OT - former girls basketball coach pleads not guilty

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

Camron, I hadn't considered that angle, thanks. There's a trade off regardless, however. How many ruined innocent lives are worth a single conviction that would be aided by such publication? As long as innocent verdicts are ignored by the public, I still think we should refrain from publicizing those accused of these crimes.

I'm not aware of other types of crimes where we publicize an accused person with the hopes of getting other victims to come forward in the hopes of more evidence for a conviction.

All charges are public, regardless of the crime. Which ones the media, or Mark, chooses to spotlight vary.

I don't think they are necessarily publicized with that goal in mind....just that it makes good ratings for the news outlets.

And I fully agree that a ruined innocent life is not worth a few convictions. And that is the basis of our system. The odds are strongly stacked in favor of the alleged criminal....and many get off (or are back on the streets too early) because we value protecting the innocent over punishing the guilty.