Escape of the guilty: a trial judge speaks out against crime.

• Author: Bethell, Tom

Escape of the Guilty: A Trial Judge Speaks Out Against Crime. Fine lucidly sets forth various ways in which our judicial system is not merely failing us but actually "seems more intent on finding reasons to let admittedly guilty criminals escape than in doing justice for society." He writes in a measured, highly readable style, with a wealth of examples from his experience on the bench. Fine has been a Wisconsin circuit court judge since 1979. "I suspect that this will be a controversial book," Fine notes at the end. Let us hope that it is at least widely read and its lessons absorbed.

Fine addresses several importantareas of judicial breakdown, notably plea bargaining and the perversion of various "exclusionary rules," such as the one that was originally intended to prevent coerced self-incrimination ("No person...shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself"--Fifth Amendment)but is now frequently used to exclude voluntary confessons.

The excuse for plea bargaining isusually administrative necessity: without it our courts would be hopelessly clogged. But this has been proven false in Alaska, where a resolute attorney general abolished plea bargaining in 1973. Under the new regime, the disposition time for felonies in Anchorage, declined from 192 to 90 days. The sentences wre also more severe. Plea bargaining, as Fine shows, is mostly institutionalized laziness--helpful to prosecutors who would rather spend a week on vacation than in the courtroom, and of obvious benefit to defense lawyers.

Plea bargaining is degeneratinginto the "one-law-for-the-rich-another-for-the-poor" rightly detested by liberals. "Courts in Florida and North Carolina recently permitted the ultimate quid pro quo," Fine writes. "Defendants accu sed of violating drug laws were placed on probation following their...