Impact Of The Scottsboro Case

The Scottsboro Case: A landmark Case and Its Impact on
Capital Punishment Cases America in the 1930s was a time of change. Racism was now being defended for in the court of law. One of the most remembered cases in 1931 occured on the railways, nine black men were falsely accused of raping two women riding the train. Why would nine black get the blame for the so-called “rape?” The Scottsboro Case was a landmark case in the state of Alabama that raised tensions about the issue of capital punishment.
“On March 25, 1931, nine black youths aged 13 to 21, hopped on a freight train in Alabama in a quest for work.” (“The Scottsboro Boys Case”). Riding on the freight train in search of work during the Great Depression was not unusual, many were forced off farms. The word of a chance of work had spread. The rail ways was the only transport to the work hundreds of miles away, so the only way to travel was hopping on the train, illegally.
America was than a segregated country, whites had the majority of the population and ruled the states. Civil rights had not been in act yet, but the incident of the southbound railroad car, spurred the

The railways were not to be used for sexual-activity, especially no minors crossing state lines for prostitution. On March 25th, two young girls named Victoria Price and Ruby Bates were caught crossing state lines, and were charged with vagrancy and illegal sexual-activity. To get away with the illegal activity, the two girls accused the nine black men of raping them. The nine boys were falsely accused of raping the two girls abroad. (“The Scottsboro Boys Case.”) “While there was no real evidence to support a charge of gang rape, the hysterical atmosphere surrounding the trial insured their conviction.” The nine boys were tried in court several times, with several public offenders and lawyers who did not put much effort into the