Innocence

Certainly this man was innocent. Luke 23:47.

The centurion’s declaration rings with a heartbreaking truth that transcends millennia. It’s a truth that should be the bedrock of any just society: innocent until proven guilty. Yet, in our modern world, this fundamental tenet of the American justice system, once a guiding star, seems to have faded into obsolescence, much like the clatter of a typewriter or the deliberate shift of a manual transmission.

We are relentlessly conditioned by the relentless hum of social media and the insatiable appetite of sensationalist news to believe the worst, to cast aside doubt in favor of condemnation. The very air we breathe seems to whisper accusations, urging us to pre-judge, to convict in the court of public opinion long before a single shred of evidence is examined.

And within the halls of justice themselves, the pursuit of truth often feels eclipsed by the fervor of competition. For some prosecutors, the scales of justice become a scoreboard, where “playing by the rules” is tragically sacrificed on the altar of victory. We see it far too often: individuals, innocent yet terrified, pressured into pleading guilty to crimes they never committed, desperate to escape the specter of draconian sentences if they dare to stand trial and lose. The devastating consequence? Lives stolen, decades vanished, only for the bitter, belated solace of exoneration to arrive when all has already been lost.

The chilling parallel to Christ’s crucifixion, where the masses clamored for his condemnation, is not merely a historical footnote; it is a haunting, persistent echo in our present. Day after day, we witness a similar thirst for retribution, a collective readiness to crucify reputations and condemn lives without a fair hearing. This isn’t just about legal technicalities; it’s about the very soul of our society, the integrity of our moral compass. We must reclaim our commitment to true justice, to the unwavering belief in innocence until proven guilty, and resist the powerful currents that threaten to drown out the cry for fairness and truth.

About the author

Webb Hubbell is the former Associate Attorney General of The United States. His novels, When Men Betray, Ginger Snaps, A Game of Inches, The Eighteenth Green, and The East End are published by Beaufort Books and are available online or at your local bookstore. When Men Betray won one of the IndieFab awards for best novel in 2014. Ginger Snaps and The Eighteenth Green won the IPPY Awards Gold Medal for best suspense/thriller. His latest, “Light of Day” will be on the bookstands soon.

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