Monday, September 16, 2002

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Many people will remember the Central Park jogger case in the 1980's, in which gangs of teenagers went on a rampage during which a white female jogger was beaten, raped and basically left for dead in the park. Five young black kids confessed to beating the woman, though only one admitted raping her. Based on these confessions (the woman had no recollection of the attack when she awoke from the coma), the kids were prosecuted and convicted.

Now, about 13 years later, a convicted rapist and murderer serving a life sentence told authorities that he alone attacked and raped the woman. DNA evidence proves him right.

Even with due process of law, videotaped confessions, and trials, the judicial system fails to ascertain the truth in a remarkable number of cases. Citizens should remember this fact when the government asks us to give them to power to adjudicate the fate of individuals without these safeguards. For if we make mistakes under the best of circumstances, and I do believe the American judicial system to be one of the best of circumstances, imagine the horrific mistakes we'd make if one man decides whether someone will be detained for the rest of his life without attorneys or trials.
Jennifer | 2:47 PM
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