Mass Media and its Influence on Italian Trial Procedures

On December 4th we all watched on as Amanda Knox was tried and convicted of the murder of Meredith Kercher (a British foreign exchange student) in Perugia, Italy. In the days up to and after the trial this case has received endless questions regarding how much impact the media was allowed to have on the jury during Italian trials. To this date there have been three individuals, to include Knox who have been convicted of this murder, but this is not the issue I want to address. Unlike in the United States Italian juries do not have to be sequestered during a trial; meaning jurors are allowed to interact with and be influenced by the media before and during the trial. A number of American are up in arms about this method calling the process "alien-like." I think this causes us to look closer at our legal system and how it can and cannot be influenced by media relations. We essentially have constitutional rights that protect our rights as the accused the receive a fair and speedy trial. Our courts lay out specific procedures so that we can make sure that fairness is attained during our trial period. Our juries are sequestered in order to prevent "a trial by public opinion." This forces the jury, prosecutors, and witnesses to rely strictly on fact and not heresy. With all of the issues that we have in our current system this is one we try to avoid as much as possible. But what if it were not so. As citizens what would we be subjected to if our trials were open to media influence? We have talked numerous times about infotainment, speedy and inaccurate reporting practices, and the business influence of ratings and how that alone influence our daily lives. It scares me to think that if we were in a system like the Italians that we possibly would have a media whose sole aim was to influence jurors to convict people just for ratings.

I doubt that the entire Italian system is unjust, I am just questioning the amount of outside influences they allow to influence their legal system. Something as serious as a murder trial should not be used as a ratings tool here or abroad. It is a shame what happened to all parties in this case, but I am glad that our society does not allow the media to hold the key to influence our legal rights.