about legal (or otherwise) actions in other countries across the globe should make people respect the justice system of this country just a little more than we otherwise might. Consider the following two headlines.
In one Latin American country over 300 prisoners died in a fire that swept through the jail. Survivors were graphic in their recounting of the details - telling anyone who would listen that guards left prisoners to burn alive in their jail cells while they themselves sought escape. The most chilling (if one point can be assigned this dubious honor) thing to realize is that many were being held without ever being charged with a crime - so dysfunctional is the justice system of that particular country.
And in yet another alarming case - a young man of Canadian descent has been sentenced to death by a middle Eastern country for purportedly creating a computer program that allowed for the distribution of pornography. According to websites erected in his name - he has claimed his confession (as it were) was beaten from him and is false. He further states that police threatened the lives of his family and loved ones if he did not confess.
So, every time we are inclined to complain about our own legal system (and that is not to say that there are not plenty of complaints to go around) I think it would do us well to remember that - to date - there are few systems that are able to do a better job in offering justice to its people.
