Thoughts on the Amanda Knox Netflix Documentary
I won’t get too into this as I am no expert in the criminal justice system, nor am I one on journalism, but here are five of my takeaways from the incredible Amanda Knox Documentary currently on Netflix:
I. Nick Pisa, the main journalist of the story, was horrific. He is the epitome of the “Better to be 1st and wrong than 2nd and correct” school of journalism we see proliferating on social media and news sites today. This way of reporting ruins lives, reputations, and, in cases like this, convinces citizens that suspects are guilty before the trial has even started. Pisa was so tremendously bad in this documentary and when he covered the story that he’s sinced blocked his twitter account. Pisa does make a fair point that the same people who got angry with him for his poor reporting are the same people who demand updates every five seconds. So we are obviously a cog in this wheel of the 24/7 news cycle. Know when to take breaks from the news, yeah? These are real people who are going through hell. Keep that in mind. That said, tu quoque arguments are hot garbage. Pisa gets a thumbs down, but I appreciate his willingness to be in this documentary and honest about what happened.
II. The detective in the story apparently sees himself as Sherlock Holmes but was operating on lazy guesswork and instincts or something. I’ll just leave it at that.
III. Amanda Knox is quite a likable person IMO. People in the documentary and in the public seem/seemed to think she was guilty merely because her social media accounts were a bit strange, as well as some of her behavior after the murder had occurred. My *guess* is she might have mild autism (Asperger’s syndrome or HFA). I am not one to diagnose at a distance, but many used her unusual behavior as evidence that she was involved in the murder (disclaimer: I am not a clinical psychologist, but I was a psych major, developmental psychopathology intern, and have personal experience with individuals with ASD). So the various quirks she had in the film and the stories that were recounted about her made me feel like part of her “odd” behavior was merely due to the symptoms that come with this diagnosis (e.g., police took Knox to her boyfriend’s apartment and had Knox go through his knives in case one of them matched the murder weapon; she began to get nervous and soon started hitting herself on the ears). I did some research online and neuroscience journalist Maia Szalavitz of Time magazine also thought Knox having autism might be a possibility.
Again, the goal here is not to diagnose, but merely to explain that her strange behavior could have been due to a) the stress of being asked to help solve the murder, then quickly accused of being involved in the murder and/or b) having a psychopathological disorder. So always keep these things in mind when you watch/read anything, or just interact with people in general. You never know what someone is going through or suffers from; it’s all too easy to pass judgment first.
IV. It’s so easy to get screwed over by the criminal justice system. Anyone who has spent an iota of time researching eyewitness testimony, watched a few documentaries (e.g., “Making a Murderer” or Serial), or has been believed to be guilty when innocent knows once detectives/prosectuors think you’re guilty, it becomes all to easy to go with “gut instinct” and do whatever you can to make that person look guilty. This isn’t entirely their fault; there are incentivised conviction rates, public pressure for speedy and harsh “justice,” heavy case loads, etc., that public legal servants deal with. That said, every person should receive a fair trial and investigators who want to focus on finding the truth and not rush to fill their quotas.
V. I would love to read more about this story; I left out so many of the details because there are too many and I don’t want to influence your thoughts one way or the other. So please feel free to suggest good articles and books about this case!
