The Death of Caylee Anthony: Was Justice Served?

The jury's verdict yesterday that Casey Anthony was not guilty of the murder or assault of her daughter Caylee seemed surprising to many, given all of the publicity the case received. It didn't help Anthony's reputation when the public learned that she entered a Hot Bodies contest while her daughter was missing and that the missing persons report wasn’t filed until more than a month after the child's disappearance. In the eyes of many, Anthony was, at the very least, a narcissistic party girl--and a lot of us believed much worse of her.

Blackstone’s Formula, which has been repeated in various forms since the 1760s, states that it is “better that 10 guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.”

In the Bible (Genesis 18:23-32), Abraham inquires of God, "Will you consume the righteous with the wicked? What if there are 50  righteous within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for the 50 righteous who are in it? What if 10 are found there?"

To which God replied, "I will not destroy it for the 10's sake."

I think that this is the essence of the U.S. justice system.  We have established a system that allows each of us to be innocent until proven guilty.  Due to the need for proof, which can be elusive, especially when the victim, as in this case, is deceased, sometimes there simply aren’t enough hard facts to convict.  In our efforts to not convict innocent people, it can be rather difficult to convict nearly anyone.  

So what is the civics lesson here? Did our justice system fail in this case? And what do we say about the Caylee Anthony story to our children?