It's about time the media focused upon the experience of being a Juror in a violent crime case especially involving murder.
The Groene case involving the murder of Dyan Slade Brenda and the kidnapping and assault of 8 year old Shasta, is forever embedded in my mind and my soul, I can only imagine what the Jurors in Dylan's murder case went through. They were forced to watch video that Joshpeh Dunan took of his sexual assaults upon Dylan, as well a taped episode where he nearly killed the boy by hanging him into unconsciousness by a wire whilst mastutbating singing and mocking the lords prayer.
For years, no one gave the Jurors post traumatic stress a thought, certainly no practical considerations. IE such as offerring in depth counseling and psychiatric assistance before and after the trial re. what they experienced and bore witness to, within the confines of thier service and "Duty" to their country. Kind of reminds me of how we treated and still in many cases treat our veterans; use them up and tosss em aside until the government gets a fresh batch.
Slowly, the states are coming around but again too slowly much too slowly. Peoples entire lives change after serving on a jury such as the Anthony trial or the petit family murder trials. Their sense of safety in this world is gone, theyve gained a new insight to the dark and avil side of humanity that they a;; wish theyd never been made privy too. Yet they have.
In the meantime, lets talk about it, lets write to our legislators about this important issue. The more awareness we can bring to the second and third hand trauma caused by various violent crimes, which needn't be in our community for us to feel the overwhelming pain grief and terror that the victim(s) suffered, and in this, take on a piece of it ourselves. It';s part of being a compassionate human being with empathy, and as much as the media has trampled on this notion through their incessant insistence of sensationalising even a childs murder for ratings and monetary gain - well we the good people of this world need to do something about this as well.
Remember...
"Evil exists when GOOD men do NOTHING."
A quote and a philosophy by Voltaire that shows us that apathy and "not wanting to "get involved" is worse than committing a heinous act - for you the good man or woman, knows better and within that knowledge is a responsibility to stop insulating your lives from anything and everything unpleasant, its avoidance and denial that make the ideal climate for a predator.
