I’d almost forgotten about this, but when I was leaving the courthouse on Thursday afternoon, I remember hearing a young man coming from around the back of the building yelling about how horrible the system was. Specifically, I remember him saying, “the f—ing police, the f—ing NYPD; it’s the worst f—ing thing anyone ever invented.” I didn’t think he was associated with the Bell shooting trial because he didn’t seem to have come from the same courtroom I had; I figured he was just a guy displeased with his own treatment at the hands of police which must have ended in a court appearance. His tone of voice was angry, but none of the many guards surrounding the courthouse seemed phased and I assumed he was all talk. Anyway, apparently he was referring to Bell; he’d said to the defendant detectives as they exited the courtroom after me, “Jack Ruby will be back, bang bang bang,” Jack Ruby being the assassin of Lee Harvey Oswald, John F. Kennedy’s assassin. Coincidentally I’m sure, according to the City Room blog linked to above, that very gun is supposed to go on auction in a couple of days. Originally purchased by Ruby for $62.50, it’s expected to go for over a million. Who would want to own that? Shouldn’t it be in a museum?
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Unfortunately calls for vigilantism is not confined to disgruntled minorities. Many “groups” complain that the justice system does not mete out justice.
In the case of the Libby trial we witnessed someone who was doing the president’s bidding and convicted of a crime was “let off” with a “slap on the wrist”.
60 Minutes did a story about a black man wrongly convicted of murder who has received a life sentence and served 30 yrs of it so far. The trouble with that is a couple of lawyers received a confession from THEIR client that he had done the murder, but they felt that “ethics” prevented them from revealing the confession and freeing the innocent man. Lovely. “Legal ethics” trumps “justice”.
You see the same thing again and again when the “blue line” protects cops, when doctors refuse to testify against colleagues and so on.
We have justice suppressed because of procedure.
We have a very flawed justice system in this country and minorities are the ones who know this all too well. Barack Obama who is running for president can’t get a cab to stop for him in DC. Blacks are profiled as drug and weapons violators routinely. And now we profile Moslems as terrorists.
And what about the USA which engages in rendition, torture,spying without warrants, or protects soldiers who commit crimes in foreign countries?
How about the young lady who was raped in Iraq and is being forced to arbitration by some clause in her contract? Since when can corporations assume jurisdiction in criminal matters?
Is it any reason that many people scream for vigilantism when the “system” is such a dismal failure?
I can kind of understand where the guy is coming from… With my stupid court case, I feel like she has enough evidence against her that she needs to rot in jail….