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Bill: PP - Justice for All Act
Details
Submitted by[?]: Pattern Party
Status[?]: passed
Votes: This is an ordinary bill. It requires more yes votes than no votes. This bill will not pass any sooner than the deadline.
Voting deadline: July 2336
Description[?]:
| The Imperial Senate hereby decrees that no citizen of the Empire shall be without aid when accused of a crime, and that aid shall come in the form of an expert who is studied in law and able to defend a citizen in a court of law. Citizens will have the option to refuse this assistance and defend themselves or to purchase the services of a different expert. |
Proposals
Article 1
Proposal[?] to change Government provision of legal aid to the accused.
Old value:: Legal representation is never paid for by the state.
Current: Legal representation for defendants in criminal trials is paid for by the state for defendants with low incomes.
Proposed: Legal representation for defendants in criminal trials is paid for by the state.
Debate
These messages have been posted to debate on this bill:
| Date | 21:38:54, December 26, 2006 CET | From | VBS Party | To | Debating the PP - Justice for All Act |
| Message | NOPE, we should punish criminals, not reward them |
| Date | 00:44:18, December 27, 2006 CET | From | Pattern Party | To | Debating the PP - Justice for All Act |
| Message | This bill addresses the conditions before someone is declared a criminal for certain before the law, not after. Thus your argument to punish criminals is not valid in this case. Providing legal representation allows the justice system to be fair and level for all those who interact with it and thus if a person is a criminal they will still be found guilty, and if they are innocent they will not be found guilty. As it stands, too many of our good citizens are being accused of crimes and are not able to defend themselves against their accusors because they lack the legal training to deal with the charges. They may have committed no crime yet are being forced into a situation where they can not win. As such, this practice is counter productive to a society that encourages and rewards good behavior. |
| Date | 11:00:18, December 27, 2006 CET | From | Imperial Party of Selucian | To | Debating the PP - Justice for All Act |
| Message | What will happen with the costs if a person is found guilty ? Does he have to repay them? And another question. Do we have also to pay for those who earn enough money to pay the lawyer? If not we ask why we don't support low-income persons? We try to figure out whether this will improve the justice system. |
| Date | 19:38:18, December 27, 2006 CET | From | VBS Party | To | Debating the PP - Justice for All Act |
| Message | With this law, most criminals will have a better defence and a shorter time in prison. Is that what you want? Maybe you see criminals as your possible voters |
| Date | 04:18:46, December 28, 2006 CET | From | Pattern Party | To | Debating the PP - Justice for All Act |
| Message | There will be a market for high priced lawyers, those who are able to sell themselves to the rich will serve the rich. We shall add a clause presently to allow one to defer the state sponsored assistance. As for those who are found guilty, we think that if those on trial had the threat of paying back their defense if they loose and are found guilty would discourage them from taking the help. Which effectively means that people can be intimidated into not taking the assistance even if they are innocent. Thus we would like to keep the cost of the lawyer out of the equation all togeather if possible. |
| Date | 04:20:55, December 28, 2006 CET | From | Pattern Party | To | Debating the PP - Justice for All Act |
| Message | As for VBS's claim that there will be shorter prison terms, we don't see how this proposal would cause that. Judges still have final say as to sentencing. |
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Voting
| Vote | Seats | |||||
| yes |
Total Seats: 152 | |||||
| no |
Total Seats: 73 | |||||
| abstain | Total Seats: 0 |
| Random fact: Discuss flag designs at the Flag Designs thread: http://forum.particracy.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=37 |
| Random quote: "The worst thing the bad guys can do is force us to doubt the good ones." - Viria Agelasta, former Selucian politician |