[HPforGrownups] Re: On Trial + WW questions

[anakinbester]

No: HPFGUIDX 44688

Dave Wrote: 

>One word: "Veritaserum". Yet they they almost never use it, and 
>depend on, as you say, "intuition" -- 

That's hardly fair. Veritaserum is not fool proof. People can only 
admit to what they believe to be true, as indicated by Fudge's 
disbelief of Barty Crouch's testimony. He said that Barty could have 
though he was working for Voldemort, but that wouldn't be true.

However, it would be very easy for the wizarding world to place too 
much trust in a confession given under those circumstances, and stop 
taking into account the possibility of a misinformed witness. 

Now, the fact that some much seems based on intuition *groans* I'll 
give you that. Especially after Bagman's trail. But then again, how 
many famous people in the muggle world (or at least America) get off 
the hook extremely easily because they're famous. I think half the 
American football player and baseball player have gotten similar 
treatment in courts.

>Whereas we vile Muggles have Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, and 
>"innocent until proven guilty". 

We say we have those things. However, I wouldn't want to be a poor 
Hispanic accused of a crime by a wealthy white person in Texas. All 
the evidence in the world could prove my innocence and I'd probably 
still do some jail time. 

It just recently came out that this poor woman who had a life 
sentence, of which she'd served 9 years, was completely innocent of 
her crime. The evidence against her was thus: She had the same make 
of car and the same name the criminal had used to purchase the car

The evidence for her innocence was that she had a time stamped card 
from a ban on the other side of town. Her husband testified that 
there car had been repairs that day so he's had to drive her to work 
and pick her up, and all her coworkers could place her at work at the 
time of the crime which occurred across town.

This woman was still found guilty and only let out 9 years later. 

It stinks, but it happens even in the muggle world. I think it's 
almost better do be honest and say hey we're being such jerks. We're 
not even going to give you a trial. Rather then to give Sirius a 
drumhead trial where he has no chance. At least the WW was honest in 
its blindness.

Also though, do we know that we saw the entire trial, or only the 
finale-sentencing phase?  I never assumed we were seeing a complete 
trial in the pensieve scenes.

>If got a letter from Hogwarts I'd tear it up, 'cause the Magical 
world 
>is not all it's cracked up to be. 

You know what, that brings up something I'd wondered about. What do 
they do if there's a muggle born student who decides to go back to 
the muggle world? Heck what if a wizard born student up and decides 
to go to the muggle world?

What if someone spent a year at Hogwarts and decided it was horrible. 
They really wanted be an astronaught or something, and obviously you 
don't learn those kind of skills at Hogwarts. What would the 
wizarding world do? Oblivate the student? That seems horrible! 

Can you leave the wizarding world once your part of it? 

What about the Weasley relative who's an accountant or something. 
Does he or she know what his or her relatives are? 

 

-Ani