Passports, Appeals, and Justice

Amanda Knox was an American student in her early 20's studying abroad at a university in Perugia, Italy. In November 2007 she was arrested, later charged and in 2009 she was found guilty of the murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher. In 2011, an appellate court reviewed the matter and she was released from prison and allowed to return home to the United States.

This case received exclusive media attention all over the world. Much discussion has been had over the murder and the police and the forensic investigations, the statements and confessions of the parties involved, the trial and the appeal, prison conditions and also about the judicial pretrial publicity and the impact on the trial.

In a 3-5-page paper, and using APA style formatting, analyze this case in detail in terms of how it was handled in the Italian court system. Discuss in detail the appellate process that was employed. You must use outside and supporting sources and make sure to properly cite any outside sources that you use.

Discuss whether or not the U.S. police and court systems would have handled the case differently and, if so, how would it have been handled. Would the outcome have likely been different in the United States? Would the prison sentence have been different? What does this case say about prison conditions? What about the handling of the appeal within the two systems - how does that differ?

Finally, select one of the four major legal systems in the world: Civil law, socialist law, Islamic law, and common law. Suppose that you are advising an individual travelling to a county which follows each of these different systems - what advice would you give this individual in terms of how these systems differ and why? How does the system that you selected handle appeals?