[christiangirl]

Well.....and this is just a guess....but maybe people are acting like this is new because it really is new to them. With each highly publicized case, a new wave of people figure out how the legal system works or receive confirmations that what they've seen in the media (and thought was incorrect) is actually how it goes. In life, people (children, employees, etc) get punished by authority (parents, employers, etc) on circumstancial evidence all the time. So it's not far-fetched for people to assume the justice system would operate that way, too. Or else wish so badly that it did they convince themselves it's possible even if they know deep-down it's not.