Ending Wrongful Convictions: A Divine Imperative

In Parashat T'tzaveh, God commissions Aaron and his descendants to serve as priests on behalf of Israel. Their task–an awesome one, indeed–is to manage the sacred precinct in which the presence of God dwells on earth, first in the wandering Tabernacle and later in the Temples of Jerusalem. Maintaining an abode holy enough for God's presence is a task beset with difficulties, because so many worldly forces threaten to profane it. The terrifying realities of death, sickness, decay, and disorder led to an elaborate system of ritual impurity that aimed to keep away those who had encountered them. Even more menacing was the defiling power of sin, which had the capacity to sully the sanctuary and repulse God's presence. When an Israelite committed a sin, the transgression somehow stuck to the altar and risked driving away the Divine. Without the atoning sacrifices mediated by the priests, especially the foremost sacrifice on Yom Kippur, God would withdraw the Divine Presence from Israel's midst.
-Kristine Henriksen Garroway, PhD

The Rabbis had no such garment, however, and no sacrifices with which to atone for erroneous verdicts. They therefore created an elaborate and rigorous judicial system so that miscarriages of justice would be as rare as possible. Emulating the demanding standards of the Divine Judge, who, for example, warned the Sodomites many times before condemning them and even sent Abraham to plead their cause, the Rabbis strove to establish a judicial system in which the innocent would be vindicated and only those truly guilty would be convicted. Such caution led them, on occasion, to limit the scope of a biblical law significantly. Consider the ben soreir umoreh, the "wayward and defiant son," whom Deuteronomy 21:I8-21 says is to be executed. The Rabbis, apparently uncomfortable with the possibility that a son who was not truly rebellious might be killed for acting out on a little teenage angst, added so many qualifications to the definition of a rebellious child that it became necessary to concede that no such child could ever exist.
-Kristine Henriksen Garroway, PhD

Such erroneous verdicts [as in the case of the Central Park Five or the case of Chester Hollman] sully our national character no less than ancient miscarriages of justice in Israel sullied the sanctuary. We must demand, with our voices and our votes, reforms to the judicial system that will ensure every defendant competent representation, a fair trial, and reasonable sentencing. So, too, we might choose to support organizations that advocate for people who have been wrongfully convicted. No system of justice can eradicate mistakes altogether, but God's revulsion at injustice calls upon us to demand a system in which mistakes are both rare and reversible.
After all, there is no choshen mishpat to bail us out.
-Kristine Henriksen Garroway, PhD