# "It's better to let ten guilty men go free... **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 20, 2002, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-better-to-let-ten-guilty-men-go-free/119918 "2002-07-20T02:21:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![taggert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/96bed5/32.png) [@taggert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/taggert)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-better-to-let-ten-guilty-men-go-free/119918/61 "2002-08-08T03:49:04Z")
Sorry about the delay in response. I’ve made my point before that we all can look at the stats and then our activity with respect to the stats. We want innocent people to go free. But unless we can take a camera into a time machine, we have to rely on the appearance of witnesses and the accused and their demeanor in testifying to make decisions about their credibility. If someone comes to court to testify in tank top with unkempt hair and tattoos, that person is not going to have as much credibility as a little old lady coming home from church despite the fact that she is mostly blind and partially deaf. If the accused is really nervous on the stand that is going to lean towards conviction, etc. And we are happy with the results, even though we have more people in prison than any other nation, and even though the sentences are longer. So who are we fooling with slogans like the OP? Certainly not the hundreds of thousands of innocent people in prison. We are fooling ourselves, and we like it that way. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-better-to-let-ten-guilty-men-go-free/119918/62 "2002-08-08T04:44:20Z")
“we like it that way” - you of course speak for yourself and not all Americans. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-better-to-let-ten-guilty-men-go-free/119918/63 "2002-08-08T08:04:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lord Ashtar \* > **How about you volunteer to have your house robbed by someone who was released on a technicality?** The view that anyone who is is found innocent due to a technicality is really guilty and should be punished anyway, I find very troubling. How do you feel about the people who are convicted on “technicalities”; should they be released? Or are you obsessed with punishing everyone who is merely accused, no matter what the evidence? Do you not realize our system of laws is made entirely of “technicalities”? The alternative would be courtrooms ruled by vague generalities and the personal opinions of an imperious judge. Not a country I would like to live in. ---
**Author:** ![Martiju](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@Martiju](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martiju)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-better-to-let-ten-guilty-men-go-free/119918/64 "2002-08-08T13:17:56Z")
"As for me being convicted, there is a silly assumption that I would be charged in the first place. It won’t happen to me because I do not hang around the criminal element and I don’t look like a criminal. " “If someone comes to court to testify in tank top with unkempt hair and tattoos, that person is not going to have as much credibility as a little old lady coming home from church despite the fact that she is mostly blind and partially deaf. If the accused is really nervous on the stand that is going to lean towards conviction, etc” “+ another few outrageous generalities and prejudices” Be afraid. Be very afraid!! Do they not have some kind of weeding out of people with these kinds of attitudes before people get on juries? Is the presumption of innocence really such a difficult concept? Also, how does having a tattoo (for eg) relate to the liklihood of committing a crime? All I can think is that it must be a very black and white world you live in taggert - come see the grey bits! ---
**Author:** ![Justicefirst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@Justicefirst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justicefirst)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-better-to-let-ten-guilty-men-go-free/119918/65 "2017-11-09T11:15:38Z")
I agree, if a hundred guilty murders were set free and those one hundred murders each killed one person in their life time, this means that a hundred innocent people have died because the Jury were afraid to do their duty. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-better-to-let-ten-guilty-men-go-free/119918/66 "2017-11-09T11:36:20Z")
This thread is probably older than some of the people reading it. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-better-to-let-ten-guilty-men-go-free/119918/67 "2017-11-09T13:51:07Z")
Better to let a thousand zombies ravage the countryside. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-better-to-let-ten-guilty-men-go-free/119918/68 "2017-11-09T13:59:33Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Better to let a thousand zombies ravage the countryside. THey should ravage the cities, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-better-to-let-ten-guilty-men-go-free/119918/69 "2017-11-09T15:17:31Z")
Ending zombie menace. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-better-to-let-ten-guilty-men-go-free/119918.md?page=3)