However, I have read a number of items in recent months that have given me pause. Coyote Blog, one of my faves, has a number of posts on police abuse. In addition, I just read John Grisham's 2006 non-fiction account of lazy, incompetent police and prosecutors in a small town (by regular folks' standards, at least - to me, 16,000 people is a lot) who railroaded four innocent men. And then there's the case of the West Memphis Three. While I am loath to support something that is a rock star cause celebre, this looks like a conviction based on thin evidence, coercive interrogation and an unreliable "witnesses" angling for a plea bargain, much like Grisham describes in his story. Of course, none of this would fly if juries didn't convict in such cases, but I wouldn't want to place my fate in the hands of most juries. (I think we should have some sort of quasi-professional jury system, in which qualified people serve for a year or two as a full-time juror, but that's another topic.)
I think it comes down to this: just like there are incompetent, corrupt, and/or lazy people in any walk of life, such people exist in the police and prosecutorial ranks. Add to this the fact that police and prosecutors are government employees, and that many prosecutors are politicians, the likelihood of these attributes being found in some segment of these professions increases.
Therefore, we need to be vigilant in our civil rights (particularly the 4th and 5th Amendments) and attentive and critical if we find ourselves on juries. For one thing, if you find yourself in a police interview, get a dang lawyer. This video, on why you should never talk to the police (I assume he refers merely to situations where one is a potential suspect, not a witness), is worth watching.
On a lighter note, this Chris Rock video describes how not to get beaten by police (warning: bad language).
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