Welcome back my lovely readers!!! So much has happened while we were away. Two very important figures were introduced that within their stories, show great injustice within the United States criminal justice system. One of which, could pave the way for Walter's freedom, IF, the United States government can act fairly and not biased against the black man on death row.
The injustice within the judicial system was explored deeper within the ongoing story of Walter McMillian, and through the story of the young boy, Charlie.
If you remember correctly, Walter is the wrongly accused African American man who was sent to death row without convicting evidence. We have been following his story through the eye of Bryan Stevenson, an African American lawyer representing Walter on his case.
One example of the injustice within the Judicial system was shown further in Walter's story after meeting a new character, named Bill Hooks who was introduced as an allie that might prove Walter's innocence later in the case. Hooks told the lawyer his story, saying that a he was with Walter the night that Karen Kelly was murdered. Which did not add up with the wrongful story told by Ralph Myers, that showed Walter as the murderer. Knowing this, Stevenson planned to further his investigation, which went according to plan, hoping to overturn the death sentence placed on Walter.
After being told the information sparking light on Walters case, Stevenson made a point to visit the aunts of the victim, Mozelle and Onzelle. They were disgusted with how the system treated them and expressed the fact that they felt they should be treated as a priority considering they were the victims. Stevenson further explained that "as Mozelle and Onzelle discovered, focusing on the status of the victim became one more way for the criminal justice system to disfavor some people" (142). This idea explained that many of those on death row, were black people who had supposedly committed a crime, or crimes, against a victim who was coincidentally white. Stevenson also pointed out in that same paragraph, that "the study conducted for that case (decision McCleskey v. Kemp) presented convincing empirical evidence that the race of the victim is the greatest predictor of who gets the death penalty in the United States" (142). In Georgia, that same study identified that the death penalty would be given more likely if the victim was white, rather than black (142). This is just one of the many facts that prove that racism is extremely prevalent in the inner workings of the United States Judicial System.
Imagine the deciding factor of your fate being race? Something to embrace instead of fear?
Another example of racial bias within the United States Criminal Justice System was shown in the short story told by Stevenson about a 14 year old child named Charlie, who was tried as an adult and put in an adult prison for murder. There, he was raped and sexually abused the first night in prison. Prison security did nothing to stop the abuse until Stevenson decided to take up Charlies case and demanded changes to be made.
Even though Charlie knew the real story that explained his actions, he still was not completely prepared for the "way too short, way too thin, and way too scared" young boy (120)
His mother was beaten everyday by her boyfriend, George, a drunk policemen. And one night she was almost beaten to the point that Charlie thought she had died on the kitchen floor in front of him , where he then proceeded to shoot George, thinking it would help the situation.
When meeting with Charlie for the first time, Stevenson noted something that completely stuck in my mind. "I asked them to remove the hand-cuffs. Sometimes in jails like this, the guards resist uncuffing clients, arguing that it's not safe or permitted to take the handcuffs off of aaa suspect during and legal visit. They worry that if a person gets upset or becomes violent, being uncured will make him or her harder to subdue" 121).
Then followed by...
"This guard didn't hesitate to take the handcuffs of this child before leaving the room" (121).
This quote is so powerful that you can understand how young and scared this young boy must have looked.
Charlie was not seen as a threat to those around him enough to keep the handcuffs on, so why is he being tried as one?
Hi Meg!
ReplyDeleteThe part about Charlie and the handcuffs really stood out to me as well. The fact that the guards themselves felt so strange with the idea of handcuffing a child really goes to show how wrong the situation was. Even the guards who don't normally show much emotion are disturbed by the idea of a child's hands cuffed together. One thing I noticed during this part is that Stevenson didn't specify whether or not Charlie was black or white. Maybe this is because he was expecting his readers to figure it out based on the other stories he is choosing to tell and from the context of Charlie's story. Do you think that Charlie is black? If Charlie were white, do you think that he wouldn't have been thrown into the adult prison and that he would have gone on with a lighter sentence or no penalty at all?
This is a great point Emma! I did notice that Stevenson did not mention his race yet, when I was reading I pictured Charlie as a black boy based off of how he was being treated by the court. Maybe if he was white he wouldn't have been tried as an adult and possibly would have been shown some compassion for what he went through.
DeleteI love the post! I talked about a lot of similar issues in mine. To me, it was interesting how Charlie's guards acknowledged his age (and kept his handcuffs loose), but still discriminated against him - leaving him in his cell unprotected. Racism has a lot in common with war. In war, it doesn't matter how old your enemies are, you have to do what you need to do to win. The racist criminal justice system that convicts Charlie has this war-like mindset. In Charlie's ruling, everything about his background drops away - and he is sent away to prison because of the color of his skin. I liked that you talked about the McCleskey v. Kemp Decision - and how in court cases, talking about a victim's background is not permitted. This decision is just one of the ways that our criminal justice system covertly discriminated against African Americans. By barring important background information to be discussed in the courtroom, like in Charlie's case, courts weren't openly racist - but were still able to make racist rulings. Do you think Charlie's case would have gone any different if mother's boyfriend wasn't a police officer?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMeg, your emotions about what you're reading are clear. Do you think that Charlie's case was influenced specifically by race, or is part of the issue in his case his age and that lack of familiarity with the justice system?
ReplyDeleteBe sure to do a final proofread before you post.