{"product_id":"2940013164710","title":"Courts and Criminals","description":"CHAPTER I. The Pleasant Fiction of the Presumption of Innocence\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere was a great to-do some years ago in the city of New York over an\u003cbr\u003eill-omened young person, Duffy by name, who, falling into the bad\u003cbr\u003egraces of the police, was most incontinently dragged to headquarters\u003cbr\u003eand \"mugged\" without so much as \"By your leave, sir,\" on the part of the\u003cbr\u003eauthorities. Having been photographed and measured (in most humiliating\u003cbr\u003efashion) he was turned loose with a gratuitous warning to behave himself\u003cbr\u003ein the future and see to it that he did nothing which might gain him\u003cbr\u003eeven more invidious treatment.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow, although many thousands of equally harmless persons had been\u003cbr\u003esimilarly treated, this particular outrage was made the occasion of a\u003cbr\u003evehement protest to the mayor of the city by a certain member of the\u003cbr\u003ejudiciary, who pointed out that such things in a civilized community\u003cbr\u003ewere shocking beyond measure, and called upon the mayor to remove the\u003cbr\u003ecommissioner of police and all his staff of deputy commissioners for\u003cbr\u003eopenly violating the law which they were sworn to uphold. But, the\u003cbr\u003ecommissioner of police, who had sometimes enforced the penal statutes in\u003cbr\u003ea way to make him unpopular with machine politicians, saw nothing wrong\u003cbr\u003ein what he had done, and, what was more, said so most outspokenly.\u003cbr\u003eThe judge said, \"You did,\" and the commissioner said, \"I didn't.\"\u003cbr\u003eSpecifically, the judge was complaining of what had been done to\u003cbr\u003eDuffy, but more generally he was charging the police with despotism and\u003cbr\u003eoppression and with systematically disregarding the sacred liberties of\u003cbr\u003ethe citizens which it was their duty to protect.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAccordingly the mayor decided to look into the matter for himself, and\u003cbr\u003eafter a lengthy investigation came to the alleged conclusion that the\u003cbr\u003e\"mugging\" of Duffy was a most reprehensible thing and that all those who\u003cbr\u003ewere guilty of having any part therein should be instantly removed\u003cbr\u003efrom office. He, therefore, issued a pronunciamento to the commissioner\u003cbr\u003edemanding the official heads of several of his subordinates, which order\u003cbr\u003ethe commissioner politely declined to obey. The mayor thereupon removed\u003cbr\u003ehim and appointed a successor, ostensibly for the purpose of having in\u003cbr\u003ethe office a man who should conduct the police business of the city with\u003cbr\u003emore regard for the liberties of the inhabitants thereof. The judge\u003cbr\u003ewho had started the rumpus expressed himself as very much pleased and\u003cbr\u003edeclared that now at last a new era had dawned wherein the government\u003cbr\u003ewas to be administered with a due regard for law.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47082298409200,"sku":"2940013164710","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013164710_p0.jpg?v=1763577644","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013164710","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}