Show Trials
Posted: June 14th, 2005, 3:34 pm
The show trial was a favorite of totalitarian regimes, and it has its equivalent in capitalist democracies with the media circus trial. Variations on an old theme -- the dramaturgy of social control.
In the totalitarian version, a man perceived as dangerous to the ruling party's leaders is put on trial and convicted of a crime he did not commit; the trial form puts a thin veneer of legal process on what is essentially a political assasination. In the capitalist- democratic version, a famous, wealthy man is acquited of a crime everyone knows he committed, in order to put forth the appearance that defendants have a chance of actually defending themselves in our criminal justice system; indeed, this may succeed in convincing the public of a need to get tougher on crime and make the job of the prosecutor easier in future cases.
In the totalitarian version, a man perceived as dangerous to the ruling party's leaders is put on trial and convicted of a crime he did not commit; the trial form puts a thin veneer of legal process on what is essentially a political assasination. In the capitalist- democratic version, a famous, wealthy man is acquited of a crime everyone knows he committed, in order to put forth the appearance that defendants have a chance of actually defending themselves in our criminal justice system; indeed, this may succeed in convincing the public of a need to get tougher on crime and make the job of the prosecutor easier in future cases.