Massive amounts of evidence were lost as a result of the Gulf Coast disaster. I find it interesting -- and distressing -- that I don't know how to begin to think about this macrocosmic evidentiary event. My work on evidence is almost always on a microscopic scale. This may be why my mind is frozen. (No wisecracks please!) If anyone out there reads this blog, please tell me: What are some of the major evidentiary issues or issues of evidentiary policy that will arise from the widespread loss of judicial records, case files, interview notes, reams of documents, the death of witnesses, and the like?
1 comment:
the image that comes to my mind and just lingers, is that for many, this will be their moment when the Universe gives them another chance....with records and witnesses gone, people can reinvent themselves - i may be totally off point here, but the way i see it, this is a chance to maybe, wipe the slate clean. of course, this is helpful for the person who has made errors and now, may have a chance to move his life in a new direction. i'm not trying to be little miss pollyanna here, but i think that the trauma of these last weeks, mixed with the unexpected chance to HAVE another chance, might give some people, a new way to live their lives.
on the flip side - those who have suffered, been victimized - who have waited for the judicial system to give them their moment to be heard....and now, with evidence and witnesses gone - do ya think they will look at their legal issues in a new way? in victor frankl's, man's search for meaning, he wrote about how neurosis disappeared within the first days of being in the concentration camps....interestingly, neurosis returned when the survivors were relased....but what if the traums of katrina, has simply shifted the priorities of many of the people.....
hey, i don't wanna sound like barbara bush and say that these people ALREADY were miserable to anything is better than what they had.......but maybe, having survived enormous trauma, there will be a shift in priorities for many of the survivers....
i don't think i came close to answering your question.....but for sure, that question is huge on so many levels...
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