Updates

Posting will be light until there are new developments in the civil case; or if there is significant movement on one or two other case-related fronts.

In the meantime, even as the Group of 88 clings to its favored position at Duke, it's worth remembering the legacy of the case for society as a whole. From two recent items:

Radley Balko, in an interview with the Economist: "One real disservice the Duke lacrosse case did for the criminal-justice system is it put in the public consciousness the idea that bad actors like Mike Nifong are regularly disciplined for misconduct. In truth, that case was really exceptional."

Note that for all but the handful of true believers in the deeper recesses of Durham, Mike Nifong is now the national symbol of prosecutorial misconduct.

(By the way, I'd disagree, at least in part, with Balko's point: the high-profile nature of Nifong's humiliation provides at least some deterrence to future prosecutors intent on cheating and breaking rules--lest their last name, too, become a verb meaning "to use the law to destroy innocent people.")

2.) Gary VanSickle, in golf.com: "Even legitimate news organizations have joined in past rushes to judgment that went very wrong, notably the Olympic bombing in Atlanta and the Duke lacrosse rape story."

Note that for all but the handful of true believers in the deeper recesses of Durham and in certain quarters of the Duke faculty, the media's coverage of the lacrosse case is a handy reference points for the shamefulness of rushing to judgment.

While this blog will go dark till future developments, I continue to blog at Minding the Campus and at Cliopatria.