I was a big fan of this show, which I watched when I was about ten years old. I remember little about it today, except that unlike Perry Mason, the defenders sometimes lost, which made it seem far more true to life. Nor do I remember any of the plots, with one exception. Some scumbag was clearly guilty of some horrible crime.
But because key evidence was lacking and the prosecutor couldn’t prove this beyond a reasonable doubt, the evildoer got off. Some young lawyer was incensed by the injustice of this.
E.G. Marshall calmly explained that this was why America was a great country. That it was far better to have a system with imperfect safeguards that allowed an occasional criminal to get off than to have one in which innocent men could be falsely convicted.
That made a powerful impression on me. The main thing it did was get my little boy’s head started on an eventual appreciation for our Constitution and the rule of law.
If there was a downside, it probably made me think we had a more perfect legal system than we in fact did. That‘s something I probably figured out when the civil rights movement burst onto the airwaves, and we learned that we hadn’t yet achieved Equal Justice Under Law. This is a lesson, clearly, that we have to keep learning.
Law professors Samuel Gross and Barbara O’Brien have done us a perhaps unwelcome favor with their study of false convictions in capital punishment cases. They found that since the death penalty was reinstated in the 1970s, at least one out of every 43 people sentenced to death was not guilty of the crime, usually murder.
Even one, frankly, would be too many. There are those who favor the death penalty because they think it is speedy justice.
Well, it is anything but. It takes years and years to execute anybody. Nor does it save the system money. A study a few years ago showed that it cost Florida more than three million dollars to execute someone, once the cost of all the appeals was figured in.
As ridiculously expensive as prison is, it would be far cheaper to keep someone locked up for life. Personally, I always have been against capital punishment for several reasons, none of them especially soft-hearted. First of all, sometimes we do make mistakes.
Second, there are a few warped individuals who are happy to commit suicide at the hands of the state, which is exactly what we allowed Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh to do.
Finally, for those who are guilty, it seems to be that being locked up in a concrete box forever is far more punishing than being put to sleep like Grandma’s ancient pussy cat. Until we can bring people back to life, perhaps we have no business taking it away.
I do not believe Jack's views..I think he would fry a brother in a chicken wing minute...lol,lol,lol
I just cannot trust white liberals they have a long legacy of speaking with a forked tongue and of course they support equality only when they are getting the spoils yet once they fired they resort to thier true colors..lol,lol,lol
Posted by: Thrasher | February 24, 2009 at 03:53 PM
Thrasher needs to revisit his primary school spelling and grammar texts. Perhaps his Detroit Public School education is manifesting itself.
Poor Greg's logic is typically third world, malformed, racist and indefensible. Perhaps that's why his publications are limited to mindless tripes on blogs.
Jack doesn't like chicken, but I can tell you that most people would find a brother guilty and the judge would fry the brother. The judge would also order a side of cornbread and peach cobbler. Greg flunked out of law school-so he is quite week on criminal procedure and constitutional law. But who cares-he's a bro so he's right.
Posted by: Augustas Woodward | February 25, 2009 at 11:42 PM
Augustas,
My genius is never concerned with spelling and grammar in a chat forum..only those who cannot measure up to my posts are fixated and obessed with form and spelling ..lol,lol,lol
BTW I attended 2 law schools and I graduated from a catholic HS and public Big Ten University ( honors student in all those venues)
Get the facts right.. I like obessions over me that have truth attached to them..lol,lol,lol
Posted by: Thrasher | February 26, 2009 at 03:10 PM
But did you graduate from those two law schools and are you a member of any bar? What Catholic High School? I already know about that challenging communications degree from Moo U.
"You can give them a key to the room but can they stay in it?" In your case Thrash-you exited the room a long time ago. Unaccomplished, self-promoting and just loud and stupid. Leveraging skin color to claim a higher intellect. Just another racist blowhard. No facts, no logic and a loser's resume.
Posted by: Augustas Woodward | February 26, 2009 at 10:02 PM