Word: goetz
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...principal reason for the verdict, and the salient feature of the Goetz trial is that the jury defined self-defense in terms of Goetz's own disturbed mind. Thus, the jury was forced to consider justice, not in terms of objective standard--which may be free of racial motivations--but in the terms of a frightened city dweller who had previously been mugged by Blacks. There was no effort made to describe the appropriate response when four tough looking men of any color surround a person on the subway...
...city with racial tensions, we cannot allow for excessive response, especially if partly motivated by hatred of Blacks. In his confession, Goetz did not espouse self-defense, but revenge. He shot one of his aggressors in the back...
...introducing Goetz's distorted perception of New York City into the courthouse they accepted the racially-clouded judgment of a terrified New Yorker, and dignified it as if it were law. Is riding the subway really a psychological drama, where a person when threatened is able to act on his fears with a gun, and be absolved...
...Blacks now an acceptable code to govern walking the streets, so is fear of scrawny, bespectacled engineer types, who look like they may freak out and shoot you. What is to be gained by having everyone's fear become a legitimate basis for subway shootings? True, race enters the Goetz case only because society is racist, but there should be some point where racism can not be a justification for action; that place is the courtroom...
...Goetz trial has become so popularized because it seems to be tangible evidence of underlying racism in the legal system; a case in which a white man was treated sympathetically and was given the benefit of the doubt. It seems to be an identifiable--though complex--episode that takes statistics off government charts and into the streets and the subway cars...