When we turn on the TV and watch Law and Order, or any of its other spin-offs, we are all treated to this display of legal action where they always seem to be aiming to get the guy and somehow get the job done most of the time by grasping at straws until everything makes sense.  It’s a win for the good guys, and in the rare cases where an innocent person is prosecuted, things seem to work out so that everyone ends up happy.

The fiction in the show does well to describe what hardships exist in our legal system, but it does an even better job at attempting to display how our legal system should work.  It should make every attempt to get the bad guy and make sure justice is served.  It should make every attempt at uncovering the whole truth before presenting the case before the judge.  It should make the attempt at discerning whether the defendant is actually guilty, or if he or she is innocent.

How often those actions are omitted.

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