Tom Robinson is Proved Guilty Before Trial
In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Tom Robinson, the black man falsely convicted of rape, had absolutely no chance of a fair trial. There is proof of this in the time period in which it occurred as well as evidence from the novel itself. Tom Robinson had an unfair trial because it was his word against the Ewell’s, a white, trashy family.
To Kill A Mockingbird took place in the 1930’s, a time that was enormously charged with racial tension. One example of this is the existence of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Even though the KKK was in a time of decline in the 1930’s, it had been very prominent in the 1920’s and had still not completely died out. The KKK had rallies and marches. They even marched in Washington D.C. several times. They burned crosses on the lawns of any white person who would show favor towards blacks in an effort to scare them away from helping black folks. The KKK was an extremely violent group. “While African-Americans still bore the brunt of much Klan violence, Jews and Catholics topped the enemy’s list, followed by immigrants and those who transgressed Klan’s vision of morality” (“History”). The KKK showed their violence in several ways. Lynchings occurred very frequently as did raids of people’s homes.
Although not all lynchings were caused by the KKK most of them were. Lynchings were held very often in the South during the time when the KKK was prominent. During these lynchings, people were often pulled from their homes at night, beaten within an inch of their lives, and sometimes they were hanged or burned alive. These lynchings occurred most frequently among black people although white people were lynched as well. After t...
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...case. The fact that the trial took place in the 1930’s in the South put automatic guilt over Tom Robinson’s head. He did nothing wrong, but that was not enough to convince the jury of his innocence.
Works Cited
Chalmers, Allan K. They Shall Be Free. Garden City: Doubleday & Company,
1951.
"History of the Ku Klux Klan: The Second Era of the Ku Klux Klan, 1915, 1944." HateWatch.org. 13 Feb. 2001. http://www.hatewatch.co.uk/klan/2nd_era1.html.
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: Warner Books, 1960.
"Scottsboro Case." 1999-2000. Encyclopedia Brittanica. 11 Mar. 2001. http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/printable/2/0,577,68092,00.html.
Pansdell, Hollace. "Report on the Scottsboro, Ala. Case ." American Civil Liberties Union 27 May 1931. 11 Mar. 2001 http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/SB_HRrep.html.
To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in a rural southern town in the 1930s, when racism was commonly accepted. Blacks were
Charter Schools are best known for combining traits and features of both public and private schools. Charters schools are not restricted to many of the rules and policies put on other public schools (Gale 1). For example teachers are given more free reign in charters, and they are not expected to stick to a certain curriculum. Because there is no specific criteria in place for teachers of charter schools, pay scales do not have to be followed for teachers and administrators. Also, charters are publically funded and have specialized accountability for producing certain results.
To Kill The Mockingbird was about a black guy named Tom Robinson who was accused of raping a young women by the name of Mayella Ewell. In the court, significant evidence was presented to the juror's that would prove that Tom Robinson was innocent. The evidence showed that a left handed male must have beat Mayella because the bruises were on the right side of her and Tom Robinsons left arm was disabled. Robinson could not have beat Ms. Ewell. Tom Robinson was still convicted and later on was shot at a prison fence while he was trying to run away. The juror's discriminated Mr. Robinson and was prejudice towards him because all though evidence was presented to them that would prove Tom innocent they ignored it because the guy was black and in the 30's discriminating blacks were heavily favored.
Throughout the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus Finch was put to the test to defend juvenile Tom Robinson, an African American falsely accused of raping a white woman. Atticus fought long and hard and had he and Tom Robinson been guaranteed the right to a fair trial, they would have won. Atticus’s closing argument rendered countless pieces of evidence and did in fact catch the attention of the jury; but even in the beginning, the decision was clear. Although Atticus lost the trial, his argument was effective due to his excessive use of Aristotelian techniques.
The first wave of the Ku Klux Klan was the founders. This band of brothers lasted from 1866 to 1874. Their goal was to restore the white supremacy by using violence and threats, including murder against blacks, which later spread to including other racial groups. They took on the look of all white with masks and robes to complete their look and hide their identities when “attacking,” usually at night. Some of the members in the Klan claimed to be the ghosts of the Confederate solders to frighten superstitious blacks. At the end of 1867, there were one hundred ninety-seven murders and five hundred forty-eight cases reported of assaults. In April 1868, 1,222 Republican votes were casted but by the ...
Robinson’s trial in which he was wrongly convicted for the crime of rape. The trial in To Kill A
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...fects to one’s health or society as a whole. According to the simple model of supply and demand, decriminalization will lead to increase in consumption as well an increase in the supply. And since decriminalization does not lead to a market regulated by the government, the black market will continue to profit with none of the benefits going back to the government. Furthermore, by decriminalizing marijuana, the government is sending the wrong message to society. For example, people who were hesitant to try it due to the legal risks involved would be curious enough to try it as the legal risks have reduced to 0. And because the chemicals involved in marijuana are addictive, there is no given that the user would stop consuming it right away. Instead of decriminalization, the government should focus more on preventative measures rather than encouraging its consumption.
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