Analyzing the West Memphis Three
On May 5, 1993, three eight-year-old boys, Micheal Moore, Christopher Byers, and Steve Branch were reported missing. Shortly afterward, their bodies were found in the woods of West Memphis, Arkansas. Not only, but all three of the bodies were naked, bloodied, and mangled. It was not the average murder case, all three of the bodies appeared to have been tortured prior to their death. As a result, the grieving and horrified West Memphis community, quickly and unfairly, began looking for closure. It was not long before they had suspects. The three men who were convicted of the crime were Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelly Jr., and Jason Baldwin. These men, however, were unfairly accused of the crime simply because of unjust stereotypes and prejudices.
Furthermore, the incorrect convictions can be explained through the sociological perspectives. Take for instance, the conflict theory. In regards to conflict theory, society is in a state of perpetual conflict due to competition for limited resources. That said, social order is maintained by domination and power, rather than conformity. According to this, it is no surprise that these three men would be convicted for the …show more content…
This perspective was commenced by the works of Herbert Spencer and Emile Durkham. According to functionalism, society is a system of interconnected parts that work together to maintain a state of balance for the entire community involved. Like stated prior, all three of the convicted men were outcast, thus, they were disrupting this balance. Everyone within the community viewed them as followers of Satan, mainly because of Echols’ beliefs. Echols however, was Wiccan, which is simply a diversion Paganism, a broad term which emphasizes someone who simply holds different beliefs from mainstream religion. The community however, wrongly associated this with Satanism, which influenced their negative perspective on all three
On May 5, 1993, three eight-year-old boys, Micheal Moore, Christopher Byers, and Steve Branch were reported missing. Shortly afterward, their bodies were found in the woods of West Memphis, Arkansas. Not only, but all three of the bodies were naked, bloodied, and mangled. It was not the average murder case, all three of the bodies appeared to have been tortured prior to their death. As a result, the grieving and horrified West Memphis community, quickly and unfairly, began looking for closure. It was not long before they had suspects. The three men who were convicted of the crime were Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelly Jr., and Jason Baldwin. These men, however, were unfairly accused of the crime simply because of unjust stereotypes and prejudices.
Furthermore, the incorrect convictions can be explained through the sociological perspectives. Take for instance, the conflict theory. In regards to conflict theory, society is in a state of perpetual conflict due to competition for limited resources. That said, social order is maintained by domination and power, rather than conformity. According to this, it is no surprise that these three men would be convicted for the …show more content…
This perspective was commenced by the works of Herbert Spencer and Emile Durkham. According to functionalism, society is a system of interconnected parts that work together to maintain a state of balance for the entire community involved. Like stated prior, all three of the convicted men were outcast, thus, they were disrupting this balance. Everyone within the community viewed them as followers of Satan, mainly because of Echols’ beliefs. Echols however, was Wiccan, which is simply a diversion Paganism, a broad term which emphasizes someone who simply holds different beliefs from mainstream religion. The community however, wrongly associated this with Satanism, which influenced their negative perspective on all three