Judicial System and Acquittal

* In response to “Remember Why Our System Works” by William Bedsworth, Commentary, Nov. 5:

As Judge Bedsworth repeats the tired cliche that “it is better that 100 guilty go free than that one innocent be convicted,” maybe it’s time to look at that phrase using common sense. Given the accepted high recidivism rates of even those criminals who do time (let alone those who don’t), we compare two scenarios: 1) 100 guilty go free, the one innocent doesn’t become a victim of our system, but many others do become new victims of the 100 now-freed criminals who should be in jail; 2) 100 guilty actually go to jail and one innocent is unjustly sent along. Neither option is appealing, but it’s hard to argue that one is the lesser of the two evils. Assuming various numbers of new crimes these 100 will commit before they are all (or part) rearrested (and maybe convicted), we can only guess at the number of innocent victims our judicial system creates by releasing these transgressors.

I agree with Bedsworth that ours “is not a system designed to arrive at truth.” However, when he follows with “it is a system designed not to punish innocent people,” one must wonder what he calls those on the receiving end of crime.

America is still the greatest country in the world in many respects, but our judicial system is the lousiest of all Western countries if “justice” and not “process” is the criteria. Our system doesn’t work.

MICHAEL POWERS

Sylmar

* Regarding the perspective on the Denny verdicts, I wonder if Judge Bedsworth could explain them to Officer Laurence Powell and Sgt. Stacey Koon. Surely the verdicts reached by the Simi Valley jury proved conclusively that our system works. Everyone in the world just presumed that the officers would be found guilty. Think of the pressure to bring guilty verdicts on that jury! But they did find reasonable doubt and they did find the officers not guilty. Then the mob howled. And again the officers were put on trial for the same incident, only under a different title.

I’m happy that the “bias of the system (is) toward acquittal.” That is, unless you are a police officer doing his job. Then if they can’t get you in one trial, they’ll just get you with another one. I hope Powell and Koon can take great comfort in knowing they are part of a “nation not willing to risk unjust criminal convictions.”

B. G. HUSTON

Seal Beach