Reason Writers on the Tube: Radley Balko on Penn & Teller's Bullshit! Tomorrow Night

Reason Senior Editor Radley Balko will appear on tomorrow night's episode of Penn & Teller's Bullshit!. The episode focuses on the criminal justice system. See a tease below.

The show airs on Showtime Thursday night at 10 pm ET.

Comments

[Episiarch]

Already looking forward to this. I think Showtime HD plays it earlier than regular Showtime, too, so I may have it before 10.

[asdf]

THE VIDEO YOU ARE TRYING TO WATCH CANNOT BE VIEWED FROM YOUR CURRENT COUNTRY OR LOCATION.

I hate that shit.

[Warren]

Balko on Bullshit. Outstanding.

[Smeghead]

Damn! Now I have to get HBO.

[Irresponsible Hater]

It's on Showtime, the other white meat, not HBO.

It's also on pirate bay

[Law Student]

I'll have to remember to go to The Pirate Bay at 12am ET.

[JoeDoaks]

Some background here:

http://floridainnocence.org/content/?page_id=1697

Not surprisingly, BS is not presenting the case objectively. The disagreement between the blood experts was on the characteristics of the blood tested, not on whether or not certain characteristics would be
consistent with Mr Bain's blood type.

As per Penn's "what the [blank]!!", it's my understanding that the victim did not know Jimmie Bain. Still bad police procedure, but I'm not sure it rises to the level of "what the[blank]!!"

It was a horrible thing to happen to Mr Bain, for sure. But there is no reason to exaggerate the mis-handling of the case at trial. Frankly, the more properly handled the case, the more shocking any resulting injustice.

[tkwelge]

I don't think that it is an exaggeration. The burden is on the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a person is guilty. Arguing that somebody could have done something, and then asking the victim to point out a specific person rather than his rapist is a, "What the fuck?" moment.

[Andrew S.]

Reading that, it's even worse than what Penn said in regards to the photo lineup. The victim had said the man who did the crime had sideburns, and only one of the pictures (other than that of Mr. Brain) that they showed him had sideburns. That and saying "show me this person" is WAY too suggestible and absolutely shameful police practice.

[JoeDoaks]

I don't disagree that the men in the photos may not have looked enough alike. But suppose you are the victim, and I suspect a guy name James Cannon, whom you don't know. If I ask you to "Pick James Cannon out of the lineup" how does that lead you to your choice?

[A.G. Pym]

Um, smeg? It's on Showtime.

HBO's the one with the better movies and mostly so-so-series.

[Discord]

P&T and Balko all in one show?!?!? I might need anger management after that episode.

[Hacha Cha]

There was something on I think Nightline, I can't remember or find what show it was, but it just aired last week and it showed an experiment where people interacted with one person and were switched with someone else and then they were asked how many people they talked to and many didn't realize they talked to two completely different people. This is just another example of why you can't trust eyewitness testimony all of the time, the eyewitnesses don't always identify who was really involved.

[Michael Ejercito]

There was something on I think Nightline, I can't remember or find what show it was, but it just aired last week and it showed an experiment where people interacted with one person and were switched with someone else and then they were asked how many people they talked to and many didn't realize they talked to two completely different people. This is just another example of why you can't trust eyewitness testimony all of the time, the eyewitnesses don't always identify who was really involved.

James King of Denver, Colorado.

[GILMORE]

Sweet, Balko. Looking forward to it.

[Michael Ejercito]

So why do people trust the government knowing this kind of shit happens?