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paper-machine comments on Amanda Knox Guilty Again - Less Wrong Discussion

7 Post author: christopherj 31 January 2014 04:12AM

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Comment author: [deleted] 01 February 2014 06:33:55AM 3 points [-]

Well, it's the word I'm using. Here.

When Knox was first convicted of murder, there was outcry in the U.S. that she was wrongfully convicted, based on shoddy evidence. When she was acquitted, there was nearly as much of an outcry in Italy that the courts had succumbed to American pressure.

...

There is a valid extradition agreement between Italy and the U.S., but the U.S. has not set much of a precedence in returning suspects for such matters. Italians point to a number of high-profile cases over the years in which they say American suspects have been accused of wrongdoing and criminal acts, but have been let off lightly.

Comment author: christopherj 04 February 2014 02:49:26AM *  0 points [-]

There's clearly plenty of opportunity for someone to score political points with this case.

  • Declaring Knox guilty and in need of extradition which will likely be denied, will make it easier to reject extradition requests from the US, and will have an effect on national public opinion, probably an increase in nationalism in both countries.
  • Declaring her innocent will be seen at least somewhat as bowing to US pressure and/or acknowledging that the criticism of the Italian justice system was accurate.
  • This case helps Americans remember that Italy exists.
  • Politicians sometimes like distractions, and this is a good example. They need to coordinate either the thing to be distracted from with the case, or the case with the thing to be distracted from.

There's a few more effects, but I suppose the main question is whether the Italian justice system likes to play politics.

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