Katie Crouch asks an important question in the wake of the Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito exoneration: What can be done to stop a circus like this one from happening again? There are a number of important flaws in traditional systems of justice that this case helped expose, especially with regards to how character assessment of the defendants is weighed too heavily and actual evidence too lightly, and perhaps addressing those problems could help significantly. That said, one thing that could help is looking at the dangers of an overly simplistic view of prejudice and privilege.
I’ve seen a lot of liberals dismiss the importance of the Knox case because Knox is a generally privileged person: white, upper-middle class, American, young, and conventionally attractive. They rightly point out that these privileges are why her case got so much attention, and that the attention paid to it is why she probably was able to walk in the end, taking the just-as-surely-innocent Sollecito with her. These things are all true, but problems arise when you work under the assumption that “privilege” is a static thing, that you have it and that’s that. What Knox’s case shows is that privilege is often a slippery thing, and what is a privilege in one context can actually work against you in another.
Casey Greenfield has one of the best assessments of this situation that I’ve seen so far. She argues that Knox’s youth and beauty probably did help her finally walk free, but that her youth and beauty are also the reasons she was railroaded in the first place. This cases touches off one of the more difficult conversations in feminist discourse about looks and privilege. Less conventionally attractive women usually face more obstacles and prejudice, so often one shies away from discussing some of the problems that come with being conventionally attractive, for fear of ringing the “poor little rich girl” bell. With the Knox situation, however, this problem is unavoidable. The reason so many people are eager to believe the implausible prosecution claims that Knox was into Satanic orgies, where sexual pleasure was derived from murder, was that there’s a lot of of misogynist hatred for pretty women that goes hand-in-hand with all the privileges being attractive gets you, and this is true in both Italy and the United States.
I must be the only person in the world who doesn’t give a shit about this broad.
Ditto.
That’s okay Mr. Minatti, I’m sure she doesn’t care about you either.
The issue under discussion concerns the possibility of a life being ruined by some sociopath prosecutor who gets a bug in his shorts.
Before you call him “just some Wop” and claim “it couldn’t happen here“, remember that the life of Troy Davis was taken by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole despite the jurors have said that they were pressured into the conviction, the lack of physical evidence and the recanting of their testimony by some witnesses.
I’m with Lou on this one.
I’m also with Lou on this one.
While this might be a compelling case of Italian jurisprudence gone awry… as with any of these murder trials that get blown up, up and away by the tabloid media… I have absolutely no interest.
This is a case of “too much attention” being paid (mostly of the wrong sort to boot), rather than not enough.
We’ll probably never know the truth. But you can bet she and her family will be making a mint on a book and numerous TV appearances.
May go down as a sequel to OJ’s trial.
The Italian justice system is foobar’ed. Prosecutors there are going to try some government geologists for *failing to predict a major earthquake* would strike part of Italy. This despite the fact that the prosecutors have been told by scientists from all over the planet that such predictions are still impossible.
Since we have proof that there’s at least one psychotic prosecutor in Italy, it stands to reason that there other equally psychotic prosecutors there, too.
If that is the case, then this page layout could never get away with anything. It’s ugly as shit
I second that, and would third it and fourth it……..
hmmmm …. blame the Liberals? Where did that come from?
Why are the comments for the Steve Jobs post turned off? Does Eideard fear that people might post something negative about Saint Steve? This is Dvorak Uncensored, free speech must be allowed!
I am going to simply observe how close to ridiculous it gets.
Geologists were having Satanic blood orgies, too.
Lindsay Lohan
Do I need to say more?
According the excellent Vanity Fair article on this case, her looks did play a role in the Italian public turning against her. It was also her behavior — she just didn’t act innocent in the way Italians thinks she should have. And she was American.
The other factor was very poor handling of the evidence.
The same sop happens in the US judicial system.
Don’t forget there is a person in jail for the death
of the British student and he of course is…. what color?
You guessed it. Eggplant. No offence to the condemned.
But Dam those Italians are prejudiced.
I say lock up the Jersey shore cast and be done with it.
Two things. This broad is a little homely and probably a lot guilty. Why is everyone making out like she is hot. You could say that about Casey Anthony but this Knox chick ain’t much to look at.
Second thing. Saint Steve? look at the comments elsewhere. From the looks of it he has been promoted from saint to deity. Turning off the comments on this site especially is a weak move. Sure Dvorak and Curry can say all sorts of crazy things about Obama, the CIA and Hillary but then they shut off any comments about Jobs. Hypocritical fo’ sho. I am disappointed in this site, first the lame make over and now the censorship on Steve Jobs.
There are no millionaires on death row.
Of course, I don’t know if her family is that rich or not.
her ex-boyfriend (who get very little press coverage) has rich parents …
And I believe he got out when she did.
First, this format rocks!
Second, Thank you for the Steve Jobs tribute very appropriate to this techno blog and turning off the sheeple comments as they are not needed.
I agree being attractive, white, female, American had something to do with the circus. That’s the sheeple entertainment that the media loves to cover.
This is not and has never been a “techno blog.”
A fair number of readers here are Dvorak followers so I see it as a techno blog perhaps not so much for content but for reader backgrounds or enthusiasts.
Some, like Pedro, are wannabe engineers and that qualifies.
I think you are referring to the Italian version of FEMA
They were indicted because they predicted that there was no earthquake and they’ve reassured the population that it was safe to stay put.
Right after the quake they’ve said that it was not possible to predict earthquakes, so the question was: If they cannot predict earthquakes why did they instructed the population that it was unnecessary to prepare for an evacuation and stay where they were?
The “monkey’s” as you are referring to, are the people who work overtime, for low wages, often bringing their work at home and with constant budget cuts (sometimes even with no paper for the copier) thanks to the mess that the Bunga Bunga man is doing in order to save his ass and his business partner’s.
Among those prosecutors there are many who got shot, car bombed, frequently threatened by the mafia, and insulted daily on the six national TV channels and tens of newspapers controlled by the Bunga Bunga man.
While there are slackers in any profession on the planet, the vast majority are doing a hell of a job given the circumstances.
So, if you’re talking about a specific prosecutor I’d like to hear about it.
If you’re talking in general, here’s the facts.
People were tried and properly convicted before DNA hoopla. Reversal is simply due to CSI/Law and Order generation unable to rely on common sense in documented behavior of the accused. Examples in this particular case:
-After being accused Knox literally frames her boss! Testifies that she knew that he was at the crime scene and is guilty of murder. Police arrest the man, check his alibi which is not only 100% solid but apparently known to Knox beforehand… Which wrongly accused innocent person can stomach to do the same to someone they know in person and who they know is not guilty? Defense have not provided an iota to explain this. Criminals frame others, not innocently accused.
-Knox and boyfriend clean boyfriends house top to bottom with bleach in the middle of the night after the time of murder. Witnessed by others completely unrelated to the crime. Who in their right mind cleans house with bleach 2-4am after returning from the “party” as they claim? Defense again does not provide an iota of explanation. Common sense interpretation points at them destroying evidence of the crime.
These two proven facts combined with physical evidence of her footstep print in the blood at the crime scene and (no matter how uncertain by itself) luminol reflection on her boot… -> certainty that she was present at the crime scene at the time of the crime. If she was there and refuses to tell what have happened the only explanation is that she was accomplice. If one is accomplice in brutal murder, they should rot in jail.
Of course her looks and being an American influenced the case. But any of us from the land of O. J. Simpson and Troy Davis and as point out, Lindsay Lohan, should not be criticizing the Italians.
Oh, and good work closing the Steve Jobs post to comments. There is plenty to be said, and it will be said, but give him at least the dignity of a few days!
The justice system in Italy is called and “Inquisitional” system. I think that provides some useful context!
How is Troy Davis an example of a lousy justice system?
What part of “An innocent man may have been put to death” do you not understand?
I take it then that you won’t bitch if it happens to you?
Except Troy Davis wasn’t innocent. He wasn’t even willing to call witnesses to testify at his appeal, you know the witnesses that supposedly recanted their story.
You can call witnesses at an appeal hearing? I thought appeals were basically lawyers presenting arguments and affidavits to gain a retrial.
Hmm, will have to see where I read it.
This says something different.
But the witness recantations prompted the US Supreme Court to order last year’s hearing.
The high court told a Savannah federal judge to hear from the witnesses who took back their testimony and decide whether Davis was “clearly innocent.”
That’s a much higher legal standard than “guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”
After hearing from the witnesses, the judge deemed them unreliable and ruled that Davis not “clearly innocent.”
Wikipedia says In 2009, the Supreme Court of the United States ordered the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia to consider whether new evidence “that could not have been obtained at the time of trial clearly establishes [Davis’s] innocence”. The evidentiary hearing was held in June 2010. The defense presented affidavits from seven of the nine trial witnesses whose original testimony had identified Davis as the murderer, but who it contended had changed or recanted their previous testimony. Some of these writings disavowed parts of prior testimony, or implicated Sylvester “Redd” Coles, whom Davis contended was the actual triggerman. The state presented witnesses, including the police investigators and original prosecutors, who described a careful investigation of the crime, without any coercion. Davis did not call some of the witnesses who had supposedly recanted, despite their presence in the courthouse; accordingly their affidavits were given little weight by the judge. Evidence that Coles had confessed to the killing was excluded as hearsay because Coles was not subpoenaed by the defense to rebut it.
Not that I particularly trust the media. But I seem to recall someone stating that something like 50% or better of capital cases tried in the Italian courts have guilty verdicts overturned on appeal.
PS Dallas the new format does not in any way rock. Its an abomination of a format that should gain the designer their own level in hell.
Thanks for any other informative web site. Where else could I get that kind of information written in such an ideal method? I have a mission that I am just now working on, and I’ve been at the glance out for such information.
If anybody wants to understand the reasons why Amanda Knox was convicted of murder, I recommend reading the translations of the official court documents and court testimony. They are available online at the Meredith Kercher Wiki website:
http://themurderofmeredithkercher.com/Main_Page