big fan of Jim Carrey's, but there is a scene (actually a line) in Liar Liar that I find to just be hilarious. One of his clients calls to tell him that he has just knocked over an atm machine and wants to know what he should do. Carrey takes the phone and, frustrated with the fact that he can't tell a lie, yells, "Quit breaking the law!" I love that scene and I have to admit that my short time here at the U.S. Attorney's office has made me want to yell that line a time or two. What brings me to this rambling discourse today? I just returned to the office from the sentencing of a bank robber. First, though, those words just conjure up images of masked bandits riding into the Old West to point their guns at the bank teller and shout "stick 'em up!" Even after all I've seen about modern bank robbings, I still think of that scene whenever I hear those words. But, on to the more interesting musings. You might be surprised with how few criminal acts (not to mention civil lawsuits) actually go to trial. The statistics are something like 10% of cases in the federal system actually go all the way through trial to sentencing. So what happens to the rest of them? A lot of the defendants plead out and a lot of cases are thrown out on technicalities (defendants have rights you've never even heard of). That's what I was mulling over while sitting in the courtroom watching this sentencing (by the way, he got 9 years, just in case you were wondering), the interesting ways that our justice system works. Can you imagine any other justice system in the world that grants as many rights to defendants as this system does? Not only do we grant the right to a jury trial (and rightfully so, in my humble opinion), but we pay for the lawyers - both sides! This, again, is right, if you ask me, because everyone is entitled to a fair trial with competent legal counsel. However, if you had broached this as a possibility any time before the US was created, I think people would have looked at you like you were crazy. To continue - not only do we do this through the trial, but that continues through all appeals (in forma pauperis). Then, once these persons have been convicted and sentenced, we, all at taxpayer expense, house them and send them through drug rehab (there has not been one defendant sentenced in my short time here who has not been required to go through a rehab program). Did I mention that this is all at taxpayer expense? Why don't those in Hollywood get the drift and commit crimes so that they can go through drug rehab for free? Of course, there's also the option of not getting involved with them in the first place....Anyway, I was just thinking about how fair our system seems to be, at least compared to other human systems. Being a human system, of course it has its faults, occasionally an innocent is falsely imprisoned, there are some trampling of rights, but overall, it isn't so bad. However, it is a faulty system. Compare it to the perfect justice God will exercise over all creation at the end of time (at least time as we know it - who knows what's after!). "Just as man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him." Hebrews 9:27-28. Amazing, even in our attempt to be a secular society, we have attempted to imitate the justice of God coupled with His infinite mercy. I thought of this while I was watching the defendant make his statement - he basically threw himself on the mercy of the court, asking forgiveness, and saying all he wanted was to see his grandchildren; and the court reduced his sentence somewhat. We attempt to couple mercy with justice in our system. In our human way we attempt to imitate God because, after all, that's how we are created - in His image. We just don't realize what we are doing. That reminds me of Matthew 7:11 - "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" If a human institution such as a justice system knows that mercy is a good thing, how much more mercy does our Father in heaven give to those who ask him! Those are just some reflections on the goings-on of today.