Although I find the entire Amanda Knox saga tragic, I have to say that I feel very different about it than Susan apparently does. True, there is a lot about the Amanda Knox trial that is unsettling: a prosecutor advancing bizarre case theories, a jury apparently driven by nationalist pride, a sensationalist media account that likely tainted the jury pool, etc. Still, I’m not sure if this case merits State Department involvement, let alone “the big guns.”
As much as we might prefer otherwise, American standards of justice do not apply around the world. Indeed, it is difficult to establish any principles of due process and justice that apply with equal weight throughout the world. (Although Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is an attempt to define such rights, even that list is controversial and sometimes ambiguous.) Thus, Americans cannot expect to enjoy the protections of “American” due process everywhere they go; travel should be accompanied by a recognition that one leaves the protective sphere of America and enters places where the protections might be minimal at best.
Therefore, the government of the United States should probably only get involved in foreign trials in two instances: (1) where a trial violates well-established principles of international law or (2) where a trial violates the laws of the country where the trial is held. Even in the second instance, however, involvement should be limited, as a nation should be permitted to interpret its own laws and administer its own system in the manner of its choosing. Most of the critiques of the Knox trial I have seen don’t implicate either situation, however. Instead, they are simple attacks on the “weight of the evidence” or the “bias of the prosecutor.” I don’t think that merits American intervention.
These principles may seem disquieting in a situation like the Amanda Knox trial. How can we really allow such an “injustice” to proceed? Nevertheless, as Susan noted, our American system of justice is not that receptive to outside influences. See, e.g., the Medellin situation involving Texas’ rejection of an ICJ order and international condemnation of our death penalty in general. If we wish to construct our system of justice in a sphere free from outside influence, we should treat other systems in the same manner.
Lastly, I would question the notion of “American” justice. It almost goes without saying that American prosecutors are often imperfect instruments of justice, and American juries are often motivated by impure considerations (e.g., racism, a hatred of the poor, etc.) Outrages upon justice happen over here too, perhaps more often than we care to think about. I think there’s even some possibility that Amanda Knox would have been found guilty in a stateside trial, given her conflicting accounts and strange behavior following her roommate’s death. True, the prosecutor’s case theory probably would not have involved any satanic orgies, but in the end that doesn’t matter that much. And had Amanda been tried in her home state of Washington, she would have been subject to the death penalty (unlike in Italy, where the death penalty is not an option).
As I said, this is not a happy case at all. But I think it’s important to look past our anger and ask if we actually have a principled leg to stand on before we start taking diplomatic measures against Italy.
-Michael
amanda knox is innocent, ITALY should be found guilty of poor court systems and media lust!!!! I blame America for not doing enough! Lack of evidence, convicting before trial, and stereotyping American Women.
My idea of U.S. Government involvement would be to have it quietly made clear to the right people that, strategically, it is in Italy’s long-term interest to see that Knox gets a “fair” appeal. And by fair I mean she is released. Ideally, I’d like to see Raffaele go free too — the poor kid has been way overlooked because of the hoopla over Amanda, but as an Italian citizen, he’s less our concern.
And this is a valid situation for American involvement because there is a good deal of suggestion that it is Amanda’s nationality that lead to her conviction. If a state is giving less than due process (in the international sense) to a defendant because they’ve got a U.S. passport, we’re well within our rights under international law to make a fuss about it.
While I didn’t go into it in my last posts, there is also a lot of evidence to suggest violations of various squishy international human rights laws occurred over the course of Knox’s investigation — okay, sure, that’s not exactly an impressive argument in legal academia, but again, it provides plenty of policy justification for American involvement in a foreign fora.
Remember, a lot of her “strange” behavior at the beginning was either entirely made up (i.e., she didn’t buy lingerie after the murder, she had to buy underwear because she wasn’t allowed to return home to get some, because it was a crime scene) or was a result of her extended interrogation without access to counsel, during which she was physically assaulted by investigators.
Americans abroad have to comply with foreign laws. But there is nothing that says Americans shouldn’t seek recourse on the international plane when foreign laws are abused to get a phony life sentence conviction against them. If it really were true that “the critiques of the Knox trial… are simple attacks on the ‘weight of the evidence’ or the ‘bias of the prosecutor’”, I would be 100% in complete agreement with you. But that’s not the case. There is (1) Zero physical evidence to show Amanda did it and the “evidence” to show Raffaele did it is pretty blatantly bogus, (2) There is no motive for why she did it, and no possible way to construct a logical narrative that explains a version of Meredith’s death that matches the prosecution’s claims, (3) There is a guy already convicted and in jail for whom there is physical evidence, motive, and opportunity to show that he was the perpetrator, and finally (4) There is substantial evidence of government misconduct and outright fabrication leading to Amanda’s prosecution and conviction.
In short, this is not normal, run-of-the-mill injustice. And when foreign governments make up crazy fabrications to put Americans in prison for multiple decades, I’m all in favor of making it very clear to the world that that ain’t cool with us.
This is where my realist sensibilities come into play, and why I’m more willing to see the American government get involved than you are. I think it’s far better for our interests to at least put on a good show of being a global team player, even if a cautious one, and to make flashy concessions about high profile events that don’t have any real substantive import — and yes, to accept, occasionally, foreign suggestions about domestic policy that don’t actually affect any real interest of ours. In return, we’ll at least be able to make the case that we are justified in more forcefully throwing our considerable weight around abroad.
After all, what’s the point in being a superpower if, due to myopic national policy that sees even showy compromise as “losing,” we’re often unable to actually enjoy the perks that come with being the big dog on the block?
Knox clearly murdered her roomate. The evidence was conclusive and Knox’s bloody finger prints were all over the murder weapon. She was angry at her roomate for constantly complaining about her filty hygiene, smell, and sexual habits. Knox is a sociopath, pure evil. That is clear. Sure, every country has there own justice system. Just because it is not a mirror image of the American Justice system, doesn’t mean it is “incompetent” or “unfair”.
If this was all about Nationality…Why did the Italian Courts convict the other suspect in the case AN ITALIAN MAN of 25 years???? Answer that.
Read the facts before jumping to ridiculous conclusions.
They never found the murder weapon, so I’m not sure how they could have found her fingerprints on it, bloody or no.
Finding Amanda’s fingerprints on a knife in her own house or in her boyfriend’s kitchen — knives that could not have inflicted the wounds that killed Kercher, even — is not precisely evidence of murder. I’m pretty sure you can find my finger prints on knives in my kitchen, too. The only significant fingerprints found were Guede’s bloody fingerprints on Kercher’s body. Thanks though, try again next time.
Also if complaints about roommates’ housekeeping skills or sexual proclivities were the sort of thing that resorted in murder, I’d know a helluva lot more people who were dead and/or in jail.
“Lastly, I would question the notion of “American” justice. It almost goes without saying that American prosecutors are often imperfect instruments of justice, and American juries are often motivated by impure considerations (e.g., racism, a hatred of the poor, etc.) Outrages upon justice happen over here too,”
Translation into English: “American courts get to railroad defendants all of the time, so why should an Italian court get to do the same?”
Because morality isn’t graded on a curve, Michael. Wrong is wrong, and remains so, even if other people are doing things just as wrong.
The “evidence” I’ve heard so far consists of
1. Noting that after being interrogated for a long time – I’ve heard varying estimates going as high as 50 hours – while being refused access to counsel, Mr. Knox tripped over her own words.
2. The fact that a kitchen knife that an expert witness stated was too large to have caused the fatal wound had the DNA of one of the people in the house on it; that is to say, one of the people who would have been expected to use said knife in the kitchen in which it was kept. Oh, and that said knife has been cleaned.
I guess that in Italy, cleaning one’s kitchenware is considered unusual behavior. In the civilised world, of which I had thought Italy to be a part until now, that’s known as “basic hygeiene”.
3. That Ms. Knox relaxes using calisthenics and was affectionate with her boyfriend the day after the killing. Because, of course, only guilty people can cope with tragedy without completely breaking down?
It is particularly disgraceful that so many English commenters have tried to argue that this was evidence of anything, as it is their own culture that coined the very phrase that describes this failure to collapse into tears: “keeping a stiff upper lip”. They can not plead cultural ignorance, when the very cultural trait that they would try to present as damning evidence is one of their own.
4. That Ms. Knox is a pretty young white woman from the United States. Not that there is anything at all racist about suggesting that an injustice done to a white person is less important than an injustice done to a person of color, or anything petty about wishing to see a more attractive member of the same sex spend time behind bars because she is more attractive than one.
I would add that I’ve gleaned this much reading over the commentary of people who’ve been defending the verdict. This is not meaningful evidence under any sane standard, and if Italy’s laws say otherwise, then Italy’s laws are illegitimate. One can’t make an outrage less outrageous by making it a matter of law or policy.
Would the prosecutor have won the initial verdict if the interrogation of Knox had been taped as required? The jury would have seen the duress that Knox was under and the coercion and physical force that was applied to her. They would have seen how Knox was immorally coached to indite Patrick.
Would the prosecutor have won the initial verdict if the police had not destroyed the three computers with favorable e-mail messages and important dates and times held in a fragile, temporary register? It is ironic that one of the reasons that Know was incarcerated upon arrest was the fear of destruction of evidence. Perhaps the police should be incarcerated for the protection of Knox and Sollecto.
Since 30% of guilty initial verdicts are over turned on appeal, Knox will likely see a reductions of jail term. The court cannot allow a person, KNOWN to have seen Kirsher bleeding to death and who did nothing about it but cleanse himself, receive a shorter prison term than a person who is known NOT to have been on site.
But this all takes time while Amanda Know wastes her prime years confined in a harsh and HIV infested institution.