Twentytwo year old Amanda Knox from Seattle, US has been convicted of murdering 21 year old British girl Meredith Kercher in Peruggia, Italy. In usual anglosaxon arrogance americans are pouring scorn on the italian justice system and the public prosecutor. The British do the same if one of their citizens is convicted of crime in another country, unless the country is the US, but this time they are satisfied with the verdict. One commentator from Seattle claimed that a lot of the evidence was circumstantial and Knox would have gone free in any US court. Of course she would have. She is white and pretty, your typical all american girl. But what if she had been black and poor? Most likely she would now be on death row because her pro bono lawyer had fallen asleep in court. DNA evidence has seen 140 death row convictions overturned in the US. Last month two men sentenced to death and life imprisonment for the murder of 4 teenagers were cleared. Governor of Texas has been accused of gerrymandering a commission set up to examine the evidence against Cameron Todd Willingham who was executed in 2004 for the murder of his three daughter by arson. And then there was the conviction of Mike Tyson for rape that never happened. Americans have a long history of justice by the lynch mob. Perhaps it is time to learn something even if it is from the Italians.