fandomhigh | Concepts of Justice and The Law [Period 4, Class #9, Mar 9]

"Justice," Alex began, "is frequently depicted as a pair of balancing scales. If you've been paying attention so far this semester, you probably can see how that would be appropriate. A lot of the fundamentals of justice are, at heart, an elaborate balancing act. When the lines have to be drawn, what do you privilege? Where do you err, in the gray areas? That's something we've been discussing, in one form or another, nearly every week."

"This week, we're going straight to the heart of the matter." Alex pointed to the blackboard, which had a few sentences written on it.

FOURTHLY, all presumptive evidence of felony should be admitted cautiously: for the law holds, that it is better that ten guilty persons escape, than that one innocent suffer.

"This is known as Blackstone's Formulation," Alex said, "although the principle behind it is much older. Sir John Fortescue said much the same a few centuries earlier. The idea here is that, all else being equal, it is better for a judicial system to acquit ten guilty people than to convict one innocent person.

"Obviously, the ideal would be to convict every guilty person and to never convict anyone who was innocent. But that's not realistic. Some accused will confess. Some crimes, you will have clear and undeniable evidence. The rest of the time? You have a great deal of evidence pointing towards that person, while he or she swears innocence.

"It is each society's decision, what to prioritize in that moment. Not all follow Blackstone. Otto von Bismarck said the opposite: better to imprison ten innocent men than to let one guilty go free. Bismarck's country would presumably have less crime, but I'll say, I still wouldn't want to live there.

"If society decides that it's better to acquit the innocent than convict the guilty, then the burden of proof is on the prosecutors. The government has to prove, within a reasonable doubt, that this person is guilty. Reasonable doubt doesn't mean no doubt at all. If aliens might have abducted this person and replaced him with a body double, that's certainly an alternate theory of the crime, but it's hardly a plausible one."

At least, for places that weren't Fandom.

"No one is found innocent in a court of law: the verdicts are Guilty or Not Guilty, and sometimes the latter means 'we're not sure.' If you're not convinced, as a jury member, you should vote Not Guilty. Put the burden on the prosecutors. Make us do our job.

"By contrast, if you're living in Bismarck's world, you have to prove your innocence, if you're charged with a crime. Proving a negative is difficult. Find a good alibi, find a good attorney, and good luck."

Alex clasped her hands together, in front of herself. "So. That's this week's topic. Reasonable doubt, and balancing those scales. Do you follow Blackstone, or Bismarck?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Dinah threw a paper airplane at Roy. Across one wing was written: BC left me an IOU for pizza money!

Roy snatched the paper airplane out of midair, read the note, and wrote across the other wing, Do you want me to pay you back? before winging it back toward Dinah. Possibly aiming for her head, because he was easily amused.

Dinah ducked, then snagged the airplane, grinning, read it, snickered, and wrote: I want pizza! Not $$$! And winged it at him, with a loop-di-loop that was totally accidental.

So you want me to buy you pizza? Roy tried. What do you want on it? He tossed it back at her, apparently without looking.

'Apparently.' Sure. That's why it landed perfectly on her desk.

Mushrooms and sausage and peppers and pepperoni and extra cheese!

Or she could've just written 'everything' and saved space on the airplane.

She autographed my poster!

That would be because Roy had skillz.

Can do. PS I have no idea what you're talking about.

Dinah grinned smugly. Long story. Bring pizza.

Also: Teeny Dinah?

Roy thought many, many curse words, none of which were appropriate for the classroom and some of which were not in English.

You remember that?

Yup! The airplane was getting crowded, but there was still enough space to write: Call your Dinah, dude. She misses you.

Or somebody did. It got confusing.

The crowdedness of the airplane was totally the reason for the brevity of Roy's next response. Really, he swore. She's busy. That wasn't her.

I know. Dinah was writing tiny now. Bet you a pizza she'd like it. She was all proud of you and stuff. The writing got tinier towards the tail, there.

And please. She was inside almost-the-Black-Canary's head, kinda. Even if the memories were fuzzy. There was massive hugging!

Yeah, well, she was from the future where he was apparently less of a screw-up, so. Subject change! Have fun this weekend?

Yes! Dinah sent Roy a grin across the room. Then frowned and scribbled: Had to beat up Harley Quinn, though. Clown groupie twit version.

Edited 2010-03-10 06:03 (UTC)

Who? Who?

Dinah boggled at the paper airplane for a second, and wrote even more tiny: I want to visit your world where you don't know who she is.Even smaller, she wrote: HAD FUN, KICKED ASS. YAY WEEKEND.

No, you don't, Roy wrote back. Glad you had fun. She had fun. Whatever. As long as they didn't have to talk about his display of weakness.

Roy had, for some reason, slipped into the same category as Arthur, of Guys You Don't Hug Without Warning, No Big Emotional Scenes, Macho As A Way of Life. So yeah, no talking about that.

Just lots of teasing. And demands for pizza.

& cheesestx!

Roy grinned. and cheesesticks, he promised.

Concepts of Justice and The Law [Period 4, Class #9, Mar 9]

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