Until Proven Innocent

Access to Justice: A Right

Access to justice refers to the ability of people to seek and obtain a remedy through formal or informal institutions of justice, and in conformity with human rights standards

Access to justice intersects with human rights in a number of ways. First, it is itself a fundamental human right as set out in Article 8 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.”

Secondly, it is a means to protect and enjoy other rights. Thirdly, for the right to access to justice to be truly enjoyed, a number of other human rights must also be protected, such as the right to information, the right to physical safety, the right to confidentiality and the right to privacy.

A fair and efficient system for providing justice is crucial to the proper functioning of society. Not only does it hold individuals, including state officials, accountable for their actions, but it also sets norms of behaviour for other citizens. This system must be available the most disadvantaged.

Promoting access to justice for trafficked persons is crucial because they are often in a specially disadvantaged and vulnerable position in society. Not only are they usually in vulnerable situations when they are trafficked, but they then find themselves in countries where often they do not know the language and are without legal status. In addition, they have suffered a string of human rights violations throughout the trafficking process, from deception or coercion at the origin point to serious exploitation and abuse at the destination point.

Ideally, the justice process underscores the dignity of the person, as well as being a step for individuals to move on with their lives. Unfortunately, in reality the system is sometimes used to entrench power imbalances and reinforce stigma and gender discrimination. It is the task of all of us to challenge this.

Organic Foods Worth Buying

This is a great guide to follow when wondering what type of organic foods you should buy. Of course, we would all like to buy organic but it is more expensive so this guide tells you to buy organic when it is a food that you eat often in order to reduce the amount of pesticides and poisons consumed. If you do buy foods that aren’t organic just be sure to really scrub them well in order to remove as much poisons as possible… Sigh, isn’t it sad that we have to wash poison off of our food before eating it?? The current food system must change and I believe it will as long as the people continue to speak out about their right to be food secure and to fight for food justice. Healthy, nutritious food should be affordable for all and not a luxury that only the rich can afford. Onward ho…

Don’t confuse “free-range,” “hormone free,” or “natural” with organic. Look for the organic seal. That means the food is grown, harvested, and processed according to USDA standards that include restrictions on amounts and residues of pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics. Natural pesticides are allowed. Organic foods cannot be treated with any sewage sludge, bioengineering, or ionizing radiation.

Going organic is good for you and the Earth, but if you can’t always afford it — since organic can cost 50%-100% more — experts recommend spending most of your organic food dollars on produce and the foods you eat most often. The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., recommends going organic on the “dirty dozen” — produce that has the highest pesticide residues — like peaches.

Apples are a good source of fiber — especially if you eat the peel. The peel also has healthful phytochemicals that may reduce your risk of cancer and heart disease. But the peel is also where pesticides accumulate. So buying organic apples is a good use of your organic food dollars. If you can’t afford to buy organic apples, scrubbing their skins under running water can help reduce pesticide residues, too.

Pears and nectarines are both rich in vitamin C and are great low-cal snacks. In fact, pears rank second to the apple as the most popular U.S. fruit. But they also land on the “dirty dozen” list and the USDA Pesticide Data Program found almost 30 pesticide residues on pears and nectarines. To get the health benefits without the risks, eat organic pears and nectarines.

Spinach — a great source of protein, vitamins A, C, E, and K, thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin B6, folate, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, copper, and manganese — has about 7 calories a cup. Lettuce has about 5 calories per cup. But they also have high levels of pesticide residue — the USDA Pesticide Data Program found 57 pesticide residues in spinach and 51 in lettuce. Buy organic or grow your own (greens do well even in large patio containers).

Potatoes are a good organic purchase — especially since most conventional potatoes are pesticide intensive crops. They are a good source of vitamin C, vitamin B6, potassium, manganese, and fiber. A medium-sized baked potato contains around 161 calories — without the fixings. Sweet, crunchy carrots are loaded with vitamins A and K and are a good source of fiber. Many kids love carrots, so opt for organic for their vulnerable, growing bodies.

Cows raised on conventional farms are often given recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) to increase the amount of milk they produce. Does rBGH pose a health hazard to humans? Scientists don’t agree. But if you have an infant or child who drinks milk, consider taking precaution and choosing rBGH-free or organic. Organic milk comes from cows that have not been given antibiotics or hormones. Many conventional brands are rBGH-free but aren’t labeled as such. Look it up online or call the manufacturer.

According to the Organic Trade Association, livestock on an organic farm cannot be given antibiotics or growth hormones unnecessarily — a common practice in conventional agriculture. Some experts think using antibiotics this way may contribute to the rise of superbugs. And although the risk to humans isn’t clear, added hormones do show up in supermarket beef.

Negotiating With an Escort Service

If you are thinking about getting a companion from an escort service, there are various issues that you might want to consider, and you will want to see how to discuss conditions with an escort service before you decide to enter into an arrangement.

First, it is necessary that you can comprehend exactly what an escort service is. Ordinarily, an escort service supplies relationship services to people. These organizations historically will observe that they really are social agency and any sex is not a part of their business plan, as prostitution isn't legal in the majority of cities. However, you'll find subtleties here you'll want to realize whenever using an escort agency.

Many cities have separate regulations pertaining to escort agencies and it's ordinarily best to telephone the organization immediately, as opposed to the practice of searching for an escort in a public place. Contacting an escort and bargaining within a open to the public place may be considered prostitution and this is ordinarily not only frowned upon but can even be a criminal offense in numerous towns. Even so, where a brothel is authorized, it is absolutely suitable to call an escort service straightaway and arrange services. A great way to discover an escort is on the web. A number of independent escorts and escort services publicize their services on their own escort website. Look for a high quality, stylish website. Pick a well designed website that was produced by an enterprise that targets escort web design, such as Cuties Tools. This business is one of the top in the escort web design niche.

If you speak with an escort agency, you'll discover that very few details will likely be mentioned on the telephone or by means of any sort of electronic communication. The real reason for this is if something against the law does take place subsequent to an meeting between the client and the escort, the agency can declare they understood not a thing regarding it. For that reason, don't be shocked if you don't get a lot facts on the telephone - you might wish to be willing to talk over offerings with the escort once she arrives at your house or your hotel room.

Normally, the price for the escort's company could vary widely and when you negotiate with an escort service you ought to be willing to pay more if the individual you are employing is more appealing than their counterparts. The kind of competition is in the vicinity, the service you seek, as well as the sum the escort agency requires as a booking fee are all variables in negotiating an amount. Don't be shocked that when you meet the escort if she tries to up-sell you on some other offerings. Doing this enables her to make more of her very own cash that is not touched by the agency. Don't be upset should this happen, and don't forget that when you consult originally with an escort service that the escort herself is just getting about 2% of what you pay.

The message of the story is if you barter with an escort service you ought to keep in mind that you're working through a multi-layer business deal and you should be able to not just barter in the original sale, but in addition put up with subordinate deals when you meet your companion for the evening. When you are ready for this, you will be apt to have a satisfactory encounter and suffer less from talk of money.

American Justice: Innocent Until Proven Guilty

Criminal law relates to laws passed by the United States whose violation constitutes a crime which can result in fines, imprisonment...or even death. Unlike civil law in which private citizens utilize the courts to seek redress or enforce their rights, a criminal trial involves either the Federal government or the State government seeking to obtain a guilty verdict against an individual. It is not individuals using the system but the government itself using the legal system to seek to enforce the laws and punish the individual to protect society.

Both the Federal government and the various states all have their own criminal statutes thus criminal trials can occur in either forum depending on which law is violated. By far most criminal trials involve state laws since the Federal government is restricted in its jurisdiction to particular types of crimes. Well over ninety percent of all criminal trials occur in state courts.

Americans are enormously proud and occasionally exasperated by their complex, expensive, and powerful system of criminal law which goes to tremendous lengths to protect the individual rights of the accused. Most people rightly consider the system as slanted towards ensuring the rights of the person charged with numerous safeguards, chief of which is the requirement that the person is presumed innocent until the government meets the highest burden of proof known in American law: proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt to a moral certainty. Further, most systems of American criminal law also require a unanimous verdict by the jury to convict. No system of law in the world imposes such a tremendous burden on the State to meet before it can imprison or otherwise punish a citizen accused of a crime.

Yet, the fact remains that the overwhelming majority of criminal trials result in verdicts of guilty. And it is a fact that the recent DNA scientific advances which allowed new methods to verify if convicted murderers were guilty have shown that at least thirty percent and perhaps as much as fifty percent of those convicted and waiting on "death row" for execution were innocent...to the point where the governors of several states have refused to allow further executions until it is determined why this remarkable system seems to have failed.

It would appear that despite these remarkable safeguards to protect the accused, the system seems to be resulting in far more guilty verdicts than justified. In the last section of this article we will discuss the economic aspects of the American criminal law system that may explain the perhaps inappropriate level of guilty verdicts: put simply, the system runs on money and the average accused is poor, thus unable to effectively utilize the various safeguards available. A wag put it well: "if you have money, it is the fairest system in the world."

It is an oddity of the American system of political freedom that the one class of persons who are alone capable of enforcing most of the precious Bill of Rights for all American citizens...are those accused of crime! If one reads the Bill of Rights-those first critical ten Amendments to the United States Constitution that provide the most basic rights that American most treasure...one soon discovers that most of them provide for procedures and protections available for Americans should they be accused of crime. Thus the right to trial by jury; to freedom from unreasonable search and seizure; for a prompt and speedy public trial; to not be forced to incriminate oneself; to not be forced to confess; for representation by legal counsel at public expense if necessary, etc. etc. are all contained in the Bill of Rights and those who are charged with the responsibility for making sure the government adheres to these rights are those actually accused of crime since only they have the right to go to court to argue that the government is violating the Bill of Rights.

Thus it may be argued that criminal attorneys and those accused of crime perform the most important legal tasks that exist in our system of law; the protection of the very rights that each American holds most dear. And when one thinks of the most famous trials and attorneys in America, one soon realizes that most of the trials that preoccupy world public opinion are not the civil trials involving money...but the criminal trials involving guilt and innocence, freedom or imprisonment. The O.J. Simpson trial was seen daily around the world by tens of millions who watched as he was found not guilty; but the subsequent civil trial that resulted in a multi million dollar verdict against O. J. Simpson was not only ignored by most, but was completely unknown to most of the world.

Each year three or four famous trials catch the public eye and invariably most of them are criminal trials in which the State, represented by a district attorney, or, if the federal government is involved a United States attorney seeks to obtain a verdict against an individual, usually represented by private counsel. If the individual is incapable of hiring his own private counsel, the State must provide free legal counsel, normally called the public defender. While most cases are not noted by the public, all must be open to the public and some catch the public attention and are followed in the press or even on television.

Perhaps it is the contest between the richest government in the world versus the individual citizen that is intriguing; perhaps it is the titillation of crime and the thrill of the chase and the drama of the court. Whatever the reason, criminal trials in the United States are contests of remarkable interest to the entire world and the complex and expensive system of justice used is both admired and feared around the world. It is a commonplace that criminals abroad will do almost anything to avoid trial in the United States, knowing that the prosecutors are among the best in the world, the court normally incorruptible, and the system relentless in its processes. Equally important, those wrongly accused understand that it is in the American system of justice that one has the most objective system to determine guilt or innocence, with the accused having the right to confront and cross examine the accusers before a jury of impartial citizens.