Public Comment at the Sep 07 Meeting of the CA Commission on the Fair Adminstration of Justice hearing

California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice
Wed. Oct 17, 2007

The third point in this Commission’s mandate is, “to further ensure that the application and administration of criminal justice in California is just, fair and accurate.”
One of the questions at today’s hearing is whether there is a need for a permanent Innocence Commission on the model of the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry commission.
As a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and a member of the CA People of Faith Against the Death Penalty steering committee, I affirm the need for a permanent Innocence commission. We must do everything in our power to protect the innocent from being wrongfully convicted, and support the victims who lost many years of their life because our justice system failed them.
In light of the pervasive lobbyist influence the Prison Industrial Complex has among our elected officials, I urge that this proposed commission be given a broader mandate that would include examining whether the sentencing guidelines and the three strikes law are “fair and just” administrations of justice in California. This lobby pressure to "Lock em up and throw away the key" is indicative in our Governor’s decision to veto three bills that this very commission recommended as measures that would enhance our common pursuit of a just and fair administration of criminal justice.
Today, the United States has more people in prison than we have farmers in the fields. The Prison- Industrial-Complex is an Iron Triangle which is similar to the Military-Industrial-Complex that President Eisehower warned us about in his final Presidential address. When I served as a volunteer chaplain at San Quentin, I saw the marketing campaign that went into the creation of our 33rd CA state prison. This new development promised to bring economic revitalization to this rural Central California town. The business of corrections has a profit generating agenda that conflicts with our pursuit of a fair and just criminal justice system.
Perhaps we need comprehensive campaign finance reform in CA to confront the excessive “tough on crime” political posturing that prevents us from achieving a greater realization of justice and equality for all.

Rev. Howard Dotson