Vigilante

I logged on to Facebook today, and was met by a virtual vigilante lynch mob. Emotion dripped from my phone, as friend after friend joined in the frenzy. They were just carrying on the trend of those who have been following the case of Casey Anthony, of media drawing a conclusion and broadcasting it, "and spectators even resorting to fistfights last month as they waited for tickets for the public seats in the courthouse."

The thing that concerns me isn't whether Casey Anthony is innocent or not. What happened to Caylee is horrifying, whether it was done at the hands of her own mother or at the hands of someone else. What concerns me is the rampant "CSI effect."

Whatever happened to that old outdated notion of an American's right to innocence until proven guilty? Have we forgotten that this is every American's right, not just our own?

Being an unstable, unemployed party animal, liar and thief doesn't mean you're a baby killer. It means you're white trash. If the skeleton with duct tape wrapped around its skull had been Casey, rather than Caylee, it would have barely even made the evening news, and nobody would have cared. But because it's a child, we somehow feel a deep need for a scapegoat. Why?

The jury wasn't asked to deliver us a scapegoat on a silver platter, so we could hang her from the nearest sycamore tree. They weren't even asked whether they believed she had done the crime. They were asked to examine the evidence presented, and to determine to the best of their ability whether they thought the evidence proved her guilt. Whether Casey Anthony actually killed her daughter or not, they did their job. We, the general public, were never asked to do their job.