Everything Southern Humboldt and more
Quote: “It is better for justice that one innocent man go free than 10 guilty murderers be convicted.”
Agree or disagree? Why?
Addendum: Okay, the first commenter has a point. Let me ask it his/her way. “Is it better that 10 guilty men go free than one innocent man be convicted?”
But a french fry tastes the same way, no matter which way you turn it. That’s from the old Sidney Poitier movie. Can’t remember the title. I’m sure I messed up that quote as well.
 | Narration on For a Crisp Spring Saturday… |
 | Forest Queen on Priorities |
| Narration on How does vinegar mix with tin… |
| Narration on For a Crisp Spring Saturday… |
| Narration on How does vinegar mix with tin… |
| Forest Queen on Priorities |
 | Miss Criyant on For a Crisp Spring Saturday… |
 | suzy blah blah on For a Crisp Spring Saturday… |
| suzy blah blah on For a Crisp Spring Saturday… |
| Miss Criyant on For a Crisp Spring Saturday… |
| Miss Criyant on For a Crisp Spring Saturday… |
| Miss Criyant on For a Crisp Spring Saturday… |
| suzy blah blah on For a Crisp Spring Saturday… |
| Narration on For a Crisp Spring Saturday… |
| suzy blah blah on For a Crisp Spring Saturday… |
34 comments
Comments feed for this article
April 26, 2007 at 3:22 pm
oj
Don’t you have that bass ackwards, counselor?
The way that proposition is normally phrased is: Is it better that 10 guilty men go free than one innocent man be convicted?
Of course, neither address the problem with women.
April 26, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Anonymous
hahahaha, Eric Kirk is stupid!
April 26, 2007 at 3:51 pm
Anonymous
“Shoot ‘em all and let God sort it out.”
from a famous western, I forget which one
April 26, 2007 at 3:51 pm
Andy S
Yes it is. One of the worst things a society can do is place an innocent person in a cage.
April 26, 2007 at 4:04 pm
Anonymous
No – and to all of you that believe this crap NO again.
It is equally bad for society that 10 guilty man go free as it is that one innocent man get wrongly convicted.
You either or people are so limited and allow yourself to be so because of other limited folk who mis-frame the issue for you.]
April 26, 2007 at 4:13 pm
Anonymous
Ten percent of men think.
Ten percent of men think they think.
Eighty percent of men would rather die than think.
–Samauel Clemmons (aka Trade Mark)
btw that Western line above was first uttered in the 13th Century as the French kings waged war on the “Albigensian heresy”, the gnostics of their day, who owned Albi but were suspiciously tolerant of heterodoxy, so an old-fashioned massacre would kill perhaps ten thousand innocent Christians. No problem! Just like modern Kingsmen in the DA and US attorney’s offices. No wonder even the slogans are recycled.
April 26, 2007 at 4:42 pm
Anonymous
is anyone truely inocent?
April 26, 2007 at 4:48 pm
Anonymous
certainly not those who can’t spell
April 26, 2007 at 4:58 pm
Heraldo Riviera
I totally disagree about the french fry.
April 26, 2007 at 5:13 pm
Anonymous
It depends on where the salt is.
April 26, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Hank Sims
[hijack]
Hey d3rch, how’s the Woot-Off treating you?
[/hijack]
April 26, 2007 at 6:24 pm
Anonymous
Eric is trying to spin the string of acquittals (and recent finding of factual innocence after an acquittal) in the DA’s office into a good thing.
Nice try.
Justice prevailing and incompetence reigning are very different reasons for the an outcome.
April 26, 2007 at 8:33 pm
Anonymous
My favorite post of the day (so far)
“You either or people are so limited and allow yourself to be so because of other limited folk who mis-frame the issue for you.]”
I’ll drink to that!
April 26, 2007 at 9:30 pm
Anonymous
If you happen to be the one innocent man who gets convicted anyway you might have a different take on this hypothetical proposition.
Happens more often than you think – especially if you’re black. Hey, they all look alike. Honest mistake.
April 26, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Anonymous
Are these people mass murderers, or are they jaywalkers?
April 26, 2007 at 9:42 pm
Transplanted
I absolutely agree that It is better that ten guilty persons escape than one innocent suffer.
.. it was true when William Blackstone said it and it still is true.
To hold any other view, in my opinion, is to deny the entire premise that the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
To “Know” a person is guilty of a crime is not sufficient cause to punish such a person, the guilt must be PROVEN.
As the immortal Justice Holmes said
“Certitude is not the test of certainty. We have been cock sure of many things that are not so.”
Where “Reasonable Doubt” exists, it is a travesty when a conviction results.
April 27, 2007 at 12:26 am
Anonymous
The point of the original quote was to address complaints to the effect that our anglo-american justice system seems, at times, slanted in favor of the accused. The response is
perhaps it seems so, but if so it is a reflection of
a value judgement that the worst thing a justice system can do is not free the guilty, but convict the innocent.
It was never intended to be
a serious suggestion that a goal be to release ten guilty, or any guilty.
April 27, 2007 at 12:57 am
ED Denson
As the Doctor’s oath says, first do no harm. The application to the courts is this: if the courts are going to convict innocent people then they are adding to the problems of injustice, not reducing it.
Its hard to think of guilty people getting off, although it happens often. But those guilty people often just end up in trouble again and they don’t get off every time. The innocent person in prison, on the other hand, is very unlikely to ever get another chance to prove innocence. BTW the 200th person wrongly convicted of a major crime but exonerated, often after years of prison, was freed recently through DNA evidence.
April 27, 2007 at 1:35 am
Anonymous
It’s worth noting how our local drug/pot lords have abused every civil liberty loophole in sight. We are asked to support their endless quest for legal loopholes. Meanwhile, our schools, hospitals and roads are in a state of collapse simply because our local parasitic drug lords contribute next to nothing to their own community.
April 27, 2007 at 1:39 am
Anonymous
They contribute plenty of drugs–even for kids–and plenty of guns for everyone!
April 27, 2007 at 2:03 am
Anonymous
I saw Nick Bravo today purchasing a gun. I couldn’t stop staring. When he asked if there was something wrong I quickly left.
I’m locking my doors and getting a dog.
April 27, 2007 at 2:10 am
Anonymous
I used to work in a sporting goods store that pushed guns. You wouldn’t believe some of the thugs who walk out with automatic weapons. BTW the old revolver is seen as somehow inadequate because it doesn’t fire enough bullets without reloading. Most are limited to five or six shots. Your typical gun buyer is encouraged to fantasize about shootouts! Of course, your typical pot grower is armed to the teeth, often with fully automatic weapons, which are completely illegal and subject to federal prison time. Take a walk in the hills if you want to hear what they sound like.
April 27, 2007 at 2:21 am
Anonymous
Let’s just get it right the first time.
April 27, 2007 at 5:03 pm
Transplanted
“…your typical pot grower is armed to the teeth…”
I must have led a sheltered life, since so few of the many growers I’ve known are heavily armed… the overwhelming majority, in my experience, possess only a hunting type rifle, kept mostly for deer, racoons and the like.
I think it’s not so much that there are a great many that have arsenals but that those who DO have such weaponry are so bloody visable.
April 27, 2007 at 5:08 pm
Eric V. Kirk
Some have a very romantic picture of Sohum in that regard, played up unfortunately by not just the media but also by publications like High Times.
April 27, 2007 at 5:10 pm
Transplanted
” The innocent person in prison, on the other hand, is very unlikely to ever get another chance to prove innocence.”
And even when an erroneous conviction is overturned, there is no way to compensate the wrongfully convicted party for the cost in time, emotional distress, damaged reputation and material losses.
A monetary judgement cannot restore lost years or erase the trauma of imprisonment.
April 27, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Nick Bravo
The state seeks to be credible. Everytime they make a mistake they seek to cover up that mistake because they feel it damages their credibility.
That’s of course assuming that the state has any credibility in the first place.
Also, in regards to the state increasing spending for prisons to reduce overcrowding. Why not just repeal bad laws?
Because repealing bad laws would be saying the legislature makes mistakes. Admitting mistakes reduces their credibility. Thus we have a judiciary and a legislative branch watching each others ass in order to remain credible.
It’s mentally retarded monkeys all the way up.
April 27, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Transplanted
Not saying the problem does not exist, just that it does not involve a majority of growers as you seem to be asserting. It only takes a very few such greedy, thoughtless, self serving jerks to create a problem for everyone
April 27, 2007 at 7:42 pm
Anonymous
transplanted:
That’s another loophole the growers love to push down our throats: the harmless “mom & pop grower” who still practices peace and love etc. Don’t believe it. Virtually all of them are armed to the teeth and quite prepared to kill to protect their miserable “crop.” This is the reality of life in the hills today in SOHUM.
Let me take this opportunity to urge people to turn in their local pot lord. One phone call puts them out of business. Do it today.
April 28, 2007 at 12:17 am
Anonymous
If we find one that isn’t armed to the teeth do we still have to turn her in? Or do we just shoot her?
April 28, 2007 at 2:01 am
Anonymous
If you’re making those calls you want everyone else to make then your little corner of the world must be very quiet with loads of land available (unless siezed)
April 28, 2007 at 2:21 am
Anonymous
And loads of national park land to walk in without being interrogated, bullied or shot.
Another good place to fight drug lords is a church group, where you can often meet law enforcement people and plan strategies. In numbers there is strength.
April 28, 2007 at 6:55 pm
Anonymous
But then we’ll have to deal with the Lord drug.
April 28, 2007 at 10:51 pm
Anonymous
Another good place: school oriented organizations such at the PTA. Pot growers rarely contribute anything our schools, however, they can be depended on to make a huge scene when their children are caught with drugs.