bloke wrote:
Today, it's perfectly OK to steal, rape...even murder, but woe be unto anyone who calls someone else a "name".
I think a couple of distinctions are important here. First, stealing, rape, and murder can result in imprisonment, assuming the investigators, prosecutors, and jury* actually do their job. Calling someone a "name" can get you sued at worst.
You read in the paper lots of stories about people suing for libel or slander. You don't read nearly as much about people actually winning those lawsuits. Anybody with a stupid attorney and a filing fee can sue anybody for anything. They really are difficult cases to win, though.
* It is my firm opinion that most guilty people who go free do so as a result of investigators and prosecutors botching the case. People prefer to blame the system, or the defense attorneys who simply may do their jobs better in some instances. However, for your run-of-the-mill criminal case (that isn't on CNN), it is usually the prosecutor who has the bigger staff and budget, and the defendant who has a just-out-of-school public defender with no staff support.
On the issue of juries, I much prefer the British system (this is about the only issue where I like what the British do better) - the first 12 people chosen serve on the jury, period, end of sentence.
