The right man was arrested. Now while I agree with his emotional reaction, and I do not think his punishment should be as sever as say someone who beat a person for their wallet, we cannot as a society take the law into our own hands.
This was way after the fact. If the guy had been big enough at the time and beat the shit out of him upon the attempt, that would make more sense.
There are governments that can and do abuse their citizens with presumption of guilt and their are theocracies that have public executions over mere honor.
There was a national case of child abuse back in the 80s that got 13 people arrested, most did not get convicted, but 4 or 5 that worked at that daycare center spent time in jail. FALSELY, because of the zealous public and untrained police force. They pumped up the kids with stories and scared them into lying on the stand.
I really warn the "he had it coming" people that you cant simply uses Dirty Harry thinking. It is nice for Hollywood, but it sucks for the innocent in reality.
When we talk about human rights, the important thing LONG TERM is what would YOU personally want if you were falsely accused of something you know you did not do.
NOW, even outside the issue of crime it happens to all of us over minor things. A family member wants to know why you borrowed their shirt but it ended up where THEY put it. Or at work a tip is missing from the table, but it turned out the customer put it on their card, or didn't tip at all.
That is all minor stuff, but when it comes to being accused you don't have to like the nature of the charge, but everyone involved in the system, from the police, to the lawyers, to the judge, and the jury, to insure the rights of EVERYONE long term, facts, not emotions, are the only thing that can minimize mistakes.
This was way after the fact. If the guy had been big enough at the time and beat the shit out of him upon the attempt, that would make more sense.
There are governments that can and do abuse their citizens with presumption of guilt and their are theocracies that have public executions over mere honor.
There was a national case of child abuse back in the 80s that got 13 people arrested, most did not get convicted, but 4 or 5 that worked at that daycare center spent time in jail. FALSELY, because of the zealous public and untrained police force. They pumped up the kids with stories and scared them into lying on the stand.
I really warn the "he had it coming" people that you cant simply uses Dirty Harry thinking. It is nice for Hollywood, but it sucks for the innocent in reality.
When we talk about human rights, the important thing LONG TERM is what would YOU personally want if you were falsely accused of something you know you did not do.
NOW, even outside the issue of crime it happens to all of us over minor things. A family member wants to know why you borrowed their shirt but it ended up where THEY put it. Or at work a tip is missing from the table, but it turned out the customer put it on their card, or didn't tip at all.
That is all minor stuff, but when it comes to being accused you don't have to like the nature of the charge, but everyone involved in the system, from the police, to the lawyers, to the judge, and the jury, to insure the rights of EVERYONE long term, facts, not emotions, are the only thing that can minimize mistakes.
