Sadly, this is how we do things in America today. Having cross checkers would cost more money, and even before the meltdown that was considered a capitalist sin, spending money on social services through the govenrment.

Something like this needs to be addressed on the state level, the states need to set formulas or something for lawyers to follow to double check the numbers before they submit or sign off. Whatever process they come up with needs to be verifiable somehow, so the courts know it's been done. If that adds extra cost to the justice system, it's a small price to pay for the over all benefit of a justice system working more fairly and evenly.

Legal representation in our court systems is a right, a Constitutional right. You can't do Constitutional rights on the cheap, that just undermines the very Constitutoin you're supposedly protecting or serving.

Great post.

Maybe the additional cost (to the State) for the cross-checking service could be mitigated by the cost savings of a reduced sentence. I mean whatever it costs to house a prisoner for the extra time he spends in jail due to a clerical error. I've heard the cost of housing a prisoner for a year can run upwards of $150K, depending on the facility. Surely if the capitalists need an argument that would be it. Still, in a country seemingly under the rule of law one would expect some justice when it comes to sentencing.

Well, as PATRIOT Act, Warrantless wiretaps, Habeas suspension by a Unitary Executive, Gitmo etc. demonstrate, the late George Carlin pointed out - we have long ago abandoned the concept of Rights and replaced them with their pale twin ... Priviledges

" I mean whatever it costs to house a prisoner for the extra time he spends in jail due to a clerical error." But the clerical errors go both ways. The people who got a lighter than deserved sentence would now cost the system more money. A better solution for saving costs is just to get rid of the way out of touch sentencing for minor offenses like smoking pot, something that shouldn't be illegal anyways.