Essay On Salem Witch Hunts

Throughout history, people have been hunted and killed due to false accusations and fear of other powers. In 1692, it was the Salem Witch Trials where people were falsely accused of being witches. They were hung for crimes that they did not commit and crimes that did not exist including using magic to murder someone. In 1950, citizens of the United States had their rights violated due to false accusations of working with communists. These innocent people were arrested without a choice of rebuttal due to the overwhelming fear of communism. Even though these “witch hunts” occurred in the past, they are also occurring in the present as well. History seems to repeat itself; today, police officers, people who risk their lives to keep our lives safe daily, are put in harm's way by the

One of the mostly non-lethal effects is the challenging of authority. On many occasions, there have been people who refuse arrest by challenging and/or testing the authority of law enforcement. This overwhelming challenge of authority has led to reckless violence to police and the rise of people deciding to take the law into their own hands. The challenging of authority lowers the overall legitimacy of the police, which leads to more people trying to take that power for themselves. A greater effect of the witch hunts is the murder of officers. Officers have been killed by the men and women they swear to protect just because of the stereotype that police kill African Americans for no reason. These are mostly good hearted citizens who want to keep innocent people safe from harm. Just like the Salem witch trials where people were accused of being a witch solely because they would commit suspicious acts like “reading books” (Miller 498), these good people are killed solely based on the false stereotypes that people believe. In over 300 years, human beings have not changed and have let fear override their