JKR's Single Biggest Error so far (was: Harry's last ...

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 123958


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "horridporrid03" 
<horridporrid03 at y...> wrote:

Betsy:
> I get the feeling that the Potter's were fairly well liked within  
> the WW.  So I imagine there was an outcry when they were killed, 
> and so I'm betting there was a lot of pressure on the Ministry to  
> take immediate action, and so I think there was very little that 
> could be done for Sirius once he was in the Ministy's clutches.  
> Plus, the circumstantial evidence looked really, really bad.  Plus, 
> Sirius came from a long line of dark wizards and his own brother 
> was a Death Eater, so I'm sure public opinion was way against him.  
> And everyone loved Crouch, because he appeared to be doing 
> something.  So I'm betting that once Sirius was in Azkaban, nothing 
> was getting him out.

Geoff:
This reminds me of some of the events in the UK when the IRA problem 
was at its worst in the middle to late 1970s.

There were a number of high-profile attacks which roused public fury. 
There were demands that the police "do something" and various people 
were arrested, tried and sent to prison.

The flip side was that, certainly in the 1990s, quite a number of 
these prisoners were released because of retrials when evidence was 
being found to be flawed, including forensic evidence covered up or 
ignored and some police forces had been offering flimsy or "doctored" 
submissions to the courts.

The result is that there is often suspicion in the UK over cases, not 
necessarily IRA related, in which there seems to be conflicting 
views. Fudge is very much a spin doctor and I read it that he wanted 
to be seen to be actively producing results and also maintaining a 
populist public image. After all, he sems to have been a second 
choice for teh job after Dumbledore indicates a lack of interest.