OCR Text |
Show 89 from the injustice of imprisonment. "How long have you been in here," Lathrop < ft inquired. "A year. Maybe longer," confessed the young man. "I wonder how many other innocent men have been put in here to 'await trial'," thought Lathrop aloud. He knew the court system was unjust and even corrupt. Innocent men served long prison sentences just by the system's policy of incarcerating a man until he could be tried. Furthermore, judges would often not accept verdicts of juries, when and if a person were fortunate enough to have a jury trial. And they would insist that juries return to dialogue with one another until they could reach more "sensible" verdicts. The list of things wrong with the system was long. It was a severe indictment against the system to be in the presence of a young man so victimized. The young man looked at Lathrop and asked, "What's your crime ?" "I'm a Puritan!" was the confession. "You're one of the most dangerous men in the Kingdom," the boy laughed. "That's me ail right. Frightened?" "My name's Frank," the boy extended his hand. "John Lathrop." |