Then aren't you forming an opinion based on a lack of information and since you have no real experience yourself aren't you just accepting someone elses opinion as your own? If this is the case, and your answer seems to indicate it is, why should we who do live with the system take your opinions seriously. I mean no disrespect but since I know very little about your legal system would you take my opinion derived from reading a paper or two or seeing a documentary made by someone with a grudge against your country seriously? Be honest.

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The universe grows smaller every day and the threat of aggression by any group anywhere can no longer be tolerated. There must be security for all or no one is secure... - Klaatu

You're talking about George Ryan, former Illiniois governor. And "good and responsible"? That's quite a stretch:

George Ryan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I realize that wiki isn't really much of a reliable source, but the information there is accurate. Living in Illinois, I've been hearing all about this on the news for years. (As an interesting aside, one of my friends was an alternate juror for his trial)

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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

Why? Because you SAY it is? Hardly.

Wallaroo, you dont seem to have a true understanding about the sheer size of the United States as well as the vastly different cultures in different areas of the country.

Believe me when i tell you that Spaniards and Italians and Greeks have more in common than a New Yorker, a Texan and a Californian. We are NOTHING like Europe.
No, i dont think you really CAN understand it, as the judicial system is part of the core function of government. You seem to think that someone in Minnesota will see things the same way as a Floridian.

For example - here in Texas, if i have to hold a burglar at gun point until the police arrive, it would never occur to anyone to charge ME with any crime. On the other hand, in many northern states, that action could possibly be a felony! The juries in the north would have no problem considering me an even worse criminal than the man who broke into my home. The average southerner would wonder why i didnt shoot him and save the county the cost of a trial.

You really do not understand my friend. You simply - arrogantly i might add - think you have a better idea than all 300 million Americans as well as every American who ever lived. I assure you - you do not.
Please explain for us how it would make less sense today. Please also explain for us how these forms of technology somehow changed human nature. Seriously - i want to know - and so do a lot of psychologists and philosophers.
No it wasnt, and in truth, it hasnt. Its been amended many times since its adoption. If there were enough people here who thought as you do, it could be amended again.

I would submit to you that since such an amendment hasnt even been suggested, that either you're so staggeringly more intelligent than any American who ever lived as to be beyond my comprehension, or more likely - we dont want such a thing.

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In case you were wondering, yes, there really ARE more idiots these days....technology has made natural selection obsolete.

I don't accept other peoples opinion as my own and I get my information from the media (just like everybody else), and put it together myself. Lets say I had some positive personal experiences with the U.S judicial system, should I then assume that it works fine just because of that? I doubt you learned much about the German judicial system when you lived there.

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It all comes down to this on election day: Are you a racist, or do you look down on spastics?

If everything that I have researched is accurate, than the Country of Denmark is considerably smaller than the state of Colorado...

Colorado - MSN Encarta

Denmark - MSN Encarta

So, while it may make sense to have a single set of criminal laws there....

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"Bring the boys back home!"--Pink Floyd

NFA JJG 42-95

Free People/Free Markets

Following the Path of the Beam

Weather the guy is a prick or not, he did the right thing at last.

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It all comes down to this on election day: Are you a racist, or do you look down on spastics?

Interactions with the judicial system by their very nature will almost always be negative for most people. Whether it is a speeding ticket or being tried for a capital offense, the judicial system decides whether a person's actions deserve retribution. The Judicial system has the authority to deny people of their property, liberty, and even life. It cannot become an impersonal system and must represent the values of the individual subsets of society.

The judicial system along with law enforcement are in many cases the only direct contact the government has with the people which is exactly why it is more important that the system is not entirely centralized.

The criminal justice system would become an automatic process if it was all taken on by the federal government. Each crime is committed by an individual and they cannot be arbitrarily tried and sentenced.

Just as I am expected to respect the laws and morals of society as I travel through different parts of Europe, Americans know to respect the slightly differing laws and more importantly the differing morals as they travel through different states.

Well actually I did have experience with the German legal system when I lived there, and it worked just fine for me. And that is the point Wallaroo. You make all these pronouncements over things you have no real knowledge of or experience with. Dr. Goodtrips gave you a perfect example. You seemed to be assuming George Ryan was a good governor based on one thing he did that you agreed with. However before coming to that conclusion you failed to actually research the man. Does that one good deed make him a good person? Perhaps but you had no way of knowing that because the article you read didn't go into his legal troubles because it wasn't the focus of the author. If it did and you still have the opinion of him you do then I would have to question your ethics.

Wallaroo I don't even think the US criminal justice system is as good as it should be. I do not think the German system is either. The difference is I have experience with them and can draw my conclusions on more than just the opinion of someone else with an axe to grind. It isn't that I don't read about them, but I don't just read one sided articles and assume I can make come to a judgement of the relative merits based on that.

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The universe grows smaller every day and the threat of aggression by any group anywhere can no longer be tolerated. There must be security for all or no one is secure... - Klaatu

And China is even larger than the U.S and has 4 times the population, and they too have a single set of criminal laws (except for Hong Kong). Not a comparison which can be used directly since China is not a democratic country, but still....

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It all comes down to this on election day: Are you a racist, or do you look down on spastics?

As you mentioned - it isnt a direct comparison. Its also hardly valid under any conditions.

It really doesnt matter anyway. Our justice system is our justice system. We really dont care what you think of it. It isnt your job to like or dislike it.

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In case you were wondering, yes, there really ARE more idiots these days....technology has made natural selection obsolete.

You are right that I was too fast assuming that governor George Ryan was a good and responsible governor. But what he did before he resigned was indeed a good and responsible act, and he sure seems to agree with my statements about the U.S judicial system as you can see below.

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It all comes down to this on election day: Are you a racist, or do you look down on spastics?

I believe that people in the three European countries you mentioned actually have more in common than Texans, New Yorkers and Californians. However, South Europeans (Latinos) and North Europeans (Scandinavians, Germans and Dutch etc.) are far more different from each other than Americans could ever be.
Most of the things that people goes to prison for in the different states are the same anyway. It is the punishments that varies, so its really not a big deal.
Some kind of compromises can always be found on smaller issues like that. Away from that you wont feel much difference in your everyday life.
I dont think I know better than all Americans, but sometimes its easier to see things from an outside perspective. This is just a discussion about the pros and cons of federal criminal laws.
People move around a lot more than they did back then, and that combined with mobility, information and communication have changed human nature to some extend, so they all have become more alike.
If I understand correctly - then the constitution cannot be ammended so that the federal government gets jurisdiction over criminal laws anyway. The constitution would simply have to be replaced with a new one in order to do so, and therefore you have nothing to worry about.
Americans dont want such a thing because they are too emotional about it, just like Germans would be if they had different criminal laws in their states.

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It all comes down to this on election day: Are you a racist, or do you look down on spastics?

Do you understand what you are proposing? you cant just simply replace the Constitution. You are talking about reworking the entire government of the United States, which has worked fine so far.

What are Americans too emotional about? that they want the federal government to keep out of the states business. All basic crimes have equal punishment (murder = life in prison or death). You act like in New York, murder will give you 5 years, but in Texas you will get hung.

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"A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked and yet would remain silent."
-John Calvin

To some degree, that is pretty well the case. In some states, murder will get a pretty light sentance where as in others it earns you (correctly in my opinion) the death penalty.

**Language police alert**
Its not "hung" its "hanged". A picture is hung, a person is hanged.

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In case you were wondering, yes, there really ARE more idiots these days....technology has made natural selection obsolete.