improvement in the conditions of prisons. It was argued that the prisons should not merely be places of punishment. The prisoners had the right to live a decent life, and endeavours ought to be made to 'reform' them. As a result, the prisoners today in many countries enjoy a life better than that of a large segment of the people. They are supplied with much better food, from the point of view of their nutritional value as well as taste, and have more facilities of entertainment than the ordinary, impoverished masses. Moreover, they engage themselves in prisons in all such activities including sexual pleasures as they like. Homosexuality in prisons is extremely common.
What has been the impact of these modernist reforms in the legal system? People all over the world, with the only exception of some hard-core Islamic countries, live under a constant danger of being murdered, beaten, looted, raped and kidnapped. The people in fact are no more shocked to hear the news of ghastly murders and rapes. These have become the order of the day and the minds have become conditioned to ignore them. The “experts” and “analysts” work hard to investigate and point out myriads of causes for the decline in law and order, and revel in presenting numerous complex and often incomprehensible solutions; they would deliberately avoid pinpointing the real culprit: the inefficient law. They would explain that the crimes are the natural by-products of technical and industrial development and would take great pains in establishing that the crime and corruption were 'global phenomena’. These are 'necessary evils' the modern and developing world must learn to live with. The remedies suggested would include advising the people to take precautionary measures and advising the administration to have sophisticated weapons and detective and monitoring systems. They conveniently forget that the criminals are equally competent and vigilant competitors. They possess equally sophisticated weapons and systems and do also know the ways to win over the ministers, administrative officials and police officers. Whatever marks could have been left behind them during the course of crime are promptly destroyed by the ever-obliging policemen.
The paralysis of legal system led not only to the transformation of individuals in an increasing number into criminals of different sorts; soon, crime itself also became a business and saw the emergence of 'organised crime.' A spirit of opposition to the law was witnessed in certain sections of society favouring private rather than the legal justice. A secret society of criminals established its roots in Sicily and spread terror far and wide. This organisation called Mafia controlled several illegal activities including gambling and narcotics, and became especially active in the United States. A Great number of similar mafias are presently operating all over the world. Some of them have grown in such strength that even the governments, even if they desire, have no guts to destroy them. Mafia are now engaged in wide range of commercial activities, from the smuggling of gold, diamond and narcotics to the sex-market, real estate businesses, hotel industry, gambling and the sales of deadly weapons. Their liaisons with the politicians and the police are well known. 'Mafiocracy' can perhaps be regarded as the ugliest and deadliest product of economic fundamentalism.
Apart from a victorious assault on capital punishment and maiming of the criminal laws, numerous other modifications have been made in the letter and spirit of the constitutions. These include an over-emphasis on fundamental rights vis-a-vis fundamental duties and absolute denial of place to fundamental prohibitions, imparting a highly partisan definition to Human Rights, popularisation of several crimes including malversation as necessary evils, giving undue privileges in the name of industrialisation and economic development to the magnates and stress on certain rights of dubious nature in the name of personal freedom and equality. dubious nature in the name of personal freedom and equality. The laws related to sex and sexuality underwent massive transformation. Evil practices including sex outside marriage, homosexuality and nudity were given legal vanguard. Sex trade was either given explicit legal sanction, or legal offshoots were developed to use “entertainment” as cover for sexual services. Marriage system was weakened through several steps. Legal “reforms” were pushed to help the cause of girlfriends and unwed mothers, which in reality meant the cause of boyfriends and unmarried fathers. All these will be discussed in detail in the coming chapters.
In order to promote ideas of their own choices, many governments now take the views and inclinations of the proposed candidates for appointment as the judges of the highest courts. This is most evident in the United States where only the individuals with views similar to those of the President are usually appointed. Article Two of the United States Constitution requires the President of the United States to nominate Supreme Court Justices and, with Senate confirmation, requires Justices to be appointed. This was for the division of power between the President and Senate by the founders, who wrote: "he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint ... Judges of the Supreme Court..." An article on Wikipedia says:
“Upon the election of a new President, incoming White House staff prepares profiles of possible candidates for the Supreme Court, considering not only judges but also politicians and other individuals whom they consider appropriate for the role. Besides considering national figures whose views are well-known, they consider others who are less recognized. They go through published rulings, articles, speeches, and other background material to get an idea of candidates' values and views on constitutional issues. Age, health, race, gender, and likelihood of confirmation are also factored into considerations. Once a Supreme Court vacancy opens, the President discusses the candidates with advisors. Senators also call the President with suggestions. After a first choice is decided, the candidate is contacted and called on by the President to serve on the highest court. Staffers send a vetting form for the candidate to fill out. They visit the candidate to go over tax records and payments to domestic help. Candidates whom the President has never met are interviewed by White House officials before being sent to the White House to be interviewed in person by the President. After making a final decision, the President calls the candidate, who is told to prepare a statement for an appearance in front of the national press for the President's formal announcement.
“Most Presidents nominate individuals who broadly share their ideological views. In many cases, however, a Justice's decisions may be contrary to what the nominating President anticipated. A famous instance was Chief Justice Earl Warren; President Dwight D. Eisenhower expected him to be a conservative judge, but his decisions are arguably among the most liberal in the Court's history. Eisenhower later called the appointment "the biggest damn fool mistake I ever made". Another Justice whose decisions ran contrary to what was believed to be his ideology was David Souter, who was nominated to the high court in 1990 by President George H. W. Bush. Many pundits and politicians at the time expected Souter to be a conservative; however, after becoming a Justice, his opinions generally fell on the liberal side of the political spectrum.
“Because the Constitution does not set any qualifications for service as a Justice, the President may nominate any individual to serve on the Court. However, that person must receive the confirmation of the Senate.”
It is no surprise then that, in recent years, their views on homosexuality and gay marriages, abortions, gun policy, views on Israel and Palestine and other politically sensitive issues have been taken into account in the appointment of the judges.
What a travesty of justice! Injustices perpetrated on the system of justice! The system has been made defunct, its morality has been raped, its riches have been plundered and its sanctity has been ravished. The system has helped every other cause but not justice. It has made the officers of the court and the law implementing agencies greatly richer; it has saved the criminals from the punishments proportionate to their crimes; it has opened the floodgates for the corporates for accumulating the wealth; and it has helped the people becoming addicts of various substances and practices. The institution of justice is not any more the system tha
t delivers justice and ensures social order; it now the industry that generates wealth.
5.
Imagination Imprisoned
The growth of economic fundamentalism depended on two main factors; the policies of the government and the perceptions and proclivities of the people. 'The big business' targeted both. On the one hand, it incessantly campaigned for sweeping modifications in the law; this was done by putting pressure on, or luring the politicians by fulfilling their pecuniary expectations. On the other hand, it regularly schemed to captivate the imagination of the masses. Without continuous generation and escalation of demands, the generous assistance of the politicians and administration would be of no avail. There were various venues open for them and their tireless efforts spared none. With the steady elevation of the level of literacy, media had started becoming stronger day by day. The technological advancement was procuring sophisticated machines for it. First came the advanced printers. The publication of books, newspapers and magazines started picking up. The big