Whenever we look at the justice system in the United States, we often think that it is full of lawyers out to make money, people looking for any reason to sue, and full of belabored processes that take way too long to sift through and navigate. However, if we look at the bases of our justice system, it is actually a fair and equitable processes that gives people the right to a fair trial. Are there slip ups here and there, of course, as there are with any system. But as a whole, I would take our justice system over that of Russia's any day. Not that many Americans, or for that matter any citizens living outside of Russia, are really invested in knowing what goes on in that vast corrupt country. While putting on a facade of equality, a sense of democracy and fairness, Russia is anything but. It is a corrupt country ruled by one person, Putin, and his cohort of corrupt, like-minded cronies. Eight years ago there was a high-profile trial in Russia involving what was once the richest man in Russia, that is before he crossed Putin, got stripped of his oil company and billions, and thrown in jail. What did he do wrong? He legitimized his company and backed opponents of Putin. Needless to say, without receiving illegitimate payouts and and having someone stand up against him, Putin didn't like it, came up with bogus tax fraud charges and had this man, Khodorkovsky and his business partner put on trial. The funny thing is, these two men were assumed guilty before the trial began and came out guilty being sentenced to eight years in prison. Well, that eight years is up and new charges have been brought to light in order to keep these two men in prison for another 7 years. This time they were charged with stealing all the oil from their company. Really? What they really are is a threat to Putin and his reign of power and as such, they are kept in prison.
So what is the big deal? Why go through all the trouble of having trials when the outcome is pre-determined and everyone who can turn on a light switch can see through the facade? Russia would do better to take China's example and simply lock up any dissidents without a trial than go through the trouble of staging a charade that is so ill-conceived a pre-schooler could probably figure out what is going on. When any of us in the Western world complain about our justice systems (I can only speak for the U.S. here) we should take a quick glance to the East, glimpse the corruption that is rampant and be glad to be living where we are. Believe it or not, people actually are found innocent of charges in the United States. Lately, there have even been a growing number of inmates who have been exonerated due to new improvements in DNA evidence and testing. With any system, there will be mistakes, because any system on this earth is run by humans who, surprise surprise, are not perfect. A sign of an honest system is when we can admit to mistakes that were made and look to correct them and make sure that they do not happen again. The beauty of the system we have here is that it is adaptable to many different situations, capable of handling ridiculous lawsuits, murderers, petty criminals, white collar criminals, and everything in between. The only area that we are lacking (that I know of) is in the representation we receive from lawyers. The more money that a defendant has, the better representation he/she is able to afford, and thus the more likely they will receive a better outcome. What would truly be fair is that everyone have access to a lawyer of similar stature (yes, this is dreaming and will never happen). Although we might think that a court appointed lawyer and one costing millions should be on par with each other, they are often times not as the lawyer who costs millions often times has much more incentive to put in the extra effort for his client.
Regardless, the system we have here and I am sure, those found in most European countries, is far more equitable and fair than the system currently in Russia. At least China has no pretense of a justice system and doesn't really care what the world thinks. Russian justice is a farce. But if you don't live there, then you don't have to deal with that system and everything is OK. There are issues that plague any country, whether it is a so-called developed country, a developing one, or a poor one. And there will always be issues to deal with regardless of where you live. The only thing that we can do is work to resolve these issues whether they be in the justice system of any of the other multitude of systems we deal with on a regular basis. Granted, it is much easier to work on resolving these systems if you live in a country that allows people the freedom to protest and initiate change, but as we have seen in the Middle East, if enough people get fed up with something, change will happen. The first step to change is to realize that no matter where you live or who you deal with, no two people will have the same idea of how something should change. Everyone has different perspectives of reality and has a vested interest in changing things to reflect their vision. However, if we can all learn to accept others and their points of view and work to finding the middle ground, change will be much easier to come by and more effective when instituted. Today, look beyond yourself and see what others' point of view is and how it is different from your own. Then, look to find a middle ground with them and see where that brings you.
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