Reno Vows To Make System Fair

Attorney General Janet Reno said Thursday that in the aftermath of the O.J. Simpson verdict she will recommit herself to make the criminal justice system “as fair as I can and make it appear to be fair.”

While saying that “one jury verdict should not reflect on a whole system,” Reno remarked on the debate raging across the nation about the fairness of the verdict and factors underlying it.

Her comments are the closest the nation’s chief law enforcement officer has come to directly commenting on the case.

At her weekly meeting with reporters, she was asked whether she was surprised by “this apparent racial gulf” of opinion about the fairness of the justice system to blacks and whites.

“For 15 years as a prosecutor in Dade County (Florida), I dealt with the issue of how you make the system fair and, then, as importantly in many instances, how you make it appear to be fair,” Reno said.

In 1980 as Dade County state’s attorney, Reno’s office failed to win the convictions of four white police officers charged in the beating death of a black insurance salesman, Arthur McDuffie. Those verdicts touched off widespread rioting in Miami’s black neighborhoods, but Reno met with the black community and listened to complaints, managing finally to convert calls for resignation to expressions of support.