Vigilante Justice and the post-Casey Anthony era

For the last three years the American public has been held hostage by the distraction that was the Casey Anthony trial. I cringe every time I change the channel on the TV or turn on the radio and hear a conglomerate of talking heads going on and on trying to rationalize the jury's verdict, the "real theory" of the crime and what is going to happen next for the defendant.

The death of any child, especially if that death is alleged to be caused by a caretaker, is horrific and reminds us of the constant presence of suffering in our society. What is equally as disgusting is the way in which this tragic case has been used to make a mockery of our justice system and to financially benefit agitators who are promoting vigilante style resolutions.

First off, how many children are murdered every year? How many children are still missing? While I don't have those exact statistics, I can assure you that it was certainly not 1 in the last three years. The only reason why this case has blown up to the level it has is because of the fact that commentators like Nancy Grace and Jane Valez-Mitchell used yellow journalism tactics to try the case in the court of public opinion. Think of how much money Grace made for her appearances on morning television, the sponsors from her show, and the radio spots. Each of those "experts" who was called in to give their opinion and outlook was compensated in some way (either financially or by receiving 15 minutes of national fame). No one would have know who Casey Anthony was if there wasn't an attention seeking profit driven media personality culture pushing the case down the throat of the American public. Unfortunately our society swallowed the wrong pill, and we are going to have to stomach the implications.

I know a lot of people are thinking it, and hesitant to say it, but let's be real- if the Anthony's were any other ethnicity than Caucasian, I am sure the coverage, would have been a lot different (most likely non existent).

The Casey Anthony case has also shed light on the ineffectiveness of our media. Think of all of the things that have been going on in the last three years that we haven't had serious discussions about because of the fact that we devote space and airtime to this trial. Wars, debt, growing inequality, an education crisis, a couple of genocides, the struggle for equal rights and equal pay, those have all been put on the back burner. We have gone back to an era of sensationalism where we would rather talk about birth certificate rumors instead of the hard topics such as why children in lower income neighborhoods do not have access to adequate health services (never mind that public health department we once had in Worcester that is off the radar screen). We function in a system of innocent before proven guilty, yet the talking heads have already condemned defendants to death. Grace lamented that Casey Anthony would become a millionaire becuase of her fame from the trial- well you are the one who made her rich! Unrelated to the trial, but just because someone is arrested does not mean they actually committed the offense. We need to wake up. Despite universal acceptance of constitutional rights and protecting freedom, we are operating in a public mindset similar to the Salem Witch trials. We cannot live in a just society if we do not operate in a just way. This particularly applies to the media and the way in which we have made the reporting of crime a profitable operation. For every time I read about a shooting in the Telegram and Gazette I can give you 5 positive things going on in that neighborhood. Yet will we ever read it? Most likely not unless it is spun in a way that triggers flurries of comments and controversy.

Getting back to the Anthony Case, I watched Nancy Grace tear apart the jury saying they reached their verdict because they were not from Orlando and "not connected to the community." No Nancy, it was because they were doing their civic duty as a jury and keeping their emotions out of the case. How sick is it that we have "reporters" going on national TV slamming a group of people who each gave up a month of their lives so that they could enable our justice system to function. This is the exact reason why we have juries and facts, and evidence, and the standard of reasonable doubt, so that we can prevent tyranny and vigilantism. As William Blackstone said "better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer",

Connecting this to the larger picture- this media frenzy and revolt against social order is a pattern we are seeing in our country with the rise of efforts such as the Tea Party movement. While a lot of people portray it as a libertarian revival, what we are seeing is a pattern of vigilante mob tactics being lead by instigators who are sitting behind an anchor's desk rather than burning witches at the stake. What is being burned down is the progress we as a nation have made in standing by the rule of law, crafting institutions that defend equal rights, and behaving in a manner where we put the welfare of our people above personal profit and fame.

There are so many victims in this tragic case. Let's hope the American Justice System does not become one of them