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Racial and Ethnic Inequities Within the Justice System
Racial and Ethnic Inequities Within the Justice System
Racial prejudice in the court system
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OJ Simpson and Tom Robinson, what exactly do they have in common? Both are African American males who were convicted for crimes against a white woman yet, their verdicts were not the same; Tom Robinson was convicted of raping and beating up a white woman while OJ Simpson was found not guilty of killing his wife and her friend. The Bill of Rights clearly promises that no “state [shall] deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” This amendment seemed to not be considered during both trials; every person should be treated equally regardless of their race and social status, but in these two trials that statement seemed to be applied …show more content…
When a change of venue was made in Simpson’s trial it caused a big difference within the cases. It was deliberately not considered in Tom 's trial because in the end it was concluded that a change of venue would not be necessary since any jury would find a black man guilty in any case when it is his word against a white woman’s word. OJ’s case was changed and moved to the downtown district, in Santa Monica, instead of where the crime incident occurred to avoid racial imbalances and to accommodate the media inferno in Los Angeles (Kennedy, David and Cohen 113). This also led to the change of the jury because this also had a major effect on the result of OJ’s trial. If a change of venue was also made in Tom’s trial the outcome would be drastically different. In Maycomb, a small Southern town where Tom was from, everyone was quite interested in the case and had a negative opinion about Tom which resulted in him being treated unequally as if he was not a citizen of the United States. Tom was just concluded as an evil and an unreasonable black man while OJ was seen as a great NFL all-star who would never commit a …show more content…
Tom Robinson, the African American, was a man of innocence who was accused of rape, a crime that he did not commit. If the jury had realized that they were treating Tom unequally and unfairly the verdict and outcome of the trial would be utterly different. In the trials of Tom Robinson and OJ Simpson, the amendment of the bill of rights seemed to be only considered for OJ. These two trials demonstrate how race, social status, and money have an effect on the current law system of the United
Therefore the colour of Tom Robinson’s skin was the defining factor in the jury’s decision. Since the jury declared Tom Robinson guilty, that reveals his fate of going to jail and eventually being killed which is obviously an injustice based on the discrimination against him.
Things only got worse when it was alleged that he transported and planted one the gloves on the Simpson estate, and the defendants legal team stating the officer wanted to frame Simpson because he was black and he disliked blacks an considering the jury was made up of mostly minorities this helped O.JSimpson even more.(2015) The key to winning a case apart from collecting evidence there must be a clear way to paint a picture that the people of the jury can understand whether or not you done the crime one must be convincing. Even though Simpson’s blood was on majority of the evidence collected it was argued that he was framed along with the contamination of evidence even if he had done it his team used all the weaknesses exposed by police involved in the case to paint a picture of innocence to the jury which proves perception of wrongdoing as persuasive to a jury as actual wrongdoing. I am sure with O.J Simpson being acquitted of the charges left a bad taste in the mouth of both police and some people in the legal field. There were too many mistakes made by the people that were tasked with the duty of collecting evidence and also in the department of how the evidence was handled but there are many lessons to be learned in every mistake the obvious one would be to not make the same ones
Gaines’ novel is centered on a massive injustice, which is a young man who is falsely convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death by electrocution. When Jefferson was brought into a trial for the murders of the three white men in the bar, most of the jury quickly assumed that he was guilty due to his skin color, because, at that time, the assumption of innocence does not
...because of his race; one only needs a single bullet to kill. Tom Robinson most likely felt forced to take the easy way out in fear of putting his family in more danger and poverty. The fatal outcome of Tom’s trial helps to prove how disastrous racial discrimination's effect can be on people, no matter what race they are.
In the 1930’s a plethora of prejudiced persons are present amidst the prominent Scottsboro trials, a seven-year-long case consisting of false rape allegations made against nine black boys from Scottsboro. When citizens fail to acknowledge their own preconceived ideas and look past the prejudice present in society, justice cannot be served. In the Scottsboro case, the court of Alabama disregards the societal issues surrounding racial discrimination and endorses the guilty verdict and conviction of the nine African American boys. Failing to look past their own personal biases, the jury ignores the unquestionable evidence that would support the boys’ case. Instead, the jury focuses on their predilection
After a lengthy two hundred and fifty-two-day trial “not guilty” were the words that left the world in shock. O.J Simpson was your typical golden boy. He had it all, the nice car, the football career, and his kids. Unfortunately, this all came to an end when two bodies came to be spotted deceased in Nicole Browns front yard and was a gruesome sight. O. J’s ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ronald Goldman both found with brutal stab marks. Unfortunately, all his glory days now brought to an end, he went from playing on the field to begging for his freedom when becoming the main suspect of their murders. Since this trial has not only altered the way Americans viewed celebrities, but it also racially divided society,
...ir if they tried. In our courts, when it's a white man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins. They're ugly, but those are the facts of life” (295). From the very beginning of the trial, the jury was going to find Tom Robinson guilty since it was a black man's word against a white man’s word. The all-white jury never wanted to see a black person win against a white person. After he is found guilty, Tom is sent to a prison where he tries to escape but is shot to death by the prison guards. Mr. Underwood writes an editorial in which he compares Tom being shot to death to hunters shooting mockingbirds. Like a mockingbird, Tom never caused any harm to anyone. Tom is “shot” by the jury when they assume that he is guilty because he is a black man and his alleged victim is white. In the end, an innocent man was found guilty because of the color of his skin.
The Scottsboro Trial and the trial of Tom Robinson are almost identical in the forms of bias shown and the accusers that were persecuted. The bias is obvious and is shown throughout both cases, which took place in the same time period. Common parallels are seen through the time period that both trials have taken place in and those who were persecuted and why they were persecuted in the first place. The thought of "All blacks were liars, and all blacks are wrongdoers," was a major part of all of these trails. A white person's word was automatically the truth when it was held up to the credibility of someone whom was black. Both trials were perfect examples of how the people of Alabama were above the law and could do whatever they wanted to the black people and get away with it. In both trials lynch mobs were formed to threaten the black people who were accused. Judge Hornton tried many times to move the case to a different place so that a fair trial could take place and not be interrupted by the racist people. Finally was granted to move the case even though the lynch mobs threatened to kill everyone who was involved in the case if it were to be moved. In this essay the bias and racism in both trials are going to be clarified and compared to each other.
The New York Times bestseller book titled Reasonable Doubts: The Criminal Justice System and the O.J. Simpson Case examines the O.J. Simpson criminal trial of the mid-1990s. The author, Alan M. Dershowitz, relates the Simpson case to the broad functions and perspectives of the American criminal justice system as a whole. A Harvard law school teacher at the time and one of the most renowned legal minds in the country, Dershowitz served as one of O.J. Simpson’s twelve defense lawyers during the trial. Dershowitz utilizes the Simpson case to illustrate how today’s criminal justice system operates and relates it to the misperceptions of the public. Many outside spectators of the case firmly believed that Simpson committed the crimes for which he was charged for. Therefore, much of the public was simply dumbfounded when Simpson was acquitted. Dershowitz attempts to explain why the jury acquitted Simpson by examining the entire American criminal justice system as a whole.
People in the town of Maycomb despised Tom Robinson. Tom’s trial was very unfair and unjust. Almost every white person in Maycomb did not believe Tom Robinson when he gave his testimony in court. People on the jury are supposed to consider both sides of the argument, and then make the decision with the most evidence. But the people in the jury of Tom Robinson’s case made their decision based off of the peer pressure of nearly
Tom Robinson and Bob Ewell’s case brought out the historical realities of Jim Crow and the Great Depression. Oh how it was a depressing sight, Jim Crow laws pushing the blame and hatred onto our dark skinned brothers and sisters. Even though the town was floating with Jim Crow ideals and hatred for Tom, Atticus willingly bore some of that hatred by taking the case. Tom should have won this case hands down if it were based on integrity and character, but instead he had to be judged on the account of eleven white racist jurors. The historical realities of the Great Depression and Jim Crow ideals were illustrated promptly in how the top lived and how they handled state and city
Racism is a problem that has been around for multiple centuries. In To Kill a Mockingbird it demonstrates how racism can affect one person even in the court of law. In this story, the case of Tom Robinson is told. It is obvious that Robinson is a victim of racist people that see him guilty only because of his race, African American. From the beginning, it seems obvious that Robinson does not have a chance in winning his case whether he is guilty or not. To the people, they hear the story from a white family, and in this time white people’s words are better than African Americans’, whether it is right or wrong. In this story, a white family sets out to help Tom Robinson. This is not a common event to happen
Tom Robinson is guilty. Not only is that a false statement, it also shows how unfair we are when it comes to the black community. Obviously Tom Robinson was an innocent man, but since his skin color is black it does not matter, he would end up doing something illegal anyhow right? Wrong. I could have said more about what I saw, I could have helped more than what I did. But there it is again, I am white and I wanted to keep my peace with the townspeople. White supremacy is what the law is… but should that really be the law?
One reason our society would act differently if Tom Robinson’s trial were happening now instead of back then is because today in our society we aren’t as
It was the night of June 12, 1994, a woman and her long time male friend are murdered in cold blood. The victims, Nicole Brown Simpson, her neck cut so savagely it was almost severed from her body and Ronald Goldman, stabbed repeatedly, nearly 30 times. The accused, her ex-husband and football star, Orenthan James Simpson, better known as O.J. Simpson. During the trial, a trial that consisted of 150 witnesses, lasted 133 days and cost in the ball park of 15 million dollars, there were many questions asked and even more questions left unanswered (Douglas).