Justice

Can you draw up in your mind the image of one of those statues of a blindfolded Lady Liberty holding up the scales of justice that seem to occupy every courthouse in America?  Do you remember your high school civics classes about the concept of “innocent until proven guilty”?  Remember the need for both prosecution and defense, and an unbiased judge and jury?  Do you recall the process is designed to reveal the truth, and ultimately deliver justice?

We have this well established, but not perfect, system of justice where the burden of proof lies with the prosecution and an underlying principle that it is "better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer".  (Blackstone’s formulation)  (Don’t be impressed; I had to look it up)  Hold those thoughts in your mind for just a moment plus any other principles and platitudes that come to mind.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstone's_formulation

Now recall the recent incident involving George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin.  

Something happened between the two of them that night that resulted in the death of Trayvon Martin.  I don’t know what happened.  I know what it looks like, and I can speculate, but I can’t really know the truth base solely on what the news presents.

Around the little bit that is known it is easy enough to construct a story where Zimmerman is solely responsible for the death of Martin.  On the other hand it is also possible to imagine an incident where the two exchange words, and that Martin is partially responsible for the escalation of that verbal exchange into a physical altercation that tragically turns deadly.

What concerns me is the assumption of the masses that the first scenario is true based on the few facts readily available to us in the media.  We like neat and tidy stories.  We also like to make our judgments once and avoid the inconvenience of reconsidering our opinions as new evidence is revealed.  It allows us to simplify the clutter in our minds.

So I had a hard time when I saw the masses demonstrating in front of the police station demanding that Zimmerman be charged and tried for murder.  After seeing that vigilante justice doesn’t work in the form of an apparently overzealous neighborhood watchman, they now want mob justice in its place?  I thought there was supposed to be a thorough investigation.  I thought the prosecutor (and not the mob) was supposed to look at the evidence collected during the investigation.  I thought it was the prosecutor’s job (and not the mob’s) to decide if there is sufficient evidence to support an indictment.  It looked to me that the mob wanted to skip all of that.

And don’t kid yourself into thinking that the police chief, prosecutor, defense, judge, and jury are all unaffected by a mob of protestors outside the courthouse.  You can bet that they are all well aware of the protestors and are affected despite their best attempts to pretend otherwise.  And that is the protester’s intent, to influence the outcome of the justice system, and I think that is just plain wrong.

I know that if I am ever accused of a crime, I don’t want a mob trying to influence the outcome of my right to due process.  Wouldn't you?