At any given moment, you’ll hear criticism of the American criminal justice system.

Many people within the prison walls will say the system is stacked against them, while some on the outside will argue it’s built to their advantage.

Fortunately, it’s not designed for either. It’s built to protect our republic and make it extremely difficult for the innocent to suffer. Sometimes people who may seem guilty are not convicted for one reason or another, but it’s part of our system. It happens. Get over it.

Sir William Blackstone, a 17th century English judge, wrote about common law and established what’s known as Blackstone’s
Formulation.

Blackstone’s formulation is the idea that it’s better for society that 10 guilty men or women be set free, before one innocent is wrongfully convicted.

And he’s right.

Last year, James Bain had his life sentence overturned because DNA evidence confirmed he was wrongfully convicted. Bain received a life-sentence in Florida when he was only 19-years-old. A life sentence for a crime he didn’t commit. He lost more than 35 years of his life.

Bain maintained his innocence and was found guilty by a jury of his peers.  Bain was convicted of charges of kidnapping, burglary and rape.

He was convicted after the 9-year-old victim told police the suspect had sideburns and a mustache then pointed him out in a lineup. He lost 35 years of life based on the testimony of a 9-year-old.

While in prison, he would submit hand-written motions to the court pleading his innocence. Each motion was denied until the Florida Supreme Court ultimately granted his request for DNA testing. The testing, which wasn’t available at the time of the conviction, proved his innocence and he was set free.

Cameron Willingham wasn’t so lucky.

Willingham was found guilty of murdering his three children by setting his home on fire in the early ‘90s.

In 2009, a report by the Texas Science Commission concluded testimony of a fire marshal was hardly grounded in reason and logic. This testimony was enough for jurors to return a guilty verdict. Unfortunately, it was too late; Willingham was executed by lethal injection in 2004.

The recent court case surrounding former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is one that has surely set off a wave of disappointment in our legal system.

But I can confidently tell you it won’t be the last. O.J. Simpson, R-Kelly and Indiana’s own David Camm have all been the subject of high-profile cases that cause people to think twice about the judicial system that protects them.

If you were to read about criminal trials on a daily basis, you’d find out there is nothing uncommon about a seemingly guilty suspect being acquitted or a case being dropped.

Our entire system is designed to make a wrongful conviction rare.  Sure, many times the accused may appear to have “beaten the system,” but what is a better option?

I’ll be the first to tell you our legal system has imperfections, but the underlying principal still prevails.

Blackstone was correct. It is better that 10 guilty men or women be set free before an innocent one suffers.

Our justice system doesn’t fail us when a suspect isn’t convicted; it fails us when the innocent are.

Just ask the families of those falsely convicted.