The Case Of Bernhard Goetz

Bernhard Goetz was a 37-year-old white man that ran his own electronic repair service out of his 14th Street apartment in New York City. On December 22, 1984, Goetz left his apartment and walked to the subway station. He entered the car then sat down close to four black youths that were very noisy and boisterous, causing the 15 to 20 other passengers to move to the other end of the car. One of the four, a 19-year-old Troy Canty, approached Goetz and asked him for five dollars. Goetz then asks him what he wants and Canty repeated: “Give me five dollars.” Suddenly Goetz shot at the four young teenagers, hitting all of them. According to Goetz’s subsequent confession, after shooting Darrell Cabey, Goetz said, “You don’t look too bad; here’s …show more content…
Following a seven-week trial in mid-1987, a jury of ten whites and two blacks found Goetz guilty of unlawful possession of a weapon, but found him not guilty on 17 counts of attempted murder and assault. After the verdict was announced, some of the jurors thought Goetz was “just a very frightened person,” and “rather a sad figure.” While others reportedly flashed victory signs with their fingers as they departed the courthouse by bus. The real question is whether or not this was a real victory or if the law failed. During the early 1980s, which is when this situation occurred, crime rates in American cities were high and the fear of crime was even higher. There were, on average, 38 crimes a day on the New York subways. Also at this time, cities in general, and New York in particular, seemed to be very dangerous places where the law was unable to adequately …show more content…
This trial shows that the law does fail us in many ways. In one way, it does not do enough to protect us. There are still hundreds, maybe even thousands of crimes committed against the citizens in America every single day. The law is not stopping these crimes from happening. It is almost impossible for it to stop every single crime that happens. The law is not always enough to protect us. In another way, the law failed by not convicting someone that was guilty of assault and attempted murder. Goetz attacked those four young boys before they really showed any signs of being a danger to him. Even he admitted that he did not believe any of them were armed with a weapon. A gun will always win in a fight against an unarmed person. Two of the young boys did not even approach Goetz, he just fired on them because he was fearful. He also walked over to Darrell Cabey after already shooting him once, said “you don’t look too bad; here’s another,” and shot him again. That action alone deserved criminal punishment, but Goetz was found not guilty. The law completely failed