After the failure of the Grand Jury to indict the policeman in Ferguson, Missouri, we once again return to the issue of justice in America. The scales of justice are skewed towards those who are in authority and not to the victims nor to their families for closure. We need a new standard of justice in America today.

Normally when a case goes to a grand jury, you can expect in most cases an indictment. In fact, in a kidding sense, one has the sense that one could indict a ham sandwich, it is that easy. On the opposite end of the spectrum one has reason to doubt that a policeman will ever be indicted for his or her actions if the question of excessive force are at issue. We like to think that those who wear the uniform are like our blue knights, knights sworn to protect and serve.

Well, a new standard of behavior needs to be considered if a considerable part of our communities begin to believe that the police have become the judge, jury and executioner. The use of deadly force should be the exception rather than the rule. The killing of unarmed suspects needs to end.

It is too easy for a policeman to claim that they felt threatened by the alleged suspect. We want so much to believe that our police are to be trusted. We want them to be protected from questionable charges. The reasonable standard should be used if a person is to be charged for a crime. Was there a reason to believe that a crime has been committed? Conflicting eye witness testimony should be heard at a trial. Sorry, but if you are shot 6 times and you are unharmed, hello, a crime may have been committed. Just because a person wears a badge does not give he or she a license to kill. But that is what justice in America seems to be becoming, a license to kill. Woe to those who are mentally ill or who belong to a minority, for if you are unlucky to come across a policeman, you just might die because you are in the wrong neighborhood at the wrong time.