During the O.J. Simpson murder trial (January 24, 1995 - October 3, 1995), of course, an issue had been race.
But the more consuming one had been cynicism about the legal system. The game seemed to operate according to the best legal team money and/or could buy.
Had Simpson been a poor nobody Black 20-something male in Los Angeles, the trial - and it was unlikely there would have been one - would probably have had a very different outcome. Anyway the odds would have been the young man would have been encouraged to take a plea.
We Baby Boomers and members of Generation X were the prime audience for observing how much the legal system seemed to be able to tilted toward power brokers. Simpson's "Dream Team" were all prominent lawyers. They had power, lots of it.
As Hannah Knowles reports in The Washington Post, among Gen Zers, that is, those born between 1997 and 2012, there is that same kind of skepticism about the legal system. They are following the murder trial of Derek Chauvin.
What the eye can see and what the ear can hear would seem to prove that the defendant used unnecessary force - to say, the least.
But, the legal system is about procedure and, yes, the talent of the defense. It seems naive to ever assume it's about justice. Even we middle class white Americans have become fearful of getting tangled up with the law.
Yet, so much of the current headlines in the legal media are about bonuses paid out in BigLaw. Not about a struggle to make the legal system more of a level playing field. One on which the poor can receive the same quality of defense as those with assets.
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