10-11-15 Further Discussion of Ethics Questions with Rabbi Lerner, re: Vast over-representation of individuals and an organization, identified as Jewish, in "corruption of the courts and the legal profession" // La comunidad judía y "La corrupción de los tribunales y los abogados" en California

 

Attorney Mitchell Kamin, Bet Tzedek (The House of Justice)

  

Jay Sanderson, CEO and executive producer of Jewish Television Network 
President, Los Angeles Jewish Federaion


1) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2010 10:11:24 Joseph Zernik wrote:

To: Michael Lerner
From: joseph zernik
Subject: Ethics questions to Rabbi Michael Lerner: re: The Los Angeles Jewish/Legal  Community vast over-representation in "corruption of the courts and the legal profession".

Dear Rabbi Lerner:

Thank you again for your expedient response.

As I stated, Attorney Mitch Kamin, senior officer of Bet Tzedek (The House of Justice), refused for the past 3 years to respond in any way shape or form  on repeated request for information:

Does Bet Tzedek have in place grievance procedures for persons who may claim that they were harmed by Bet Tzedek, The House of Justice, and its senior officers?

Therefore, there is no way that I could inform you of Attorney Kamin's perspective on this simple question.

However, you can pick up the phone and ask him directly, or the Los Angeles Jewish Federation, with whom Bet Tzedek is affiliated, to get their clear and unbiased perspective on this simple question.

Joseph Zernik

 

Rabbi Michael Lerner, Editor - Tikkun Magazine (to heal, repair, and transform the world)


2) At 08:09 AM 11/15/2010, Rabbi Michael Lerner wrote:

Could you please send me their perspective so that I'd know what they are saying about all this? I dont know you and I don't know them and I don't have the time to find the facgts, but I do agree that there should be some grievance procedure for individuals who calim that they were harmed by Bet Tzedek and I think that they should be public knowledge if this institution represents itself as open to and serving the public as a Jewish institution.

Rabbi Michael Lerner
Editor, Tikkun Magazine  www.tikkun.org
Chair, The Network of Spiritual Progressives  (www.spiritualprogressives.org)
Rabbi, Beyt Tikkun Synagogue in S.F. and Berkeley (www.beyttikkun.org)
rabbilerner@tikkun.org
Office: 510 644 1200

3) Ethics questions to Rabbi Michael Lerner: The Los Angeles Jewish/Legal  Community vast over-representation in “corruption of the courts and the legal pro fession” .    

Rabbi Michael Lerner - Tikkun Magazine (to heal, repair, and transform the world)

Dear Rabbi Lerner:

Thank you for your expedient response.  Realizing that you are busy, let me try to boil the matter into two ethics questions, which do not require any determination of facts:

1) Should a Jewish organization, such as Bet Tzedek ("The House of Justice"), operating under the motto "Tzedek, Tzedek Tirdof" (Justice, Justice you shall pursue) have in place equitable grievance procedures for individuals, who claim that they were harmed by Bet Tzedek and its most senior officers, after they responded to public solicitations by Bet Tzedek and its most senior officers, and came to Bet Tzedek for help?

2) Should Bet Tzedek's senior officers, such as Attorney Mitch Kamin, respond, after being repeatedly asked, whether Bet Tzedek has in place grievance procedures such as described above?

Joseph Zernik

4) [IN PRO PER  IN LA] New comment on 10-11-14, by Rabbi Michael Lerner, RE: Rabbi Michael Lerner is asked to call for....

I get approximately 100 requests of this sort per week from various reasonable sounding causes. I'm just one human being and can't look into them all. I can say that I know the entire prison system in California to be deeply flawed and a moral outrage, and would support a bill to immediatley free all prisoners except those who are convicted of violent crimes--and to provide them with gainful employment so they don't end up in prison again. I can also say that I favor a total reconfiguration of the legal system along lines developed by the Network of Spiritual Progressives www.spiritualprogressives.org, which would require in part a massive redistribution of wealth, but also a massive spiritual transformation of our values along lines I outline in The Left Hand of God: Taking Back our Country from the Religious Rigth.--Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun Magazine 

http://www.scribd.com/Human_Rights_Alert
http://human-rights-alert.blogspot.com/
http://josephzernik.blog.co.uk/
http://menchenrechte-los-angeles.blogspot.com/
http://droitsdelhommealertelosangele.blogspot.com/
http://inproperinla.com/
http://pressroom.prlog.org/Human_Rights_Alert/
http://ireport.cnn.com/people/HumanRightsA?numResults=10&view=documents
_____________________________
WHAT DID THE EXPERTS SAY ABOUT THE JUSTICE SYSTEM IN THE UNITED STATES?
*  "On July 26, 2010, Laurence Tribe, Senior Counsel for the United States Department of Justice, Access to Justice Initiative, delivered an important speech to the Conference of Chief Justices, challenging them to halt the disintegration of our state justice systems before they become indistinguishable from courts of third world nations."Prof Laurence Tribe, Harvard Law School (2010), per National Defender Leadership Institute
http://www.nlada.net/library/article/national_dojspeechto%20chiefjustice07-26-2010_gideonalert
_____________________________
WHAT DID THE EXPERTS SAY ABOUT THE JUSTICE SYSTEM IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CALIFORNIA?
*     "Innocent people remain in prison"
*     "...the LA Superior Court and the DA office, the two other parts of the justice system that the Blue Panel Report recommends must be investigated relative to the integrity of the system, have not produced any response that we know of..."
LAPD Blue Ribbon Review Panel Report (2006)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/24902306/
*   "...judges tried and sentenced a staggering number of people for crimes they did not commit." Prof David Burcham, Dean, Loyola Law School, LA (2001)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/29043589/
*   "This is conduct associated with the most repressive dictators and police states... and judges must share responsibility when innocent people are convicted."     
Prof Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean, Irvine Law School (2001)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/274339
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WHAT DID THE UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL STAFF REPORT SAY ABOUT THE JUSTICE SYSTEM IN CALIFORNIA?
*   "...corruption of the courts and the legal profession and discrimination by law enforcement in California." http://www.scribd.com/doc/38566837/