The African-American George Sckinsey Trial

The oversized mask revealed the young boy’s teary-eyed face as 2,400-volt surge of electricity bolted through his small body. In a few minutes it would be all over. He was only five feet, weighed ninety pounds, and fourteen years of age when he was sentenced to death by electric chair. June 16, 1944 was a record breaking day in the United states, as African-American George Stinney was the youngest person in the 21-century to be executed, and sentenced to death for the murder of two female white girls. There were no eyewitnesses and no physical evidence that would have proved him guilty, and it was revealed years later that somebody else admitted to committing the crime on their death bed. This essay will shed light and explore critical theory …show more content…
Stinney’s court-appointed lawyer, who was a tax attorney by the name of Charles Plowden may have not defended Stinney to the fullest in court because of his future plans to run for a political position. This included not cross-examining witnesses, or asking the prosecution for evidence. The only defence he used was that he was to young to be put to death, even though it was evident that at that time, when one was fourteen there was a high enough chance they will be tried as an adult. The trial was only three hours, and it took the all-white jury only ten minutes to sentence him to death. He was sentenced to death June 16, 1944, 7:30 pm by electric chair at in Columbia. “Serious black youth offenders were, and are, comparatively more likely to be waived to adult court and to receive adult-type sentences than white youth”(Ulmer, n.d), and Stinney did not receive any type of mercy but was tried as an adult and sentenced to death right away. The only evidence put forward by the prosecution was the testimony of the men who interrogated Stinney and claimed that he verbally admitted to committing the crime. They took advantage of a very young, vulnerable boy who was poor, and had zero …show more content…
Amongst lots of interdisciplinary scholars that contributed to critical race theory, Derrick Bell and Alan Freeman are the main responsible scholars that started this movement. According to Cyber Law Havard, “Critical race theories combine progressive political struggles for racial justice with critiques of the conventional legal and scholarly norms which are themselves viewed as part of the illegitimate hierarchies that need to be changed” (Cyber Law Havard, n.d). If Alan Freeman, critical race theorist, were examining this case his argument would be that although at the time it may have seemed like they were making a fair decision to bring justice to the girls that were killed, they were simply masking the inequality and racism they used to criminalize Stinney. They produced intentional discrimination, by not running a fair investigation on him. The officers did not have a reason to arrest him or to even be suspicious. They needed someone to put the blame on, and decided that because he was black and young therefore that was a good enough reason. He did not get access to a lawyer to explain to him what the document meant or no parental advice or counsel. Still applying the Critical race theory, institutional racism in the legal system can be hard to distinguished especially because this system is supposed to be based on equality, and fairness. The legal system even back in 1944 were portraying