THE SPEEDS OF JUSTICE
Does our justice system move too slowly at times? Are we arriving at the point where real harm might result from such delays?
An item in this week's news accounts disturbed me. It noted in a small, insignificant item that one John Mohamed had been absolved of a charge of murder in which he was said to have killed a woman. The small photo was that of a well-dressed young man, and I glanced at it; turned aside to something another item – then back quickly because I realized – belatedly so - that I had looked upon the likeness - albeit a pleasant one - of the feared “beltway killers” of a year or so ago! Absolved? Cleared of a charge of killing a woman! How can that be?
Or, consider the “Laci Peterson Case”continuing as it is continuing week-after week in California. Every time a shred of possible evidence is thought to have been discovered, divined, unearthed or fabricated there is a tendency to want to start the whole thing all over again. As it drags, on more and viewers are wondering if they have added professional mystery writers to the staff to augment, enlarge, embellish, complicate and confuse the soap opera qualities of the case to make it a full-fledged magni-monster production. Certainly every aspect of the case has beer drained of all possible value. When one hears the term “beyond a shadow of a doubt” we sometimes think Justice has been stretched about as far as it can go.
Locally, I find the media has suddenly hit me in the face with a story about a crime that happened a year or two ago which has not yet been brought to trail or some sort of an end action. A great many people think of the report as that of a new crime and announce woe upon the world because of the rising crime rate.
We have the same sort of thing going right now as I write , but not in a criminal sense exactly. Mount St. Helen is on the tense brink of an eruption and I watched a show this morning which re-did redid the 1980 explosion without any in show reminders that it was “then” - not “now!” TV producers think nothing of running streamers across the face of other shows we watch , but not this one of the killer of a killer blast from Mount St. Helen years ago. We need something akin to such disclaimer streamers or banners in print version of development concerning crimes long done but no yet brought to trial
I, of course, realize that every care must be taken to assure the accused of a fair trial. Investigations must be completed to provide evidence needed to prove guilt or innocence, but a sensible amount of time spent should also be considered to be important to all concerned. The “vigilante”approach to crime is,obviously, quite wrong, but to allow cases to drag on and on with interminable investigations and extended trials, mis-trials and re-trials can also be a gross error and a marked miscarriage of true justice. Our judicial system suffers from being overcrowded with cases – many of them of a frivolus nature - and we need to clean house and tighten up on the time it take to do justice in a sensible, housekeeping fashion.
A.L.M. October 2, 2004 [c566wds]
