Add a Comment   Return to Previous Page

Trust Justice?

Entry 1027, on 2009-06-07 at 23:40:52 (Rating 4, News)

The high profile David Bain retrial is finally over after 3 months and he has been found not guilty of all charges. So is this a good decision? Actually, I really don't know.

I only took a passing interest in the trial but it was always hard to know what the outcome should have been. When the prosecution was presenting its evidence I thought he was probably guilty, but when the defence were in action I thought he was more likely innocent. I really wouldn't have wanted the jury's job of sorting it all out.

Despite the fact that few people really know much about the real facts there still seems to be a lot of strong opinions on the result. About half the people (according to a Herald poll and my own experience) seem to think this is the right result and the other half are equally adamant its wrong.

Actually I'm not really that concerned about the result. Its more the process which is a worry. There have been a few well documented cases now where the police have been shown to be either incompetent or somewhat less than totally principled in their actions (I want to make it clear I'm not saying they're corrupt).

So if he is innocent why was he found guilty in the first trial. And if it was clear enough to the jury that he's innocent then why are the police still so convinced he's guilty? Someone obviously really has it wrong!

The other thing is the obvious distrust people have for the justice (sorry, cancel that word, I mean legal) system. Before the current case I suspect there was about a 50/50 split regarding his guilt. After the case things are about the same. So if the trial hasn't really changed people's minds what does that tell us about the legal system?

Clearly people don't have enough trust in it. Normally I would say that we should trust the outcome of a trial because the jury or judge gets to hear all the evidence and the public who are making their opinion known know almost none of it. But the system has got it wrong before and it could be wrong again.

So really I don't know but I will give the system the benefit of the doubt on this occasion and say the right decision has been made. But after this case I'm even less sure if we can we can really trust justice.

There are no comments for this entry.

You can leave comments about this entry using this form.

Enter your name (optional):
Enter your email address (optional):
Enter the number shown here:
Enter the comment:

To add a comment: enter a name and email (optional), type the number shown, enter a comment, click Add.
Note that you can leave the name blank if you want to remain anonymous.
Enter your email address to receive notifications of replies and updates to this entry.
The comment should appear immediately because the authorisation system is currently inactive.

I do podcasts too! You can listen to my latest podcast, here: OJB's Podcast 2026-04-14 How Far is that Star?: How would we really know how big the universe is? Or subscribe to my podcast RSS feed, on my RSS Feeds page.

If you're not sure what to view from the thousands of pages on my site, here are some suggestions: My Latest Airshow Report (photos and movies from Warbirds Over Wanaka, 2026), My Favourite Wines and Beers (tasting notes for some of my favourites), An Interesting Astronomical Observation (learn a bit about astronomy from these observing notes), See Some Photos (A short rail journey through the Taieri Gorge), Read Some Mac Tips (Learn about how to use your Mac, and fix some problems).

Latest Site News and Notifications (Desktop): You are currently viewing OJB's web site, version 2.4 which has some major changes, and possibly errors! Please report any problems to ojb@mac.com.