Guilty until proven innocent -- the Duke case

Americans, alas, aren't better than anybody else. Left to our own devices, we are capable of as much irrational, sadistic and self-defeating behavior as any other humans. "Lord of the Flies" can happen in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, Africa or anywhere on the planet with equal ease.

What puts us, and usually keeps us, on our best behavior are our institutions. The premise of our legal system -- "innocent until proven guilty" -- often becomes the opposite in the emotional heat of certain crimes, or alleged crimes, as was the case in the Duke case, that lacrosse players raped a black stripper. But from the beginning, this case oozed with hints that something was very much wrong here: the woman kept changing her story, the prosecutor went on a reelection mission, evidence contrary to the prosecutor's case was buried. So outrageous was the prosecutor's behavior that he now faces his own legal battle.

Meanwhile, the lacrosse players, turned loose by the great Duke University in the beginning but now -- too little, too late -- invited back to the university community, some defendants of whom had physical evidence they were somewhere else at the time of the alleged rape, have had to suffer humiliation and the assumption of guilt. Today the new prosecutor will announce his findings and decision, and the early whispers are saying the students will be declared innocent.

There seem to be two different biases among American citizens, each choosing a different emphasis: that it's most important that the guilty be locked up, or that it's most important that the innocent NOT be locked up. Which do you prefer: well, there's a small chance he may be innocent but we'd better be safe and lock him up anyway? Or, well, there's a small chance he may be guilty but we'd better let him go anyway?

I side with the latter, which is why some folks would call me "a liberal." To me, it's a greater error to jail than innocent than to release the guilty. But it can be a very tough call.

The genius of the American system is not that it doesn't make mistakes but that it has a built-in apparatus to correct the mistakes it does make. If new tools appear -- DNA tests -- they can be used to prove the innocence of prisoners falsely accused years earlier. It's belated justice, indeed, but belated justice is better than no justice at all. And that's the best we've been able to do.

clipped from www.cnn.com RALEIGH, North Carolina (CNN) -- The North Carolina attorney general's office said it will announce a decision Wednesday afternoon in the sexual assault case against three former Duke lacrosse players. Defense sources have told CNN that they expect charges against the men will be dropped. All three former players and their families had arrived in Raleigh, North Carolina, by Wednesday. Reade Seligmann, David Evans and Collin Finnerty were charged with first-degree kidnapping and first-degree sexual offense after an escort-service dancer accused them of raping her at a team party in March of last year. In January, the North Carolina attorney general's office took over the case from Michael Nifong, the district attorney who had been handling it. Nifong faces multiple ethics complaints from the state bar over his handling of the case. Wednesday, defense sources told CNN the defense plans to pursue civil suits against Nifong no matter what decision is announced.