This is the property of the Daily Journal Corporation and fully protected by copyright. It is made available only to Daily Journal subscribers for personal or collaborative purposes and may not be distributed, reproduced, modified, stored or transferred without written permission. Please click "Reprint" to order presentation-ready copies to distribute to clients or use in commercial marketing materials or for permission to post on a website. and copyright (showing year of publication) at the bottom.
Subscribe to the Daily Journal for access to Daily Appellate Reports, Verdicts, Judicial Profiles and more...

Criminal

Aug. 12, 2003

'Mean Justice' Agenda Leads To Ethical, Fiscal Dead End

"Mean Justice" is the title of a book by Edward Humes about prosecutorial misconduct in Bakersfield. But it also is an apt description of what has become the state's endgame: California is the mean-justice state, capping a trend of increasingly severe and retributive criminal punishment across the nation, a trend which started in the 1970s, when addressing and, often, pandering to public fear of crime became synonymous with winning political strategy.

Robert L. Bastian Jr.

Partner Bastian & Dini

Penthouse Suite 9025 Wilshire Blvd
Beverly Hills , CA 90211

Phone: (310) 789-1955

Fax: (310) 822-1989

Email: robbastian@aol.com

Whittier Law School

"Mean Justice" is the title of a book by Edward Humes about prosecutorial misconduct in Bakersfield. But it also is an apt description of what has become the state's endgame: California is the mean-justice state, capping a trend of increasingly severe and retributive criminal punishment across the nation, a trend which started in the 1970s, when addressing and, often, pandering to public fear of crime became synonymous with winning political strategy.
    &nbs...

To continue reading, please subscribe.
For only $95 a month (the price of 2 article purchases)
Receive unlimited article access and full access to our archives,
Daily Appellate Report, award winning columns, and our
Verdicts and Settlements.
Or
$795 for an entire year!

Or access this article for $45
(Purchase provides 7-day access to this article. Printing, posting or downloading is not allowed.)

Already a subscriber?

Sign up for Daily Journal emails