Quote:Bob Schroeck wrote:The problem with your argument here is that you're assuming Dumbledore was head of the Wizengamot at the time and that he lead the Death Eater trials in the wake of Voldemort's fall. The only thing we really know about Dumbledore's term as Chief Warlock is that Minister Fudge got him removed from the position in 1995 and that he'd held the job for 'several years' at the point. Had Dumbledore been Chief Warlock since 1981, that would have been 14 years, which seems more than 'several years' to me.
Quote:Shepherd wrote:And with 2, I think the point is all the DEaters who got off scott-free with cries of "Imperius!" (and the occasional bribe). Given all the canon methods available to determine truth in such circumstanes -- well, the possibilities of Veritaserum alone have not only been exhausted by fic writers, but improved upon and looped back over again -- and given that the Wizengamot is not just a legislative body but the supreme judicial body as well for Wizarding Britain, it seems pretty obvious that an entire athletics storeroom full of balls were dropped when it came to prosecuting known associates of Voldemort; with Dumbledore's position as the head of the Wizengamot, much of the blame has be laid at his feet.
1). Dumbledore wasn't placing Harry into a bad environment, he was placing Harry into a secure environment. While Ben Franklin did claim that "he who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither," the fact is that Voldemort, his Death Eaters and all of their mentally controlled thralls sat outside of that house waiting for the protection to drop naturally rather than trying to attack Harry directly, so that must have been a pretty damn good defense.
2). Letting the bad guys off lightly to repeat offend? Fanon hippy pacifist Dumbledore. He let Snape act in a petty and petulant manner because he needed Snape as his only spy within Voldemort's inner cirlce. Where else in canon do you see Dumbledore's supposed revolving door of justice?
regarding the Death Eater trials, many of them were apparently carried out be the Council of Magical Law rather than the full Wizengamot, and Barty Crouch Sr. was in charge of that particular group. If you recall the pensieve scene, Dumbledore and Mad-Eye Moody were in the audience while Karkaroff was naming names in exchange for clemency. If Dumbledore'd had any special judicial powers, he would have been up front with Crouch Sr. instead of sitting with the rest of the crowd in the courtroom.
The Council of Magical Law trials of Barty Jr., Bellatrix and the LeStrange brothers apparently involved a presentation of evidence, the defendants being dragged before the court, and the four of them being sentenced to life in Azkaban without even being granted an opportunity to say anything in their own defense. Dumbledore later noted to Harry that he was ambivalent about Crouch Jr.'s sentence because the evidence presented against him was apparently circumstantial; the other jurors apparently didn't care, cheering as the prisoners were carted off.
As for Veritaserum, the Potter Wiki says this:
Despite being the most powerful truth serum in existence, it can still be resisted through different methods, including the taking of its antidote and Occlumency.[2]
For the same reasons Muggles use polygraph tests, Veritaserum is no more reliable than its Muggle counterpart. Since some wizards and witches can resist its effects while others cannot, Veritaserum is "unfair and unreliable to use at a trial" and cannot be used as definite proof of guilt or innocence.
Another weakness is that the victim only states what they believe to be true, so the victim's sanity and perception of reality also factors in during interrogations. This is the main reason why Barty Crouch Jr.'s testimony was not credible, as he was clearly insane.[3]
J. K. Rowling has said that Veritaserum "works best upon the unsuspecting, the vulnerable and those insufficiently skilled (in one way or another) to protect themselves against it...just like every other kind of magic within the books, Veritaserum is not infallible"[3]. For this reason, she explained that even if Sirius Black had been given the opportunity to testify to his innocence under Veritaserum, the Wizengamot likely still would have found him guilty by claiming that Sirius was using trickery to be immune to it.[3]
----------------------------------------------------
"Anyone can be a winner if their definition of victory is flexible enough." - The DM of the Rings XXXV