Amanda Knox Trial: Italian Judicial System

In this blog, my goal is to examine and demonstrate the differences between the Italian Judicial System and the American Judicial System when it comes to the Amanda Knox Case. I want to show that even though our system is criticized and judged it is an overall fair system.

Who’s Amanda Knox? For those who don’t know, here’s a brief summary of the case:

Amanda Knox was a college student that decided to study abroad in Italy. All was well, until she came home to find her roommate, Meredith Kercher, dead. Then she became the target suspect by not only the prosecution but by the media too. After 2 guilty verdicts and 2 acquittals, Knox regained her freedom and now quietly resides in her hometown of Seattle.

I’m going to divide this blog into three aspects that show the difference between the two systems in the case: False Imprisonment, Interrogation, and Prosecution/Media.

False Imprisonment

Under the Italian Justice System, Amanda Knox was falsely imprisoned for 4 years and she even sat in jail for one year before she was even charged with anything. There was no DNA in the room of the murder or linking her to it, it was all based on assumptions. This would not hold up in the states, there are consequences for false imprisonment in the US, yet Amanda Knox never got her justice for being unfairly locked up in Italy.

Interrogation

Knox was interrogated repeatedly for 5 days which caused extreme exhaustion especially with no food or water. She was also interrogated not only without a lawyer but as a suspect too, which is against Italian Law yet it was still permissible in court. Under the 6th Amendment in the US, everyone has a right to a lawyer which Knox didn’t get. Knox was abused physically and verbally, being slapped and called derogatory names. She was interrogated in an unjust way by the Italian Judicial System.

Prosecution/Media

Giuliano Mignini was the prosecutor on the case, but at the same time was on trial for abuse of office. Along with that, the prosecution fed the media, since the hearings were closed to the public. They even went as far as to tell Knox she tested positive for HIV, making her list her sex partners then taking that list to use against her and in the end she was actually clean.

The Jury was never sequestered, they had lunch with the lawyers, went on with their day and that caused this case to be decided before it even started. In the US, the jury is completely secluded from any outside interference so situations like this don't happen.

The main objective of this blog is not to bash the Italian System, but to show the American people that our system is not as bad as society makes it out to be. After researching and understanding this case, it showed me how much we as citizens take for granted and how many rights we actually do have to protect us as opposed to other countries who don't give their citizens those same rights.

-Riley

Sources:

Amanda Knox. Dir. Rod Blackhurst. Perf. Amanda Knox. Netflix, 30 Sept. 2016. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.

By Declaring Dissidents “insane”, the Soviets Could Hold Them Indefinitely, and since No Criminal Charges Were Filed, There Was No Need for a Potentially Embarrassing Public Trial.   Russian Psychiatrists Were Bullied into Being Complicit in T. "Amanda Knox." Graham Lawyer Blog RSS. N.p., 27 Sept. 2011. Web. 01 Oct. 2016.

"The Italian Justice System." The Italian Justice System. Injustice in Perugia, n.d. Web. 01 Oct. 2016.