Bone Deep: Untangling the Betsy Faria Murder Case by Charles Henry Bosworth & Joel J. Schwartz

 

Review

What an exciting, intriguing yet compelling book it is!  Impossible to put it down, it is impossible to sleep until we get to the end.

We still have the illusion that Anglo-Saxon, and within that, American democracy, law enforcement and justice systems are the best in the world, everyone who does not follow must be forced to follow.  According to them, this is the democracy, and he, who does not profess this, is not a democrat, or he is even a downright fascist.  And then we get this book, which faithfully describes a murder, an investigatian and two trials, and it arises in us, why are they lying to us from all sides?  Because it seems to me that this is not a unique story, but the result of a systemic failure.  Or maybe the system itself is bad?

I am beginning to understand in part those who took to the streets and demanded the cessation of the police.  Because it seems that just fixing the bugs is not enough here.  The political, executive, law enforcement and judicial systems need to be fundamentally demolished, rethought, and rebuilt.  And we must put an end to the idea that history is over, and that it has ended with the victory of liberal democracy and the United States.  Apparently this is a lie.  But still live up to the hope that there is a better and more humane society.

The co-author of the book is the defence attorney himself, who is also the main character of the story, we can follow his struggle to get the victory of truth in this unjust system.

In principle, law enforcement and judicial organizations should serve society, the citizens.  However, we are very far from this principle.  Almost no one, no investigators, no prosecutors, no judges care anymore about who the real killer is and how to give justice to the victim.

One reason for the problem is that almost every position is filled by those who are unfit and unskilled, who have only an interest in getting their pay and abusing the little power that has fallen into their hands.  Though all of them take an oath to serve society and the people, their vows are almost never kept.  Of course, I don’t want to generalize, but in my opinion, most of them are like that, and sooner or later everyone will adjust to them.

But going back to the book, apart from the outrageous part, it’s a book I’ll remember even years from now, searching for events on wikipedia, going through the trial of crime again and again, fighting with the defense attorney against unfit prosecutors, investigators, and judges, and  I sympathize with the accused, who had to spend years in prison innocently.

How should this malfunctioning political system be changed, how should the state (reserved for our taxes) be served us?  Unfortunately, I cannot give an answer to this, I can only hope that someday our descendants will live in a better and fairer society.  But I’m a realist, and I have to admit there’s no chance of that.