Pubdate: Fri, 04 Jan 2002 Source: Blade, The (OH) Copyright: 2002 The Blade Contact: http://www.toledoblade.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/48 JUSTICE? PAVLOV WOULD BE PROUD Chicagoan Edward I. Turner is just another victim of war. The drug war has turned our justice system into an assembly line, and like all assembly lines it produces defective products, in this case the conviction of an innocent man - before the only evidence that could have vindicated him was ready for review. It wasn't the prosecutor who demanded that the evidence be studied more closely to make sure they had the right guy. After all he had two men, a car, and some cocaine, pretty much an open and shut case, right? The jury and judge agreed, guilty as charged! Ahh, but he was innocent, wasn't he? And the only explanation for that is rapid-fire cookie-cutter justice. These are the kinds of things that happen when people are conditioned to respond in a particular manner to a particular stimuli. Ding! Ding! "There were drugs." Ding! Ding! "He was in the same car." Ding! Ding! "How say you?" "Guilty! Guilty! Hang 'em high!" Pavlov would be proud, but we still don't know if the system responds because it is just or just because. And what of those who hadn't the benefit of a poor quality video to exonerate them? Nothing but a feast for the dogs of war. Ding ding! Jim White Oregon - --- MAP posted-by: Beth