Legal Tension, Social Issues, and the OJ Simpson Trial

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The media’s influence over the masses of society is great. With every passing generation, the media’s ability to access and relay information to the general public with seemingly the greatest of ease continues to impress. Given the expanse of time that has passed since the 1990s, the media, even more-so to this day, shapes our lives, our perceptions, and influences our opinions greatly. The 1990s served an important decade in our country’s young history. Since the mid-1800s, and even before that time, our country has experienced its share of societal issues, from racism to sexism, to religious bigotry, and police brutality, to name a few. In 1994 a very high-profile case was introduced to the American public, as former NFL star Orenthal James (O.J.) Simpson was charged in the double-homicide of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend and alleged lover, Ronald Goldman (Neuendorf, 2000). The O.J. Simpson trial, as it became known, opened on January 24, 1995 and concluded October 3 the same year. Over the span of the trial, the prosecution team presented 72 witnesses including friends and family of Nicole, friends of O.J., and a 9-1-1 dispatcher. Given the trial’s notable and well-known defendant, those involved in the trial gained lifetime fame. To this day I can still recall the names Judge Lance Ito, Marcia Clark (Deputy District Attorney), and Simpson’s defense counsel, “The Dream Team,” which consisted of a number of high-profile attorneys, most notably Robert Shapiro and Johnnie Cochran. I chose this case because it left a lasting impression in my memory, as well as a lasting impression in our nation’s memory. There have been many high-profile cases over the years, but this case was not predicted to end the way it di... ... middle of paper ... ... 31(1), 5-27. Boggess, S., & Bound, J. (1997). Did Criminal Activity Increase during the 1980s? Comparisons across Data Sources. Social Science Quarterly (University Of Texas Press), 78(3), 725-739. Groeneveld, E. (2010). “Join the Knitting Revolution”: Third-Wave Feminist Magazines and the Politics of Domesticity. Canadian Review Of American Studies, 40(2), 259-277. Matheson, V. A., & Baade, R. A. (2004). Race and Riots: A Note on the Economic Impact of the Rodney King Riots. Urban Studies (Routledge), 41(13), 2691-2696 Neuendorf, K. A., Atkin, D., Jeffres, L. W., Loszak, T., & Williams, A. (2000). Explorations of the Simpson trial "racial divide". The Harvard Journal of Communications, 11, 247-266. Sánchez, G. J. (1997). Face the Nation: Race, Immigration, and the Rise of Nativism in Late Twentieth Century America. International Migration Review, 31(4), 1009-1030.

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