The Massacre of Innocence

Opinion Journal ^ | September 6, 2007 | Abigail Thernstrom

[Puzzleman]

Privileged, rowdy white jocks at an elite, Southern college, a poor, young black stripper, and an alleged rape: It was a juicy, made-for-the-media story of race, class and sex, and it was told and retold for months with a ferocious, moralistic intensity.

--snip--

"Until Proven Innocent" is a stunning book. It recounts the Duke lacrosse case in fascinating detail and offers, along the way, a damning portrait of the institutions--legal, educational and journalistic--that do so much to shape contemporary American culture...

[Puzzleman]

Thoughtful summary on an important book.

[Molly Pitcher]

Taylor just gave an hour interview with Bill Bennett. Taylor was excellent, and spoke some of the larger context of the less than savory campus culture of drinking and partying. He also told a personal story about his own daughter and her experience as an athlete at some of the parties she was involved in.

But as appalling as all that is, it doesn't excuse what Nifong did to those 3 young men. He was clear about that.

[generally]

“Ms. Roberts called the rape charge a “crock” when she first heard of it, until District Attorney Michael Nifong bribed her to say otherwise by reducing a bondsman’s fee—from an earlier conviction—by roughly $2,000.”

How often is this sort of thing done? How often does bribery affect the outcome of a court case? How often are judges and lawyers involved in this sort of activity?

[the invisib1e hand]

Privileged, rowdy white jocks at an elite, Southern college, a poor, young black stripper, and an alleged rape:

What's to be expected of ingredients like this, a remake of "It's a Wonderful Life?"

so many wrongs can never make a right. this is America's cancer. Hope we can survive.

[agere_contra]

How often is this sort of thing done? How often does bribery affect the outcome of a court case? How often are judges and lawyers involved in this sort of activity?

It's witness tampering. At least, it would be in many countries. The USA has many things to be proud of, but not its legal system. It seems to run on plea-bargaining and the subversion of witnesses by Government.

[Carbonado]

Just one more glimpse into the real war.

The confluence of Leftist assumptions about how the world works/should work and the enormous guilt that the “elites” desperately want to rid themselves of combine to produce the societal toxins of political correctness and group assigned victim/perp roles.

As always the Leftist MSM will try to ignore it completely or, failing that, try and excuse the whole mess by quoting bogus statistics that “prove” they were right all along in pre judging the white boys who SHOULD be guilty.

The Leftists are the enemy, whether in the MSM, politics or academia, and this is a war.

[CondorFlight]

Let’s face it : three totally innocent defendants were indicted by a DA who manipulated a secret Grand Jury hearing; and then made to endure a year of government prosecution,
intended to break them and make them accept a plea deal.

And the punishment for the perpetrator of this is one day in jail (which is regarded as a great milestone in US legal history).

And there is no barrier at all to this happening again, to anyone.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Nifong needs a year in jail (at the very least) to consider his deeds. The president of the university and the Duke 88 should be fired.

[Thombo2]

Nifong only gets one day in jail????Simply astounding.I would think a year(minimum)in the pokie and permanent disbarment would be good for starters.