Hey guys,
After writing my op-ed paper and having a continual interest in the Casey Anthony trial, I came across this OpEd article I thought would be of interest to you all. Just to refresh your memories, in October 2008, Casey Anthony was indicted for the murder of her still missing little girl as the false testimony and reports of body decomposition were found in the trunk of her car gave prosecutors enough for a criminal case against this young mother. In December 2008, Caylee's remains were found in a trashbag tossed in a field. Though conclusive evidence as the actual cause of the death could not be substantiated, the facts clearly supported the position that someone did indeed murder her. The shocking verdict of this case is what shocked America and had us standing on our tip toes. Casey Anthony was found "not guilty". Our generation has moved from a circumstantial evidence based era to a fact based era. The speculations and false testimonies alone represented by Casey was not enough to prove her guilty, which is what exhibits the injustice within our criminal system. We have the highest incarceration rate within our prison system, yet an individual who clearly portrayed to be guilty whom self was even shocked by the verdict, was set free.
Do you feel like she has the right to walk the streets again, freely, nightlife partying, living an ideal young adult she wanted, but had to make arrangements to accomodate this lifestyle... getting rid of her daughter. I sure don't. I began to talk about the comparison with the OJ Simpson case as well, because similarily with enough circumstantial evidence to prove him guilty, the lack of DNA or blood trails left on the criminal scene was what set him free. We pride our country on being "in the lead" in comparison to other countries around the world. But how prideful can we be when we allow circumstances like this, ones media are highly attracted too allowing the whole country to become involved in, be dismissed so easily. Where is the justice in that?
Here is the link to the article if you have an interest in reading it :)
A lot of my friends where really upset about the Casey Anthony case. I saw a documentary on her and from all the evidence I saw, no I don't think she should have been freed. The document talked about how because she was an attractive young woman, she was let off easier than others. I think that is absolutely absurd, but you can see for yourself that its true. If you remember from cases previous where teachers were caught sleeping with their male students, most were let off on probation or less because they were younger and prettier. If the roles were switched than the verdicts would be completely different. The sad part was that her parents were treated really poorly afterwards. We have a very complex justice system that should "cleaned up".
ReplyDeleteHey Jill,
ReplyDeleteI would really encourage you to take a Criminology class, or a criminal justice class at school if you haven't already done so, definitely one of my favorite classes at UT. In my criminology class, we discussed the issues of "unfair" trials such as the OJ case and the Casey Anthony case. My professor emphasized that the prosecutor and jurors play a key role in this process, and are often times biased because of their race and privilege. For instance, prosecutors tend to be rich, successful white men who have the ability to manipulate the outcome of the decision because of their connections and power. The prosecutors also pick the jury selection, and are careful about who they choose. For instance, they oftentimes choose people who do not have a college education, and people who are not black. This creates a bias within the trial, and thus, disrupts the "justice" in the criminal justice system. It would be interesting to see who the jurors were from the Casey Anthony case and investigate what their education and race/class were...