JUSTICE? PAVLOV WOULD BE PROUD

Chicagoan Edward I. Turner is just another victim of war. The drug war has
turned our justice system into an assembly line, and like all assembly
lines it produces defective products, in this case the conviction of an
innocent man - before the only evidence that could have vindicated him was
ready for review.

It wasn't the prosecutor who demanded that the evidence be studied more
closely to make sure they had the right guy. After all he had two men, a
car, and some cocaine, pretty much an open and shut case, right? The jury
and judge agreed, guilty as charged!

Ahh, but he was innocent, wasn't he? And the only explanation for that is
rapid-fire cookie-cutter justice. These are the kinds of things that happen
when people are conditioned to respond in a particular manner to a
particular stimuli.

Ding! Ding! "There were drugs." Ding! Ding! "He was in the same car." Ding!
Ding! "How say you?" "Guilty! Guilty! Hang 'em high!"

Pavlov would be proud, but we still don't know if the system responds
because it is just or just because.

And what of those who hadn't the benefit of a poor quality video to
exonerate them? Nothing but a feast for the dogs of war. Ding ding!

Jim White

Oregon