Pre-emptive Justice

There is an interesting posting on Carl Zimmer's web site about the case of Steven Kurtz, artist and professor, who was arrested "pre-emptively" because it was post 9/11, his wife had died suddenly overnight, and they found Kurtz with a lab in his house (his speciality is the boundary between art and science). All of these innocent facts sent alarm signals up and resulted in his arrest despite his innocence.

The posting has 8 videos of a panel discussion on Art in the Age of Terrorism held on May 29, 2008 hosted by an organization called Eyebeam.

Watch the video of the panel discussion to discover how an unfortunate fact of his wife's death to a prosecution for "bioterrorism" because he had another professor send him through the mail some common bacteria that can be found in any back yard. Kurtz wanted to use it in some performance art. The FBI decided that it couldn't be art, it had to be a crime. Luckily for Kurtz, the judge through the case out as unfounded. Sadly, the other professor had already pleaded "guilty" for this non-crime.

The lives of several people were messed up because the police wouldn't accept an innocent death as innocent. The fact that the professor had some lab equipment was "sufficient evidence" of bioterrorism to the FBI. (If you watch the video you will see that the head of the FBI's section on bioterrorism had no knowledge of scientific equipment. So their ignorance drove a fear that led them to see him as guilty without any evidence.)

The whole incident, which dragged on for years, is a tragedy for all those swept up by the police. It is a sad example of the Bush era pre-emptive justice, or shoot first and ask questions later, approach to justice.