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Show Wednesday April 16 OF1 1997 Jodlgpe Joldiitlh Lin Sorenson Interest 1 V 1 The Forum Vi? tilings Speaiics To Lecture Series Audience Forum staff writer Three major challenges currently face our political system and the society it serves, Judge Judith Billings told the small audience at the Weldon J. Taylor Executive Lecture Series on Thursday, March 12. Those challenges are: lack of access to the legal system by a growing number of citizens, the dramatic increase in the number and duration of incarcerations, and citizens lack of understanding of the role of an independent judiciary branch in our democracy. Instead of focusing on causes of individual problems, we need to evaluate the system that produced it, said Judge Billings. All issues are connected, she said, and all real solutions are interdisciplinary. Lack of access to legal counsel is part of a larger institutional trend in our country today. To illustrate what is happening, Billings described the dislocations and changes that have taken place in our health care system. There is an oversupply of physicians and hospital beds, yet fewer and fewer are basic Eeople care. getting The governments solution is to pay medical schools to admit fewer students. Meanwhile, policies determining who gets what are determined by Health industry conglomer- - Instead of focus ing on causes of lems, we need to evaluate the system that produced it." ates whose profits must please Wall Street investors. The industry becomes privatized and access is restricted. The idea of health as a public issue gives way to business and political agendas. rl Billings worries that tfie IB legal profession could follow the same trend. The legal system current- ly has plenty 01 professionals, yet only 0 percent of our legal needs are being met. Public legal assistance was cut by one third in 1996. According to Billings, people think the problem is that we are too litigious, but this is not the case. The United States spends only $1.75 per person on legal expenses, which is lower than many other countries. she said. For example, France spends over $3.00 per person and England spends $15.20. If people do not feel that they have access to legal services as a way to solve problems, we as a society have a problem, she said. In what Billings'called a, rage to punish, she noted that while there has been a 39 percent rise in the crime rate, punishment for crimes has increased by 250 percent. The Lf.S. imprisons seven times more blacks than whites, which is a higher ratio than Africa under apartheid. Federalizing crimes such as drug use and adopting minimum mandatory sentencing has put thousands of people who are not dangerous 10-3- behind bars for life, regardless of the situation or profile of the individual. This shift from the goal of rehabilitation to punisnment has affected our society and our economy in ways no one expected. We spend more money on convicts than we do educating our children. It costs $22,000 a year in Utah to house a prisoner. Billings believes that programs that connect people at the community level are more effective because they can prevent crime, provide intermediate facilities that emphasize job training and We must rehabilitation. consider the thoughtfully costs and decide the best way to design the system, she said. See Judge page 15 1 , ..7 r.L - v' - |