Justice in America & Legal Reform

The best-trained minds in society will continue to search for the cause of the mass murder at Virginia Tech. The shooters mindset will undoubtedly be compared to almost every possible scenario of human behavior, past and present. When all the reports are completed those reports will reflect a laundry list of social influences as the possible cause of the tragedy. Now consider this legal paradox. During the five-year period ending 2005 over 80,000 murders have been committed in America. There is an interesting legal paradox between the mass murderer who kills in mass and the (1st degree) murderers who committed their share of the 80,000 murders of one to five victims at a time. The interesting thing about these 80,000 murders is the majority of the perpetuators apprehended will go before a grand jury and will be tried in a court of law with prosecutors doing everything possible to put them away by showing the murder was premeditated. In the case of mass murder that was clearly premeditated with the perpetuator taking his own life all of the search machinery goes into motion to determine the mindset that may have caused the killer to commit the evil act. Regardless of the laundry list of social influences operating upon the mass murderer or the individual murderer there will still remain only one basic and fundamental cause of these murders both individual and mass murder. The basic and fundamental cause can be found only in the “evil mindset” of the killer. There are many people in society in identical situations that would solve their real or imagined problems in a non-violent manner. The sooner this society factors in the question of “good and evil “ with good prompted by God our Creator and evil prompted by Satan our mortal enemy as real causes, the sooner this society will start moving toward truth and effective action and not prolonged study of causes of evil acts. Then there are the many that are opposed to guns who will quickly blame the easy access to guns in our society as the cause. This author proposes the murderous heart always precedes the trigger finger. It would be numerically impossible to confiscate all firearms in the nation. As long as there are firearms the person with the murderous heart will find one of those firearms or other weapon to commit his or her self-serving evil deed. Cain who killed his brother Abel was one of the earliest recorded murders prompted by the murderous heart and it is not known what weapon he used-perhaps a rock. The influence that played upon Cain’s murderous heart was the negative emotion of jealousy. With that influence firmly planted in Cain’s heart Satan had a ready and willing disciple. That same scenario has been carried on down through the ages. Negative emotions can still rule the murderous heart.

Now lets make the argument for the conclusion of our cause. The central challenge in this life is in human relationships. The fact is human relationships have spiritual roots! Cut all those spiritual roots and you will soon see a morally bankrupt society ultimately leading down the path to crime and extreme behavior. We have nearly arrived at a point of no return in society today in many areas of human relationships. During the past few decades, many in our society have tried and are trying very hard to create a utopia of peace without God. This is cutting the spiritual roots of our mortal existence. This doctrine has actually created a counter-culture, where the spiritual roots of peace and goodwill are now centered in selfish acts, instant gratification, self-gratification, criticism, judgmental mentality, and other immoral behavior. Some prime self-serving examples are; a 53% divorce rate in America, a 350% increase in crime during the past 40 years, the drunk drivers that have killed more Americans than in all our wars combined. It is easy to see the falsity of the doctrine of this counter-culture as it translates into a variety of heinous and brutal crimes, personal destruction and a large list of immoral and extreme behavior that engulfs the nation.
We must admit that none of us came to this earth as a result of our own personal direction and intelligence. We are here because of the higher intelligence of our Creator. Anyone who does not believe that truth would probably believe that a print shop could blow up and out of that explosion would come a perfectly formed Webster’s dictionary. Yes we do have a Creator and He is our father in heaven and we came directly from his presence. His purpose and His glory are to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of mankind. That is you and I and all human beings like us on this earth. That is the precise reason we all pass through this earthly planet.

Our Creator knowing our moral compass is faulty gave us a roadmap to follow centuries ago called the Ten Commandments and following those laws came the higher laws given by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ during his mortality. God gave us a commandment to keep these higher moral laws that we may walk by faith and enjoy a happy and prosperous life. During recent decades, the anti-God counter-culture in society has advocated the abandonment of these higher moral laws and the replacement of them with secular doctrines and beliefs. As many in society embrace these secular doctrines working toward a utopia of peace without God, human relationships head toward self-destruction through violence and extreme behavior instead of repentance and forgiveness of each other. Notwithstanding the mistakes we make when we abandon the foundation principle of good and evil we abandon the fundamental laws for mortal behavior given by our Creator. When we abandon the fundamental laws of our Creator we effectively abandon our Creator.

Regardless of the search for influences and causes of daily murders throughout the nation and mass murder at Virginia Tech the basic cause is clear. These murders resulted from the abandonment of the higher moral laws of our Creator and adoption of the self-serving evil promptings of Satan, notwithstanding the minor number of proven medical conditions for causation if there be any.

When we embrace the teachings of our Creator we will keep the Ten Commandments. We will not place the things of the world in front of our God. We will see others as our brothers and sisters. We will love our neighbor as ourselves. We will forgive others for our perceived wrongs. We will pray for our enemies. We will repent of our own mistakes and wrong acts. We will shun the appearance of crime and evil. We will have no desire to kill or do harm to others. We will have a desire to be of service to others. We will be honest in our relationships. We will not permit negative emotions to become our habits. We will be of good cheer. We will have a desire to do good continuously. We will have faith in our God and his creations. We will seek our Father in heaven to help us solve our problems. We cannot say on the one hand that we love our God and at the same time hate or have a desire to do the slightest harm to those He created. Certainly our society must be a reflection of our man-made laws and how those laws are administered. But equally important is our reflection of the higher moral laws of our Creator. As victims and as survivors we can all learn a lesson from the Amish tragedy. In October 2006 when a Milkman by name of Charles Roberts shocked the nation with his evil act in the Amish community of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The Amish have often been referred to as a peculiar people because of their refusal to accept the modern ways and technology of society and their denial of the use of modern conveniences or resort to violence. On that fateful day in October, Roberts the killer rounded up 11 schoolgirls in the Amish community School House tied them up and lined them up and after reportedly molesting the girls shot them execution style and then killed himself. Five of the girls died. The Amish survivors grieved over the tragedy and the loss no less than the survivors of the Virginia Tech victims, The Columbine victims, the 9/11 victims and other survivors of mass killings and yes the 80,000 survivors of the murders we referred to earlier. But the amazing part of that tragedy was the visit of the victim’s survivors to the murderer’s family to show their forgiveness to a family that was also grieving. It has been said the greatest therapy in the healing process is the act of forgiveness. The Amish faith in their God was tested and they showed that faith was strongly rooted not just in word but also in deed. On that day a small group of peculiar people taught a great Christian nation and a secularized nation that this life offers a choice between good and evil. The Apostle Paul writes: "No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.” Yes the reflection of a great nation is the people’s love and respect for our God and the higher moral laws. The cause then is Evil and the cure is to do Good under all circumstances and that conclusion connects all the dots in the Virginia Tech massacre.

Year 1960
Violent Crime 288,460
Murder 9,110

Year 2005
Violent Crime 1,390,695
Murder 16,692

Stay with us and we will connect all the dots to the Virginia Tech massacre in the final Part IV of this series.

In Part I of this series our spotlight focus was on homegrown terrorism. Most of the murders and particularly the mass murders we see in this nation are acts of homegrown terrorism. In Part I, for the purpose of this article we defined all violent crime in America and the mass murder at Virginia Tech as homegrown terrorism. When these planned acts of unconscionable homegrown terrorism become more frequent in our nation as they have in the past few years it is time to ask the really hard questions.

Certainly the professional scholars while largely avoiding the terms evil and homegrown terrorism have analyzed and studied criminal acts for decades. Many contributing factors have been and will be suggested. Law enforcement will point to the permissive laws in our society as they “lock them up” and the judicial system “turns them loose”, leading criminals to believe there is little fear of quick and sure punishment for lawbreakers. The medical experts and in particular the Psychologists will point to the mindset and behavioral influences operating in our society. The medical examiners will look for a medical condition that could have changed the mental capacity of the killer. Economists will point to the different classes of people in society and the class/poverty influences. The clergy will point to the question of higher moral laws (The Ten Commandments) of our Creator and the influences of good and evil operating upon society. Politicians who effectively are the makers and the keepers of the laws of the land will point to the vast sums of money (multi-billions) they have chunked at the problems in society for the past several decades. As is the case in the Virginia Tech tragedy, the public media will look for someone close to the tragedy to blame and they will continue that critical and judgmental dialogue for months as their ratings skyrocket (as in the Anna Nicole Smith demise). The entertainment media while marketing their violent games and programming will say don’t look at us-everyone has their own free agency. Those of us who have spent many years in the cause for legal justice reform will point to the revolving door “criminal injustice system.” The most dominant culture in America, the lawyers will undoubtedly point to the judicial system as the best system in the world to take care of the problems. Self-interest groups will contribute theories that support their own cause. Counselors will stand by to help grief-stricken parents, families and friends when these tragedies occur so that victim survivors can move on. As we crank up all the secular machinery and the best learned minds search for answers, one cannot escape the vivid mental picture of the Savior of the world centuries ago hanging on the cross as he says; “Forgive them father for they know not what they do.”

While we all search for the answers, we can thank a loving God that the victims, families and friends of the Virginia Tech School tragedy can find solace and anchor themselves to that fateful day when the Savior of the world descended below all the horrific acts of mankind and atoned for all our sins so that we might all be resurrected and continue our journey toward eternal life. That is the one bright light that continues to shine in our society while some walk toward the light and many in society walk away from that light. Although our Father in Heaven is mindful of us, each of us has been placed on this earth to learn for ourselves and exercise our free agency for a very special eternal purpose. So we must continue to search for the answers that will enhance and benefit our society and hopefully we will not destroy ourselves in the process as other nations have done in the past.

As we search for the answer to the worst mass murder to date in our history it is time to ask some hard questions regardless of where the answers lead us. Did all of these monster killers who periodically shock our very conscience suffer from some kind of medical condition? Did they all have a similar environment for the past decade and even before? Did they all have a similar family relationship? Did they all have similar interests? Did they all have negative relationship experiences? Were their actions of terror connected to a terrorist group? Did their actions and behavior raise a red flag before their horrendous act was committed? While we may find some or even different similarities in all these people that committed these acts of terror we need to look for and find the one common thread. There is only one common thread that ran through each of their lives. All of these killers were members of the exact same society. Well are you saying Sammy Sorrell that our society caused these tragedies? No I am saying if society is the one common thread then society has to be factored into the picture and closely examined. How is it you say society factors into the picture? Every member of a society and in particular a free society is subject to the influences in that society. The answer to the question of crime is not so complex as many make it out to be. Any free society is in very large part a reflection of its laws and how those laws are administered. Not only the man-made laws but also how a society keeps the higher moral laws most importantly. If you accept that premise our society is in deep trouble in both areas. Our conclusion will enlarge specifically upon this premise in a later part of this series. For now lets review some of the other influences in society that relate back to the premise.

First, lets examine the society we live in and some of the powerful influences operating in that society that we are exposed to. We can begin with the sometimes over-whelming marketing forces in our nation. Since we have so-called freedom of speech (a Constitutional law) there is hardly anything that cannot be marketed to the public and the masses. Hide behind freedom of speech and that includes almost every hurtful or immoral product the mind can conceive. That includes alcohol, tobacco, drugs and the $50 billion dollar annual pornographic industry that demeans the women and children of our nation. Then there is the media-marketing blitz with a constant onslaught of sex films, immoral and extreme behavior streaming into our homes through the Internet, live TV, DVD and other movie devices. And lets not forget the print matter like “Playboy magazine” that became an institution in our society. After this tidal wave of these marketing forces, we spend billions of dollars fighting the crimes of child sex abuse, rape and other sex offender crimes. Ultimately we have strong marketing influences that teach a nation and our young people to violate the higher moral laws of our Creator and consequently the man-made laws. Add to this the almost unthinkable mention of God or religion in the affairs of our government. What is wrong with this total picture in our society? Stay with us we will connect all the dots that lead back to the Virginia Tech massacre.

Examining our society further, we have a judicial system today that has evolved into a massive lawyer crapshoot! A criminal with a good lawyer can plea-bargain his or her way out of most any crime to a lesser offense with many getting a sentence of probation only. Swift and sure punishment is no longer a factor in our judicial system. Our justice system is a big joke to criminals. This fact is a large contributing factor to the 350% increase in crime during the past 40 years and 159,000,000 million of those crimes against Americans occurring during the 13-year period ending 2002. Yes this reflection of crime and justice in America does relate to mass murderers as criminals are often glorified in books, serial films, movies and other media coverage of crimes. In Part I of this series we stated our society has become the most violent nation on earth. Our pugilistic society has become a reflection of our tolerance for violent films and movies, violent games and other extreme behavior that pushes toward harm, injury or death. The Internet has taught our young people that there is a ready stage to perform on and get their 15 minutes of fame with their cell phone cameras and other portable high-tech photo devices filming extreme and violent behavior. Somehow in the warped perception of these mass murderers the legacy they leave behind gives them great satisfaction knowing their evil deeds will be aired over and over on TV, the Internet and every other media in the land. What is wrong with this picture?It would be difficult if not impossible to talk about where we are as a society today with crime and other animal-like behavior if we did not reflect upon where we came from. Re-visit this site for future parts of this article that will further discuss the Virginia Tech massacre and homegrown terrorism, the greatest threat America faces, the cause and the cure.

On the eve of the Virginia Tech massacre, it would be difficult to imagine a subject that occupies the minds of Americans more than the subject of senseless crime! Every good and right-thinking American has a heartfelt sorrow and sadness for the Virginia Tech victims, their friends, parents and families and millions of prayers will be offered on their behalf. No two questions will arise out of this tragedy that will be asked more frequently than “what was the cause” of the worst mass shooting in American history and “what is the cure” for this type of homegrown terrorism. We will share our answer to those questions on this site and have already answered those questions in the book; “Homegrown Terrorism, The Undeclared War Against Crime In America” American Trend Publishing, Sammy Sorrell Author. The 425-page book is offered in Soft Cover and PDF format direct from the publisher at the toll free number 800-505-6555.

Since 911, the public media and the professional politicians have focused the nation on terrorism offshore. We have all been led to believe that terrorism originates with offshore culture groups or cells of those groups that have been planted within our own nation. I have said this before but it bears repeating. The greatest threat America faces is not offshore terrorism but homegrown terrorism. Terrorism by its very definition is a method used to control and intimidate with violence or force. Now lets get real about terrorism and look at our own homegrown terrorism variety. School shootings is just one tentacle of this Octopus like monster. Child abuse, domestic violence, rape, kidnapping and assault are just more tentacles of the terrorism culture. It is this author’s contention and belief that the horrendous crime culture in America is no more or no less than a culture of homegrown terrorism. If we cannot accept this fact it is likely the entire perception in this series of the cause and the cure of Virginia Tech type tragedies will not be accepted.

For the doubters lets pursue the comparison of offshore terrorism and American homegrown terrorism in loss of lives and financial cost. As of the end of 2006 and since 911 and including 911 the war on offshore terrorism has claimed nearly 8000 American lives. Certainly there are great number of injuries also to our American military men and women. The financial cost of offshore terrorism since 911 has reached a cost of approximately $400 billion dollars. Now lets make a similar comparison with homegrown terrorism.

Since 911 through the year 2006 homegrown terrorism (crime) has claimed the lives of over 70,000 Americans. Many of those murders were more heinous and barbaric than those occurring in the war on offshore terrorism. One of these monsters cut up his own mother and put her in a heating stove and scattered her ashes in the backyard. Believe it or not he got a 6-year prison sentence because of a stupid-quirky law. But we will talk more about how the judicial system factors into the cause of homegrown terrorism later. Since 911 through 2006 the cost of homegrown terrorism (crime) has cost approximately $675 billion dollars annually (U.S. Justice Dept.). Multiply that time 5-years and we are talking about trillions of dollars. America is now the most violent nation on the face of the earth. The nation is number one among all nations for incarcerated prisoners. Over 570,000 prison inmates are released annually back into society. Over 80,000 illegal immigrants with known criminal records are in America and we don’t even know where they are. In the 13-year period ending 2002, Americans were the victims of 159,000,000 million crimes.

Could it be that homegrown terrorism is the greatest threat America faces? Re-visit this site for future parts of this article that will further discuss the problem of homegrown terrorism, the cause and the cure.

The level of comfort and trust Americans have in their government is fast disappearing today as corruption, fraud and political infighting by professional politicians reach the top echelons of government both state and federal. A spotlight example of that problem came to light in late March 2007 in New Mexico state government and reverberated all the way to the federal government in Washington, D.C..

The New Mexico kettle of fish had been stinking since 2004 involving reported huge kickbacks in the construction of the new Metro Courthouse in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This fiasco happened under the watch of former U.S. attorney in New Mexico David Iglesias, former New Mexico attorney general Patricia Madrid and the powerful, longtime Democratic state senate speaker Manny Aragon. The conclusion of the investigation on a scheme to defraud the state burst upon the public scene with indictment of Manny Aragon, a lawyer and New Mexico’s top lawmaker for over twenty years who allegedly received kickbacks adding up to $700,000. Pleading guilty in the scheme was former Albuquerque mayor Ken Schultz, Marc Schiff, architect and senior partner in charge of the project, Manual Guara, subcontractor that inflated vouchers and kickback money. Not yet indicted Toby and Sandra Martinez the court boss and his wife that are accused of approving over $2 million in phony invoices for kickback purposes. Also not yet indicted is Raul Parra accused of skimming off $773,000 and funneling thousands of dollars more to other defendants. This scam totaled an estimated $4.2 million in fraudulent kickbacks and sent the Metro judges scurrying to the state to pay for overruns on the project.

While not involved in the chain scam conspiracy former New Mexico U.S. attorney Iglesias and former State Attorney General Madrid have been viewed with a jaundiced eye for slowdown of the investigation. U.S. Senator Pete Domenici and U.S. Representative Heather Wilson were aware of the slow-moving investigation and both called Iglegias in the fall of 2006 to see how the investigation was coming along. Those calls triggered the political lurching-reach of U.S. house and senate democrats to cry foul after Iglesias and seven other U.S. attorneys were fired. U.S. House and Senate democrats immediately rushed to press conferences to point the political finger at the Bush administration hoping to find something wrong with the dismissal of the U.S. Attorneys including New Mexico U.S. attorney Iglesias.

Honesty is the foundation of strong character. Dishonesty is the foundation of weak character. Like a house built on a sandy foundation weak character will ultimately collapse and often with a loud bang. Government leaders representing the people are expected to be held to a higher moral standard. Their standard of morality can lead a nation to the higher moral ground or lead them to the depths of immorality. These people are the lawmakers of the nation. Every democratic society is a reflection of its laws and how those laws are administered. When lawmakers engage in immoral acts of dishonesty the reflection of the nation’s laws is permanently impaired and we have arrived to the age-old excuse (everybody does it) that sends a nation further toward the edge of the slippery slope of immorality. History records great nations that have destroyed themselves because of that slippery slope. Could this all be placed at the doorstep of a counter-culture with a strong foothold in our nation hell-bent on creating a utopia of peace without God?