I’ve avoided the whole Amanda Knox news story. I generally try to avoid reading about things that happened on slow news days and then exploded on cable news, resonating around the echo chamber for weeks, months, and years longer than they ought to. I’m glad that Legal As She Is Spoke has explained the issues in the case clearly and succinctly — suffice to say that you won’t get analysis like this on CNN:
The media has focused on the sexier aspects of the case, but has largely failed to discuss the intricacies and vagaries of Italian law that are crucial to understanding the court’s decisions.
These include: 1) Italy’s lack of DNA certification requirements and standards regulating the integrity of forensics; 2) the enormous discretion afforded judges in Italy to control the admissibility of evidence at trial; and 3) the lack of evidentiary rules in Italian criminal trials.
Certain characteristics of the Italian criminal justice system make it prone to abuse in the form of contamination of evidence and poor DNA testing analysis.
Read the rest of Foxy Noxy Might Outfox the Italian Justice System at Legal As She Is Spoke.