I taught math, English, and a few other courses in a maximum security prison for about one year. Met some pretty bad people from time to time. Only ever had doubts about one person in there and whether or not he should be a resident.

Too, I remember reading of Willie Nepoose, Donald Marshall, David Milgaard and Guy Paul Morin. It is precisely because the law can be misled and misread and then misapplied that we need trials. No, trials didn't work in the above four cases, but some of that was cop bungling and legal manipulation (evidence not originally presented by the authorities, etc).

When average citizens relinquish the responsibility to sit on juries, then indeed the system will be a waste. But, not until then I hope.

Vigilante justice does work once in a while, but before ya go strap a .45 to your hip, read about the Grand Manan Five. Once we abrogate law as a final arbiter, we lose more than justice. We lose freedom, and that's worth keeping at almost any cost, imo.