The Guilty Verdict Is Its Own Innocence Project

Because Socrates and Jesus and Hester Prynne were convicted of thought crimes by hypocrites and bigots, high-minded Americans traditionally swoon for not-guilty verdicts. Our best rhetoric favors the defendant, martyred for his nonconformity. In our pop culture, the lumpen bourgeoisie who sit on juries, especially in the lower courts, are almost always depicted as racist and wrong

We further love the principled white men who stand up for nonconformists. Broad-minded Henry Fonda in 12 Angry Men who gallantly guides his fellow jurors out of dark prejudice, superstition, and rage and into the sunshine of fairness and truth. The beautiful Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird, and Jason Robards in Inherit the Wind.