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Kangaroo court

“By a unanimous vote, Judge G-- was elected to the bench and the ‘Mestang’ or ‘Kangaroo Court’ regularly organized.”

To me, that kind of settles it. “Kangaroo court” is American because it was originally also known as the Mustang court, mustang being the American wild horse.

And the mustang pretty much sums up the other major characteristic of kangaroo courts, too.

Kangaroo courts are, to wit, wild and out of control.

Here are media examples of kangaroo court in the modern day:

1. Brooklyn City Councilman Charles Barron wants the City Council to back clemency for fugitive cop killer Joanne Chesimard - a move that triggered fury among police.

Chesimard was serving a life sentence for the 1973 execution-style murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster when several armed visitors helped her break out of prison in 1979. She now lives in Cuba under the name Assata Shakur.

Barron, a Democrat, said yesterday that he will introduce a resolution calling on President Bush to grant Shakur amnesty so she can return from “exile.”

“She’s innocent,” insisted Barron, noting that he met Chesimard in his late teens while he, too, was a Black Panther. “She was a victim, not a perpetrator. She was convicted on trumped-up charges in a kangaroo court.”

Chesimard was put on the FBI's list of most-wanted terrorists on May 1, and the U.S. Justice Department authorized a $1 million reward if she’s captured alive.