Page 18 - Sheldon Siegal News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

least dropped or minimized. fourth amendment, fifth amendment, first amendment rights have to be given more strength than they have, more resources for the defense because, yes, public defenders and good lawyers who are on the panels, they are defending most of the people who are accused. and they lack the resources because ultimately prosecution with unlimited resources and defense with very, very limited resources. the deeper issues are where the jurors come from and how they're selected, whether or not judges are curtailing due process in court. reform, reform, reform. and it can ...

you know, the system is only as good as the people who are operating within it. and it's only as good as how the resources available to it can be used. and that's not an easy fix. that's a long-time issue. and i don't have a good answer for that attorney i am hopeful we can try in some manner to level the playing field a little more, at least so that the attorneys in my fictional world have it a little easier. but more important, you know, i have it easy. i write stories. we met the gentleman who is on death row for a long time. you hope at the very least you can avoid serious, serio...

have more courage, where there's manifest, protest it. everyone should choose an issue. everyone then should be behind that issue and strive for change. the first thing is identify. and then to demonstrate. and then to do actions. and maybe, you know, i'm old and i'm thinking how the 1960's sought to reform things like war and racism, and they took it to the streets, and they cried out loud, and they demonstrated, chanted, boycotted tax. we have to wake up! we're in a slumber because life is fat in the united states. and we're willing to surrender constitutional rights for our own, y...

chanted, boycotted tax. we have to wake up! we're in a slumber because life is fat in the united states. and we're willing to surrender constitutional rights for our own, you know, image of self-protection. and terrorism abounds. and isn't the police force, you know, wonderful to protect us? that's all era. and what we have to do is point at what is wrong and seek in every fashion or address it within the circle of your own ability to communicate. [applause] >> my book is called "lust for justice" and the word lust imply a certain passion. i think that what is missing over the decade...

sensationalism that comes with it. what are you trying to communicate about the justice system? is it just entertainment or is there something that's more than that? >> you know, at the heart of it i'm trying to tell a good story and keep the readers turning pages if they're flying across country. but i do try to sneak in a little bit of gentle, social commentary. i think if you get up on a soapbox, you lose effectiveness. somebody was pointing out to me not long ago that i've actually written books that deal with homelessness, that deal with corruption in the church. "death penalty"...