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Unreasonable Doubt - Circumstantial Evidence and an Ordinary Murder in New Haven (Hardcover)
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Discovery Miles 9 640
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Unreasonable Doubt - Circumstantial Evidence and an Ordinary Murder in New Haven (Hardcover)
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It was to all appearances an ordinary murder - many might have said
that it was an open-and-shut case. But some jurors were not
convinced, and the taint of reasonable doubt led one of them to
question the very future of our legal system. For many Americans,
the civic responsibility of jury duty might seem an inconvenience;
for Norma Thompson, it was a unique opportunity to bring her
expertise to bear on the state of trial procedures in America
today. With a background in political science, literature, and the
classics, Thompson served as jury foreman in a trial of an
""ordinary"" murder in New Haven, Connecticut. Deliberations were
buffeted by crosswinds of common sense and strong emotion. The
trial ended in a hung jury because of what Thompson calls the
""unreasonable doubts"" of two fellow jurors concerning
circumstantial evidence in an age when DNA testing holds out the
promise of irrefutable proof. In a compelling tale of contrasting
rhetoric, Thompson takes readers into the courtroom to hear a
streetwise convict verbally sparring with the D.A., then brings us
into the confines of the jury room to have us witness nervous
chatter over the meaning of evidence. She also contrasts this
ordinary murder with the concurrent brutal stabbing of a Yale
student, a case that attracted considerably more police and media
attention. Thompson argues that the indeterminate results of the
trial are symptomatic of larger problems in the justice system and
society and that the reluctance of most people today to be
judgmental is damaging the criminal justice system. As an antidote,
she suggests that great literary and historical texts can help us
develop the capacity for prudential judgment. Gleaning insights
from an imaginary jury of Tocqueville and Plato, Jane Austen and
William Faulkner, among other writers and thinkers, Thompson shows
how confrontation with the works of such authors can help model
more proper habits of deliberation. Blending personal memoir,
social analysis, and literary criticism, ""Unreasonable Doubt"" is
a challenging book that deals squarely with the evasion of judgment
in contemporary political, social, and legal affairs. Brimming with
brilliant insights, it suggests that the foundations for thought
and action in our time have been neglected as a result of the wall
erected between the social sciences and the humanities and invites
readers to consider jury duty in a new light. Through real-world
drama and literary reflection, it shows us that there is more to
politics than power - and more of value to be found in the
humanities than we may have supposed.
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