Sunday email 21 January
The ‘biggest miscarriage of justice in British history; the Marquis de Sade
On rare occasions lately when UK news has not been dominated by events abroad – the Middle East, Taiwan, Ukraine, the United States, Yemen – we’ve been, um, enveloped in stories about skeletons in the Post Office cupboard. Persecuted post-masters have lost jobs, homes, savings and reputations. The affair turned into a television drama with the inspiring title Mr Bates vs the Post Office. Toby Jones starred and ITV drama executives grinned. It was their most successful new show for three years. ‘All it took was 9.2 million viewers for the ITV drama to spark a police investigation’, commented one review site. Its sarcasm was under-stated and understandable. The Minister for Postal Affairs learnt that brouhaha was brewing as long ago as 2011 but did diddly-squat. At the time of writing, more than a million pissed-off Post Office punters have signed a petition calling for Paula Vennells - Chief Executive of the Post Office for seven years - to hand back her CBE.
Bad behaviour has been stamped out at last, but it’s all a bit late for those poor people whose lives were ruined by scandal. The theme for this week’s bullet-list is convictions – some wrongful; others maybe not-so-much. Four are recent; one is not. What do they have in common? In a word, bureaucracy. In a couple of thousand words…well, a newsletter I have lined up for you in just a few weeks’ time…
· There has been a lot of social-media discussion recently about Derek Chauvin, the police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd in 2020. You don’t need me to remind you what came of that. What you may not know is that, according to a number of sources I’m in no way qualified to comment on, ‘potentially exculpatory evidence was excluded’ at the trial, and ‘lies were told under oath’. As I say, I’m in no position to know the truth, but –given the supercharged global outrage we all recall so well – it’s definitely worth learning more. Here is Glenn Loury on that very topic.
· Many psychologists have been interested in the case of Damon Thibodeaux, convicted of murdering his step-cousin. He served no less than fifteen years solitary confinement on Death Row. This was despite a lack of forensic evidence linking him to the crime, flawed eyewitness testimony, a confession that was inconsistent with the evidence, and a prosecution witness’ own belief that Thibodeaux’s confession was false. The Innocence Project got involved and Thibodeaux was released in 2012. You can read more here.
· Poor Adnan Sayed spent 23 years imprisoned before a judge in Baltimore overturned his murder conviction. The whole case has become famous – perhaps notorious would be a better word – owing to the involvement of the media. True-crime podcasters, TV documentary-makers, and even film auteurs got involved.
· A man from North Carolina named Ronnie Long was released from prison in 2020 after serving no fewer than 44 years for rape and burglary he did not commit. Crime-scene evidence (including fingerprints) did not point to Long; neither did Long himself resemble the description given by the victim. At trial, police officers apparently gave false testimony. Long’s lawyers filed for wrongful conviction and received a $25 million settlement, apparently the second largest in history.
· One of the most famous cases in history is that of the infamous Marquis de Sade, whose very name became a byword for crime: it’s where we get the word ‘sadist’. Sade spent most of his life in prison for a crime that he may or may not have committed. No one really knows. One thing we do know, though: this Wednesday’s incredible instalment of Crime & Psychology will be all about Sade, his crimes, his writing, his theory of crime. I know you can hardly wait!
Till next time, Crime & Psychology readers!
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