As we continue to examine the US justice system, we now turn our attention to the practice of witch hunts. That is simply done by the assumption of guilt and loading up with accusations be they founded or not, all in an attempt to get a conviction.
Witch hunts are still common in the US, although the burning at the stake part has been replaced with methods more modern. Under US law a person is seen as innocent until convicted, and that is the case except when it comes to witch hunts. In a witch hunt guilt is assumed simply because the alleged victim is a child. Also crimes of a horrendous nature that involve many victims are often witch hunts.
It is in these cases that the accused becomes a victim of propaganda be it true or not. It does not matter if it is a simple divorce case when one side seeks leverage over the other. This can also involve international manhunts. Many times the propaganda is politically motivated, and other times it is the absolute truth. As observers look on, many simply accept the accusations at face value thus turning that accused’s life into living hell. The presumption of guilt is all most people remember.
It is proving to be part of human nature and perhaps American culture to go after the accused whether there is a shred of guilt or not. Things that have been in the news of late have been letting a little too much private information out on social sites like Facebook. The result of that has turned into something that looks like a school of attacking Piranha fish. So this suggest it is our nature to attack people who are seen as questionable even if by suggestion only.
How much of that carries over into the courts is a concern that many accused have. It simply says presumption of innocence goes against natures programming. Because of that there is a constant battle between right and wrong in the prosecution. Court history has shown that often some accusations by the prosecutors are totally fabricated just to get a conviction. Even bending the truth into a pretzel is a fairly common occurrence as seems to be the case as outlined in the Rod Blagojevich case. The attempt to make something that is legal appear illegal is a big part of that case.
So when you start to add up this witch hunt behavior it can certainly make people feel uncomfortable that dealing with human nature is part of the US judicial system, and for the most part this matches other countries. So when you add a political component to this being convicting someone serves a political agenda, credible doubts surface.
The desire of the George Bush administration to have a jail and court system outside of the US jurisdiction to deal with accused terrorists is a clear indication of desire that does have political overtures and clearly suggest the presumption of guilt. Even that it was labeled as an intelligence gathering facility, it still shows the underlying concerns people have.
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