Similar to the outrage over child abductions which led to legal changes, including Megan's Law, here in the US, the acts of certain murderers in the UK led to the revocation of double-jeopardy there. (Three years ago! Missed it at the time, but imagine the apoplexy at the ACLU if that was ever suggested here...)
Seems several notorious murderers have, following their acquittals, either admitted in court, or in their memoirs, that they actually committed the crimes for which they were tried. (Imagine if OJ wrote a book and 'fessed up...)
It's actually more a reflection of the failure of the British people to insist (after Magna Carta, anyway) on a formalized framework of rights like ours that allows the British government to change their laws (including this one, 800 years after it was instituted) at whim.
Thanks to our Constitution (especially the Second Amendment, which buttresses all the others), this can't happen here.
I hope.
Because, as bad as it is to let guys like OJ off, this really is a slippery slope. So far, at least, the Brits don't allow triple jeopardy, but it's just a matter of time...
12 September 2006
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