The Need For Due Process: How Pressure For Immediate Justice Can Backfire

Jussie Smollett’s trial is probably one of the most important we have seen in recent history. Not because it settles any tribal political bickering on either side of the aisle, but it rather emphasizes the need for everyone to remember that their thoughts and opinions are not truths… and until all the information comes out, their beliefs are only viewpoints based on loose information and unverified facts.

It reinforces the importance of always having due process and the potential harm we could cause when we react without due process first.

Our society’s ability to instantly broadcast opinions and thoughts to millions of people without any evidence or facts has created social media mobs and a knee-jerk reactive society. Due process is often thrown aside and the demand for justice is instantaneous. In fear, many cave in, scared to go against these narratives, worried they’ll have a finger pointed at them as well.

In the end, due process is ditched by various groups and then those groups apply pressure to the rest of us to throw due process aside as well.

This is one of the most dangerous roads we, as a society, can travel and we’re currently driving down it at 100 miles-per-hour.

The Smollett case is a particularly glaring example of this problem. The claims Smollett made sparked instant outrage. Social media exploded with countless people demanding justice. Within hours, the most powerful people in the public sphere held press conferences with no one questioning Smollett’s claims, nor even playing the safe middle-ground, saying something like “We are disgusted by this attack, but we want to wait until we get the full picture before commenting.” They all went full condemnation on the two MAGA hat-wearing white men that attacked the actor in a racially motivated frenzy without even considering waiting until all the facts came out or questioning Smollett’s claims at all.

Situations like Jussie Smollett is why we have due process. The case of Amy Cooper, who falsely accused a Black American man of attacking her, is why we have due process.

However, social media mobs that gather on this virtual landscape have made it nearly impossible for due process to play out. Our society is slowly paying a steeper and steeper price each time they demand action without due process, followed by the people caving into the pressure to react before all information is available and investigations complete.

This reality quietly played out at Kempsville High School in West Virginia.

In 2018, English teacher Deborah Smith did a lesson on racial stereotypes in her tenth-grade class. It didn’t quite go as planned. While the kids in class all seemed fine with the lesson, it was a leaked picture of a poster board listing Black American stereotypes which caused a problem. The board had statements like “single mom,” “black people don’t succeed,” and “drop out.” Parents and students outside of the class were shocked at what they saw written, with one kid saying “this racist stuff at my school needs to stop.” The Internet social media mob went after the school and the teacher, calling for immediate action against Smith.

The school acted quickly and put Smith on administrative leave. Shortly following, the teacher was fired. The school district called the leaked picture of the poster board offensive and unacceptable.

Smith sued the school district for $1.75 million for discrimination and in December 2021, the school district settled out of court, paying Smith an undisclosed amount of money to make her “go away.”

Why would they do that? How is this discrimination?

The school’s failure to follow due process and resist pressure to immediately discipline the teacher didn’t end well for them.

Although Smith did teach this lesson, it wasn’t all her design. The lesson was put together by her and another teacher who taught the same lesson in their class as well. However, Smith got into serious trouble, while the other teacher didn’t… in fact, that teacher was never even mentioned during the whole fiasco.

The difference? Smith is white and the other teacher is a Black American.

The school district was cornered by the power of a social media mob’s onslaught, which often throws out accusations and demands, then refuses to allow due process before action is taken. If any delays happen, the social media mob can levy accusations against institutions that do not bow to their demands to act immediately.

Based on the information I could find, it seems the district fell victim to this problem… and I really don’t blame the district for caving into outside pressure. The district was in a tight spot.

If they don’t fire the teacher immediately, the district itself will be open to accusations that they are a racist institution protecting a white teacher. If they fire her immediately, they appease the social media mob and land on the right side of history, with only a slight chance that the available information is completely misleading, and they are in the wrong.

Essentially, the district took a gamble they felt would likely payoff because the available evidence suggests the teacher wouldn’t have any case to refute the firing.

In this case, a few key pieces of the story were missing before the school district took action. Along with the fact that a Black American teacher helped design the lesson with Smith, and taught the same exact lesson in their class, the district also didn’t know the full lesson plan involved breaking down why stereotypes are inaccurate and was directly tied to a district-adopted book dealing with this specific subject. They also didn’t know the kids that created the list of Black American stereotypes were Black Americans themselves.

When these facts came to light, lawyers came after the school with a discrimination lawsuit that was eventually settled out of court.

All of this could have been avoided if they had just given Smith her right to due process.

This rests at the core of our republic’s design. Although due process is not perfect, it’s the most fair and just system ever created by man. We don’t rule by rumors, feelings, accusations, religious beliefs, or even by what the majority of people want. We rule by law and due process ensures that no one is unfairly treated by anyone or any group that “feels” or “believes” the person is guilty based on their own criteria.

Due process is still the law, and in most cases, Americans seem perfectly fine with it. However, there are some key areas where social media mobs and other militants have usurped the law of due process. The most prominent are accusations of discriminatory action, be it verbal, physical, or social, based on race, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation and gender identification. Accusations and claims of physical abuse towards women or sexual misconduct also fall into this category.

When these quick responses and attacks happen, they play heavily on the general public’s shallowness, impatience, and their desire to believe no one would ever levy false accusations in such serious matters. It also plays on the public’s fear of calling someone a liar who isn’t lying and the fear of questioning anything that may result in themselves being accused. This is mixed in with those who desire to simply virtue signal.

In the heat of the moment following an apparent injustice, and with millions joining in as the event unfolds, there is an immediate threat to push due process aside under social pressure. It may be tempting to do this because in so many situations, it is clear an injustice happened. However, even if the majority of the time it’s clear the injustice happened, the frustration with due process in those instances cannot outweigh the few times due process provides justice to those unfairly targeted, as well as when it delivers justice to those falsely supported.