The Scary State of Law Enforcement and the Judiciary

Many will have already heard of this case but it continues to make the news. The 'West Memphis Three' is another sad tale of out of control investigators and prosecutors who desperate to solve a case end up convicting innocent people. And then when exposed, rather than admit they were irresponsible in their investigation, do all they can to continue to destroy the lives of the innocent people they have incarcerated. In many cases the actual guilty parties end up escaping.

The judiciary is definitely an area that does not blend well with democracy. Elected judges and prosecutors can easily fall into the shoddy investigation trap in order to win a victory. When outrageous murders take place in rural areas there's a massive amount of pressure for results. Prosecutors and Judges are thinking about re-election rather than justice.

What's always shocking is how obstinate the officials are when proven wrong and how many people despite the evidence will continue to believe the innocent are guilty.

If I was ever false charged with a murder I would never agree to a jury trial. No way. I have no confidence that average members of the public would be able to sift through the evidence and attempt to weigh it in an objective manner.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/20/us/20arkansas.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Grisham also dealt with this in his non-fiction work 'The Innocent Man' dealing with Ron Williamson and a killing in the early 1980's. I recommend the book. It's a sad story on all fronts but enlightening as you realize the shocking behaviour and incompetence of the law enforcement officials is actually quite common. Often the accused are not the best people out there, but that doesn't mean they deserve to be locked away from crimes they did not commit, let alone be executed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innocent_Man:_Murder_and_Injustice_in_a_Small_Town

And I think I've mentioned it before but I will do so again. Frontline did a story on Cameron Todd Willingham in a documentary called 'Death by Fire'.

In this case, I believe Rick Perry needs to personally answer for the death of an innocent man and undoubtedly not the first.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/death-by-fire/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_Todd_Willingham

There are other shows dealing with the terrible investigative shortcomings of forensic science. It's a pretty constant theme in Grisham's work. Despite the fascination of the public with the various television shows, a lot of it is completely bogus.

Grisham's work 'The Confession' was a pretty blatant swipe at Rick Perry whom he (as a professing Christian and lawyer) obviously despises.

Even if you happen to be for the Death Penalty, the current realities of how it is functioning almost demand a rejection of it. It is misapplied, inefficient and unjust. Without major judicial reform it should not even be considered at this time.

Ironically if you are innocent, the breakthroughs in DNA science and groups such as The Innocence Project provide at least an opportunity to bring the case up for review. What's almost worse is a life sentence. At that point you're on your own and very few are able to get the outside help they need. If Capital Punishment were overturned the Innocence Project and other groups could put more energy toward some of the many people who have been falsely incarcerated with life sentences.

I'm not suggesting it is easy to be a police officer. I certainly have no interest in being one and would discourage anyone I know from entering that field. Nevertheless there are so many forces at work in our society right now that have combined to create a situation where our police are not using their time and resources efficiently and certainly not for the public good. They have become a self-serving organization networked with other self-serving business interests.  And we've reached a point that many crimes are going completely unsolved while innocent people are locked up and the public is increasingly subjected to unwarranted harassment.