Submissions/Wiki - Way to "Crowd Sourced" Justice by Presentment of Information to the Grand Jury

After careful consideration, the Programme Committee has decided not to accept the below submission at this time. Thank you to the author(s) for participating in the Wikimania 2014 programme submission, we hope to still see you at Wikimania this August.

Submission no. 8027

Title of the submission: Wiki - Way to "Crowd Sourced" Justice by Presentment of Information to the Grand Jury

Type of submission (discussion, hot seat, panel, presentation, tutorial, workshop): Workshop

Author of the submission: StatesManship (James Renwick Manship, Sr.)

E-mail address: StatesManship@me.com

Username: StatesManship

Country of origin: United States of America

Affiliation, if any (organisation, company etc.): Founder of W.I.S.E.-Washington Institute for Statesmanship Education

Personal homepage or blog: Many, over 50 blogs on many subjects of Law and History.

Abstract (at least 300 words to describe your proposal)

Long before Wiki that derives its strength on the "great, good wisdom of the people", going back as far as King Alfred the Great in the late 880s, nine hundred years before Amendment V of the U.S. Constitution, the Assize of Clarendon by King Henry II in 1166, a notion of Justice in the English legal system derived from the great, good wisdom of selected Citizens in a Jury (or even subjects of the Crown rather than free "Citizens") to serve as the "Shield and the Sword" in a particular jurisdiction, whether it be a Shire, or a Hundred, later a County or a City.

And as many students have been taught, later, in the Magna Carta of 1215, a group of 25 Barons were established as a check upon abuse of authority by the King John, to be the "Shield and the Sword" for the people, a shield to protect from unfounded charges, and a sword to protect against both villains, and against those in authority who abused their Trust.

While the Grand Jury has been abandoned in the land of its origin, it is still alive in the United States of America, though in most places feeble, unlike in its younger years, when the Grand Jury was a force for good to be reckoned with by those elected, appointed, and employed servants in government who abused their authority, when it was responsible for the fall of the infamous Tweed Ring that dominated the politics of New York City, and in American History, in other instances in other places, such as Minneapolis and San Francisco.

The most notable instance of the Grand Jury being a "shield" in English History is in 1688 with the Earl of Shaftesbury charges attempted by the king's prosecutors, and in American History with the Grand Jury in Kentucky in 1807 in the charges of Treason pressed by President Jefferson against his former Vice President Aaron Burr (1801-1805), where both times the Grand Jury "spit in the face" of those in power, King and President, describing the Bills of Indictments presented as "Ignoramus" bills.

In 1972, the first Watergate Grand Jury indicted the "plumbers" who broke in to the Watergate offices of the Democrat National Committee, and those men were convicted in September 1972, before the landslide re-election of President Nixon. However, one of those men mentioned he had received a check from a lawyer in the White House. The second Watergate Grand Jury indicted seven lawyers in the Nixon White House, and naming the President a "secret, un-indicted, co-conspirator".

The ultimate resignation of Nixon was in large measure due, not to the self-serving publicity for Senators by the Senate Watergate hearings but due to the quiet, behind the scenes investigative work and subsequent action of that Grand Jury demanding and then suing the President for release of the Oval Office tapes.

The U.S. supreme Court decision in U.S. v. Nixon (1974) stated that Executive Privilege applied only to the co-equal Legislative and Judicial Branches of the government under this Constitution for the United States of America, essentially positioning the Grand Jury as a pre-Constitutional FOURTH branch of government recognized, and added to the structure of American Government by the Fifth Amendment.

In modern America, the "Main Stream Media" has become the "lap dog" of the President, of whichever party, especially those administrations that align with the largely liberal views of most of the media, and so today, the Media has failed in its traditional role of the "Fourth Estate" to investigate and expose wrongdoing in government. This critical function of accountability of government servants to their "masters" - We the People, could be facilitated, or empowered by an application of the "crowd sourced" information capability of Wiki, with the condition, that transparency, and accountability of ALL the information gathered is traced to its provider, and ultimately to its source, and that "crowd editors" are able to edit out facts and truth that expose government wrongdoing.

Wiki capabilities are a Way to "Crowd Source" Justice by Citizens' submission, somewhat like "Whistleblower" justice, where even a single Whistleblower is often the "Conscience of the Community", at times, speaking out anonymously for personal safety, if the Citizen, or Whistleblower, desires.

That veil of secrecy aligns with the centuries of tradition of Secrecy from the Government for the Citizens who serve on the Grand Jury, and thereby can be extended to witnesses who present information to the Grand Jury, serving as a "resource" for Presentment of Information on Wrongdoing to the Grand Jury.

With this often "first hand" information, the Grand Jurors can investigate based on the Wiki provided information, and indict where the transparency and accountability of the information posted can be assessed to have the necessary integrity to serve as a basis for indictment for crimes, especially by powerful government servants.

In this way, the government servants, from the President to the local Prosecutor and Police, can again become accountable for their actions to those properly they are to serve - Wiki - We the People.

Track

Legal & Free Culture

Length of session (if other than 30 minutes, specify how long): 30 minutes

Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?: I would love to, if I receive or earn the funds to do so.

Slides or further information (optional): I have several slide programs, essays, and memorandums of law regarding the Grand Jury on Scribd.com at StatesManship.

Special requests: Cannot present on Sunday.

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