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How to Fix the System

 Posted on February 02, 2009 in Uncategorized

Dallas criminal-defense lawyer Robert Guest highlights the randomness of the criminal laws passed by the Texas Legislature with the Texas criminal law generator.

Houston DUI lawyer Paul Kennedy and a friendly prosecutor have a modest proposal for reform of DWI laws.

I think Paul and the prosecutor might have hit on the beginning of a solution to the problem described by Robert:

Let those most familiar with the criminal justice system write the criminal law.What do Texas's legislators, most of whom are nominally lawyers, know about crime in Texas? Nothing, that's what.Who knows more about the criminal justice system than the lawyers who practice in it every day? Nobody, that's who.

So let the criminal defense bar and the prosecutorial bar each choose their 15 smartest people from across the state. Those 30 lawyers will go to a quiet place, and work their way through the Texas Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure, section by section, article by article. Any change that 20 of the 30 can agree on becomes law. If 20 of the 30 can't agree on any change, the law remains as the lege has written it.

There aren't many things that the panel of lawyers would agree on. My idea would not make the Texas criminal justice system perfect. It would, however, knock off a few of the rough edges, allowing the legislature to concentrate on flogging illegal aliens for possessing dildos.

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