It wasn’t that people wanted the boys to be guilty, they believed that they were guilty by proxy. The boys were simply chosen at random to serve as the nominal perpetrators of White persecution of Black women. The arrogance of the left to think that they had the power to prosecute this case as a case of restorative justice is stunning. Now the left is stunned that they didn’t pull it off.
The tragedy is that people would be willing to sacrifice innocent people to avenge past sins.
There is no denying past failings of the judicial system, but people of class and dignity do not want to perpetuate that crime on others. People of class and dignity want the justice system to be blind, and unbiased.