Mob Rule?

[Veronica Prior]

I am growing more and more concerned about the state of justice in this country. You guys know by now that there is nothing I loathe more than people who commit crimes against women and children. I may rail against Jason Young, Casey Anthony, Chris Coleman and their ilk, but in all these cases, I want to see a trial. A fair trial.

I will agree that the system does not always work. It's not perfect. People are not perfect, therefore their institutions are bound to be flawed. Still, it beats hell out of stringing suspects up from the nearest tree. It beats trial by combat. It pretty much beats any other system I can think of. People always point to the OJ Simpson trial as an example of system failure, and they are correct. The jury was composed of people who were reluctant to convict an "American Icon." The Prosecution needed to present an iron-clad case, impervious to the shenanigans of the defense lawyers, and they failed to do so. OJ is not the only murderer who has walked free for years.

I can understand the frustration of many with the courtroom games, with all the safeguards that are there for the lawyers to exploit. I do. I really do understand.

But still.

I see an alarming trend. Beginning with the Scott Peterson trial, when a "victim's advocate" published a picture of a bag of cement she saw in the driveway of the Peterson home in Modesto, I see more and more ordinary people inserting themselves into the process of investigation and trial.

I was shocked to see crowds gathering outside the home of Casey Anthony, yelling at her, and at her family. Those people became part of the story, with their hysterics, and their interactions with the family plastered all over the TV news and the internet.

A small crowd gathered to yell, "Murderer!" at Chris Coleman, when he was transported to court. What's next? Stones? Guns?

Are these actions a result of our culture of "instant gratification?" Have we become so jaded with the time it takes for investigations, trials, appeals and executions that we are ready to "take matters into our own hands?"

The wheels of Justice turn very slowly, but they do turn. I'm willing to be patient. Why do so many want to "git a rope?"

[Veronica Prior]

Here's the relevant part of the comment. The poster is "Driver"

Yes, we are jaded. And we've been inundated with movies that celebrate subversion of judicial procedure. We love our Dirty Harrys, our Bruce Willises. When Indiana Jones hauled out his gun and shot the guy brandishing a sword (not really sporting), the audience cheered.

We don't always want justice. We may call it that, but what we want is vengeance.

And there's lots of angry people out there who feel "the system," whether that's the economic system that destroyed their jobs, their savings, and their lives, or a family-court system that "shafts men," as men believe with some justification, or a criminal-justice system that responds to money and celebrity, has failed them--and as such, it need no longer be respected or allowed to function.

There's free-floating anger that wants to pound something. People mistake their anger for a desire for "justice." And the height and depth of their anger is mistaken for an almost angelic retributive power.

Read the last Left Behind book to see what lurks in the hearts and minds of some Rapture-Ready Christians. There's an unmistakable pleasure taken by the characters when the Evil Ones are mashed and sliced and diced in a mad welter of blood. (After Jesus arrives and kills all the bad people, cell phones and airplanes still work. I read it in Glorious Appearing.)

[Veronica Prior]

I agree that it's still the best game in town, and a person who commented on this post at Ronni's Rants made some very good points about residual anger.

[Delilah]

Ronni, I think we are seeing a meltdown of our society who has become so desensitized by the torture and violence done to each other. The internet has become a double edged sword with instant information and instant gratification on a number of levels.

Yes, our justice system is greatly flawed, but it's the only one we have, and unless citizens are willing to, intelligently and without anger, stop voting for the ones who may have given them a favor or two and quit playing into the corruption of our court system.

You made some great points!