yanfan388 wrote:the exact quote by sir william blackstone was "It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer". i should have googled it instead of trying to remember rumpole of the bailey!
this has been a fundamental principle of british and american justice for centuries, related to the principle of "innocent until proven guilty". wikipedia has historical background tracing it back to the bible. look up "blackstone's formulation" there.
it's kind of interesting that the statement was made during the salem witch trials, that benjamin franklin said "one hundred" instead of "ten", and cambodia's dictator pol pot turned it around so "It is better that ten innocent persons suffer than that one guilty person escape".
Nice.
Well said.
Yes.
The early Americans were famous for being Innocent.
We often see ourselves in others. They saw hope.
Ben Franklin was not a Choir Boy.
Yet; He believed in an Old Fashioned American way...
...some darned thing.
It seems in the US today, Pol Pot's Policies are an easy sell.
I wanted to believe we were better than that.
I did not know Pol Pot.
I started a paper on The Land and Her People During and After.
I did not finish the paper. I did not make it through the Lit. Review.
That was some Dark History.
I did begin to form an opinion or two.
"War is Bad for Children and Other Living Things."It is particularly Bad for Children to grow up in War.
A child with Leadership Potential will excel in Peace Time.
A intelligent child that takes on Adult responsibilities is a child that may be very competent as an Adult.
During War such a child may not develop in ways that fit my spoiled little Peace Time eyes.
When children are exposed to Violence, It does not effect them all the same.
The bright, The capable, The Shining Stars.
They hurt and are hurt in War.
A Bright child may become a Religious Fanatic.
There was no religion. It was for The Cause.
If an adult can do it.
A precocious child can do it.
I still can't laugh about it.
Can you?
Life is, just, an exchange of electrons; It is up to us to give it meaning.
We are all in The Gutter.
Some of us see The Gutter.
Some of us see The Stars.
by mr. Oscar Wilde.
Those that want to Know; Know.
Those that do not Know; Don't tell them.
They do terrible things to people that Tell Them.