Fall On Your Sword
The purpose here is to tell the stories of people who have received unjust treatment at the hands of the justice system.
“Fall on your sword” is a metaphor. Of course it would be inappropriate to suggest that any public figure actually commit honorable harakiri. But maybe if enough stories of their disgraceful practices are told, they can be shamed into stepping down.
This is a time in history when none of us can afford to look down our noses at those who have the misfortune to be caught up in the legal system. Now, more than ever, it can happen to anybody. In The Perpetual Prisoner Machine, Joel Dyer says,
"Research has found that the vast majority of Americans, over 70 percent of us, have committed at least one imprisonable offense such as illegal drug use, driving while intoxicated, shoplifting, and so forth at some point in our lives."
And then, there are the people who haven’t done anything – or at least haven’t done the crime they’re charged with.
The citizen's safety lies in the prosecutor who tempers zeal with human kindness, who seeks truth and not victims, who serves the law and not factional purposes, and who approaches his task with humility.
Robert Jackson, Former Attorney General and Supreme Court Justice
