Who Decides
by Mary Moran

 abolition  creative-writing  poetry  prison-life

Who decides your justice?
Who decides your fate?
In an open courtroom who is really on trial? Is it the defendant
who is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt
Is it the prosecutor who is sure that he is trying to right person?
Is it the jury who listens day by day to the evidence when their minds are already made up
Is it the judge who just wants to get to his golf game?
Who is really on trial?
Who really decides whether or not you have received justice?
Who decides your fate?
Is it the media who makes a three-ring circus of every event?
journalists who wait impatiently for the verdict and fight to get it on their
cover page first? Perhaps it’s the spectators who know nothing about the case, but talk as if they do.
Lawrence Hayes spent more than 20 year in prison and more than two of those
on death row for a crime he didn’t commit.
Mumia Abu-Jamal has been in jail since 1982 and was scheduled to die in 1995.
Who decides their fate?
Rolando Cruz and Anthony Porter had to be set free after spending years in Prison for crimes that they didn’t commit.
Who decided their future? Was it justice?
Were they guilty beyond a reasonable doubt
or were the crimes committed so hideous that someone had to be penalized?
Was there enough evidence?
Were they mentally competent to stand trial?
Who decides your justice?
Who decides your fate?
Is it the audience who sits at home watching the 4:00, 5:00 6:00, 9:00 and 10:00 o’clock news
news waiting to hear your justice, your fate?
Maybe they voted in the “voice your choice” survey that asked the question
Should he get the death penalty?
Call 1-900 YES or 1-900 NO. Each call costs 75 cents.
Then we wait for the number like we wait to hear today’s lottery numbers.
Who decides your justice?
Who decides your fate?