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The English jurist William Blackstone said "Better that ten guilty men go free than that one innocent suffer."
In recent years, I've seen Blackstone's ratio, when it's cited, shrink down to four to one, as if there's been some kind of deflation of the presumption of innocence. I also wonder how it would fare as a poll question. It's an older idea than Blackstone's 18th century. It's as old as Genesis, as old as Maimonides, but there seem to be plenty of people eager to convict the guilty and not commensurately worried about the innocent.
President Reagan's Attorney General Ed Meese famously said that most arrested people are guilty.
One of our guests today has proven that even convicted people are not always guilty. Karen Goodrow has won the exoneration of three Connecticut prisoners. She and Chief State's Attorney Kevin Kane and retired Supreme Court Justice David Borden discuss three interlocking stories in the criminal justice system on today's show.
Leave your comments below, e-mail colin@wnpr.org or Tweet us @wnprcolin.
