In the Making a Murderer series on Netflix, the documentary follows the life of a man, named Steven Avery, as he is arrested and imprisoned for raping and beating Penny Beerntsen in 1985, a woman from Manitowoc, WI. After 18 years in jail, Steven is exonerated by new DNA evidence that definitively proves that it was not him but a serial rapist by the name of Gregory Allen. After being released, Steven begins a lawsuit against Manitowoc County for damages for having been wrongly convicted. His life is once again destroyed by his conviction for the death and disappearance of another young woman by the name of Theresa Halbach who was last seen on his property.
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(Netflix). They were believed to get into the most trouble, and to generally be the least helpful part of the small Wisconsin community. This made the local police more inclined to believe that Steven would beat and rape a woman. They believed that since Steven denied the accusation, he was lying about it. They attributed his previous troubles with the law, when he was a teenager, as how he would act forever.
In the second case, the Fundamental Attribution Error is more easily seen. Although Steven Avery had been proven to be innocent, many people may have already had a subconscious belief that he was a rapist. His story was covered as he came out of jail, but it was rehashed a million different ways when Theresa disappeared and when her remains were found in Steven Avery’s fire pit. The media had already convicted and sentenced him in the court of public opinion (Netflix). The jury of Steven’s peers didn’t enter the courtroom unaffected. They percieved him as a person who was a cruel killer.
Biblical Passages from King James Version
Matthew 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not