In the South of the United States in the 1930´s, the justice system was very unfair towards colored people. Colored people that were sent to court could not receive a fair trial because of the prejudice and racism from the jury. This happened all the time, especially in Maycomb Alabama. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a colored man named Tom Robinson was convicted of assaulting a white woman just because of the color of his skin. Tom Robinson should have been found not guilty for many reasons.
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee illustrates how important decisions are influenced by racial ignorance ingrained in a society. Tom Robinson is deemed guilty in a court case where he is evidently innocent. He is accused of raping a white women when in reality the white women tried to kiss Robinson but was caught and decides to cover up her actions by claiming that she was raped (Lee 254-266). Even though the the evidence proves that Tom Robinson is innocent, he is still deemed guilty by the jury because he is black (Lee 282). This illustrates the racial ignorance of
In 1930s - 1940s, racial minorities such as the African- Americans were at a disadvantage in courts especially due to very little access of counsels. African- Americans were jailed because of judicial stereotypes of dangerousness or because they lack any financial help or resources.. The Scottsboro Case illustrates the discrimination against African Americans in the past clearly; nine teenage boys were accused of raping two white girls in 1932. The United States Supreme Court sentenced them to death. They fought against the ruling and asked for another trial with the appeal to their right to impart juries opinion; which did not do anything because all juries were all- white.
In To Kill A Mocking Bird, Harper lee points out racism, social prejudice and injustice law system. Also, Lee prefers to tell the story from a child’s eye because Scout and Jem are protagonist and innocent who are surrounded by strict hierarchy and racism. While children grow up, they assume that they never see bad or evil something in reality as they live in their innocent world until they get into adolescence term. As a summary of the movie, Atticus who is a respectable lawyer who lives with his children Scout and Jem in Alabama, Maycomb. The town is a small town that racisim and illiteracy are very at the high of the level.
The jurors also argued that if the boy went back to go get the knife, he must be really motivated to hide the evidences of the crime even though there is a big chance of him getting caught. Many jurors have racial bias and a lot of stereotypes about kids that grew up in the slums and also who belong to certain racial groups/ethnicity. This stereotypes and racial slurs led to biased interpretations of the evidence. The jurors also led to conformation bias. For example, a lot of jurors expected that the boy was guilty.
He is faced with the crime of an alleged rape. However a biased jury, no substantial evidence, and and the possibly of another attacker who was never pursued, leads to the inference that Tom Robinson received an unfair trial. Tom Robinson was not able to receive a fair trial, since he jury was all white which created bias within the court. On page 91 of chapter 9 Atticus explained “The jury couldn’t possibly be expected to take Tom Robinson’s word against the Ewells’.” Atticus said this due to the fact that a white male’s word in the 1930’s could surpass the word of any female. Especially ones from an African American male.
He accused Mister Robinson of raping his daughter because he saw him doing something with his daughter, but he did not hear Tom’s side of the story he only wanted to think in his own way. He used his preconceptions about black people to judge the black man, even if the man was innocent. I would never accuse an innocent man if I knew he was innocent, but if I knew he was guilty I would take him to court in the hopes of him being locked up for the rest of his
It 's not just the defendants that show the prejudice, bias and corruption going on the American Justice System but rather the people that make up of it too. Particularly the jurors from both texts and Bob Ewell in particular. The mentality of the them in particular is that "a fair trial is only for fair skin" which Bob Ewell benefited from despite being "poor white trash" and his family being "disgrace of Maycomb for three generations" and Tom Robinson was quite a respected member from the negro community and even
12 Angry Men and To Kill a Mockingbird depict trials that expose the flaws of the American judiciary system in the fact that juries are not always consisted of the defendant 's peers, judges and juries both have racist views, and juries are influenced by moral cowardice. Trials held in America at the time of these two productions were never fair to African Americans because of the makeup, views, and general nature of juries. Juries never could fully understand the views and motives of the defendant because they were not consisted of the defendant’s peers. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Tom Robinson was convicted by a jury made up of middle-aged, white men, so they were unable to understand and view the case from Tom’s point of view. When talking to Scout, Atticus says that most people in Maycomb believe that white people are superior to black people, and that is how it is in court as well.
Family The 3rd Juror mention how disrespectful was his kid, and how his kid even hit him once; some other members of the jury mention how this young boy was always getting hit by his father and they said that the situation was the motive of the murder. Juror number 3 was the last one in changing his vote not because he wasn’t sure, but he wants to punish this kid making a direct assimilation that this kid is like his and need to be punished. Characters: • 1st Juror: he acts as a foreman and he is responsible to maintain the order in the room and keep everyone else in track. This is not too hard for him because he is a football coach. • 2nd Juror: this actor doesn’t participate too much in the play, and he is shyer than the rest of the group.