The ineffective trial system of the early 1900s had cost many people their lives and reputations. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, a character, Tom Robinson, is tried and pronounced guilty of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell. Similarly, in 1931, nine African-American men were falsely accused of raping two white women. The trials of Tom Robinson and the Scottsboro Boys show the great racial inequality in the American judicial system during the early 1900s and the Civil Rights Movement. Tom Robinson’s trial in To Kill a Mockingbird highlights many of the American Justice system’s weaknesses. Tom Robinson was falsely accused of raping a local white girl, Mayella Ewell (Lee 164). After the hearing, he was announced guilty based solely on the word of the victim and her father. Tom’s testimony, contrary to the of the Ewell’s, claimed that Mayella actually came onto him when he was invited inside to help chop up a chiffarobe for her.
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They both show people that the judicial system had heavy biases towards the white population, especially in the South. In the case of the Scottsboro Boys, there was no concrete evidence against them, so he should’ve been granted the right to be innocent till proven guilty. They were only granted their freedom until one of the victims came forward and admitted it was all a hoax (Kindig). The entire judicial system of the United States would have convicted the boys based off of no evidence, solely because they were black. This proves that the American Trial System was rigged so that white people had the advantage. Black people were usually underprivileged and poor (Lee 164). Alongside this, usually, the common folk in the South that had the rights to be a part of the jury were white. White people tended to be against acquitting a black person. In the 1930s racism played a large role in the judicial
They both show people that the judicial system had heavy biases towards the white population, especially in the South. In the case of the Scottsboro Boys, there was no concrete evidence against them, so he should’ve been granted the right to be innocent till proven guilty. They were only granted their freedom until one of the victims came forward and admitted it was all a hoax (Kindig). The entire judicial system of the United States would have convicted the boys based off of no evidence, solely because they were black. This proves that the American Trial System was rigged so that white people had the advantage. Black people were usually underprivileged and poor (Lee 164). Alongside this, usually, the common folk in the South that had the rights to be a part of the jury were white. White people tended to be against acquitting a black person. In the 1930s racism played a large role in the judicial