Ox Bow Incident Essay Questions

The Ox-Bow incident is a classic western film that follows a posse that includes a deputy, is out to get those involved in a shooting. They come across a group and suspect them as the shooters and must decide what to do. While watching the Ox-Bow incident a question comes to mind, who is responsible enforcing human rights? I say everyone, but who is everyone? It could be as simple as saying law enforcement should and those who are here to protect and serve this country, but this answer cannot be so simple without their being questions like, does law enforcement even defend human rights? It could also be the people but more often than not it us who violate each other’s right. It can’t be a simple answer without their being multiple questions being raised and without their being different opinions.

The men in the posse refuse and want to take matters into their own hands which later on results in them hanging innocent people. Somewhere towards the end after the men that had been believed as the fugitives are hanged the sheriff comes by and lets them know that the men they hanged were not responsible for the shooting. This is an example of how sometimes people of power forgets to enforce the rights of anyone. The deputy that was present at the hanging forgot his job to enforce the rights of the supposed ‘fugitives’ and allowed their rights to have been violated that often are seen in the ‘real’ world with police brutality. It is law enforcement's job to enforce human rights and sometimes they fail to do that, it is not their only