Sometimes You Need A Batman

I try to steer clear of any topics that are too political on my blog and keep it relatively light and shallow around here ;) But with Brody in law school and my working at a law firm, legal discussions and relevant cases are just inescapable for me, and there have been some major cases in the news lately where I feel like the law has failed me. Failed the families involved, really.  And it's hard to reconcile it in my mind, because I love the consitution so much and have such a deep respect for its authors.  Not to mention, the United States legal system is one of, if not the best, and fairest in the world. I really do love and appreciate the law, but sometimes I wish batman was real and could just serve up some vigilante justice.

The first case happened a couple of weeks ago when a 41-year-old school teacher (that my friend Katherine actually had as a teacher) left his wife and kids for one of his students. Yes. Ewwwwwwwww.  The female student just barely turned 18, and that's when they claim their relationship became physical, even though he had been sending her over 10,000 text messages since last summer, and calling her for hours at a time at night, oh yeah and the fact that he has a daughter that is only a year younger than her and went to the same school.  Oh yeah and the fact that he was her teacher and clearly a pedophile!!!!!

But because the girl is 18 and there isn't any proof that they had any sexual contact before then, legally he hasn't done anything wrong.  And it makes me furious.

The second case, which I'm sure you've all read about by now is about the teenager in Florida that was shot by the neighborhood watch guy. The teenager was walking back from a convenience store when the neighborhood watch guy saw him, thought he looked suspicious, called the cops and started following him (even though the police dispatch told him not to). There was some kind of altercation and the unarmed boy was shot dead. 
And again, no arrest has been made because the neighborhood watch guy claims it was self defense and is pinning his future to Florida's "Stand Your Ground Law" which basically says that you can use deadly force if you are in a place you have a right to be and feel reasonably threatened with serious harm, whereas under most state's laws you have a duty to retreat rather than respond to provocation.

It's a horrible tragedy and I can only hope that the law will pull through on this one. Thankfully the Department of Justice and the FBI have started their own investigations and hopefully justice will be served. 

But if there is any silver lining to both of these cases, it's that the law continues to be improved, analyzed, and changed---hopefully for the better. I've loved having thought-provoking discussions with Brody over the last few months about principles he is learning in classes, and precedent-setting cases.  It has opened my eyes to the fact that the law is anything but black and white, there is always room for interpretation (and there needs to be because every case is going to be different), and I would never want to be a judge (despite how freely and decisively I tend to give my opinions). But even still, sometimes you just need Batman.