Is Amanda Knox Better Off in Italy?

Amanda Knox is back in our news along with plenty of renewed criticism of the Italian criminal justice system. At the heart of this criticism—and of the arguments against ever extraditing Knox—is that the Italian system is inferior to that of the United States. In particular, the claim goes, there is insufficient evidence against Knox to sustain a conviction and the entire process amounts to what would be a double jeopardy violation under our Constitution. Italians tend to find these criticisms strange. From their perspective, Knox, a young white American woman with access to seemingly unlimited resources, has, if anything, received stronger than usual protections—and so there is nothing surprising or disturbing about the ultimate outcome. This reaction doesn’t, of course, get far in persuading the critics.