To Kill A Mockingbird: A Genetic Analysis
Although the justice system can be very biased due to the color of one’s skin, the modern advancements in technologies able to be used in crimes can rightfully be used to detect the rightful culprit. One major example of this is the ascertaining of DNA, recently found in the 1950s. This type of evidence is irrefutable because it is superfluously unique to an individual (excluding the case of a twin). It can be found through a myriad of ways, including skin, saliva, semen, blood, or hair. When this ground-shaking concept came out, it was almost like the rebirth of the discovery of fingerprints, for it was so marvelous. The reliable source, Pro Con, quotes, “A remarkable feature of DNA testing is that it not only helps to convict but also serves
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to exonerate,” simply showing that this remarkable discovery can work towards both sides’ advantages in the courtroom____. For example, if the DNA found on a piece of hair on the crime scene of a murder was not that of the suspect, then it most probably was not him. In this respect, innocent people can be left innocent, while the true culprits get thrown behind bars. The same source goes on even further to explain some statistics, “A 1995 survey of laboratories reported that DNA testing excluded suspects in about one-fourth to one-fifth of the cases...These suspects were fortunate: Before the advent of DNA testing they might have been indicted on the basis of an eyewitness' statement or other evidence and possibly been convicted on the basis of such proof,”_____. Other smaller forms of technological advancements include (but are not limited to) computers, automobiles, and weapons all which leave real world and/or digital forensics. We are lucky enough to live in such a country that has a justice system itself, and it is safe to assume that these advancements can only further keep proving innocent people as innocent. After all, the hardest type of persuasive technique to refute is logos, the basis on facts. Retrospectively, the modern world has made it too hard for a criminal to escape unscathed with going through the justice system.
Even though technology has proved the majority of people to their rightful places, there are many real life cases of people being condemned to the wrong fate through the justice system. The most notorious case was that of OJ Simpson, a black man, accused of murdering his wife and friend, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. On the day of June 12, 1994, the two were stabbed and found dead. Following this incident on June 17, a deadly car chase followed from 2 to 8PM, where the cops were in pursuit of OJ Simpson trying to flee them after not showing up for a court date. He eventually parked back in his driveway. Finally, he was rightfully brought to court, accused of murdering his wife, where he was thrown much evidence at him in support of the accusation. The cops had found make up glue, a fake moustache and goatee, Simpson’s passport, and a gun inside of his car, but his lawyer flatly refuted the statement. Not to mention, there was the blood of his victims in his car and on his socks. Also, the most famous piece of evidence was the glove which was found at the crime scene. After fighting with his lawyer for a while, the prosecutors agreed to let him to try it on but wear a latex glove underneath to preserve it. As ABC News quotes, he came up with a lame excuse that the glove was “too tight”, though it clearly fit from looking at it____. When Simpson was given a picture of bruises on his wife’s dead face, he simply commented that the burst capillaries were makeup for a stage act. It was almost as if, Mirror News says, “he had an answer for everything,”_____. During this case, the public got heavily involved due to the racial tensions at the time. The African-American society started to protest in anger against OJ Simpson’s accusation in support of the black race. After 8 months of dilemmas upon dilemmas, these racial tensions caused OJ Simpson to be ruled innocent, despite the obvious facts in the favor of the accusation. In 1997, however, he was ordered to pay thirty-three million dollars for their wrongful deaths. Now, he is serving prison for kidnapping, robbery, burglary, assault with weapon; these are totally unrelated facts to the case. Thus, in the real-world case of OJ Simpson, the real culprit was ruled innocent, while the victims’ deaths remained in vain.
Lastly, not only in the real world do such cases occur, for there are plenty of cases in literature where these can happen.
In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Tom Robinson, a black man, was accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman. During the time in which the book took place, blacks were considered as being very inferior to the whites. They had just came out of slavery a little less than a century ago, and the economy was all but booming. In the justice system, a black person’s word was merely ignored, while a white person’s word was held to a much higher degree. As Atticus would later explain, “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed,” for there was not one black person who had ever won a case at the time_____. Throughout the case, the lack of evidence made it blatantly obvious that Tom Robinson was not the culprit, but Bob Ewell, the father of Mayella, was. The story, as told by Mayella, included Tom Robinson being called to her house to bust up a chiffarobe, but Tom then raped her instead. On the other hand, Tom’s version of the story showed that Mayella was feeling lonely, so wanted the company of Tom Robinson. Since the author wrote this book in the 1950s, elements of her political and social milieu seeped into her book. The main major event occurring during the time period was the Civil Rights Movement, where African-Americans demanded equal rights. This was evident in her book, where she showed the Africans as being extra innocent and naive to further spread awareness of the horrible feats African-Americans would have to deal with and the hurdles they would have to jump. In the end, Tom Robinson was ruled as being “Guilty… guilty… guilty… guilty…” by the white jury______. One may even argue that the jury knew that Tom Robinson was innocent by the way the court case played out, but they would never support a black man in fear of being robbed of their social reputation. It was never okay for a white man
to even be in favor of a black man during the time period, which is why Harper Lee’s character, Atticus, was so revolutionary. Despite the lack of evidence Mayella Ewell had and that “The state has [had] not produced one iota of medical evidence,” the court case was set in the white girl’s favor from the moment it started______. Although Tom Robinson was innocent, he was condemned to a prison, where he was eventually shot seventeen times. Justification by evidence alone, no matter how innocent one many be, is not enough in the American justice system. One shouldn’t judge a book by its cover; however, many judges have to do that in order to get a full understanding of the person, mainly in terms of their race. In fact, the website, The Campaigning for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, argues that African-Americans are a stunning 1.4x more likely to be arrested than white people. Therefore, the case of Tom Robinson in the renowned novel by Harper Lee stands as a golden example as to why all should fear the justice system, especially based on their race.
to exonerate,” simply showing that this remarkable discovery can work towards both sides’ advantages in the courtroom____. For example, if the DNA found on a piece of hair on the crime scene of a murder was not that of the suspect, then it most probably was not him. In this respect, innocent people can be left innocent, while the true culprits get thrown behind bars. The same source goes on even further to explain some statistics, “A 1995 survey of laboratories reported that DNA testing excluded suspects in about one-fourth to one-fifth of the cases...These suspects were fortunate: Before the advent of DNA testing they might have been indicted on the basis of an eyewitness' statement or other evidence and possibly been convicted on the basis of such proof,”_____. Other smaller forms of technological advancements include (but are not limited to) computers, automobiles, and weapons all which leave real world and/or digital forensics. We are lucky enough to live in such a country that has a justice system itself, and it is safe to assume that these advancements can only further keep proving innocent people as innocent. After all, the hardest type of persuasive technique to refute is logos, the basis on facts. Retrospectively, the modern world has made it too hard for a criminal to escape unscathed with going through the justice system.
Even though technology has proved the majority of people to their rightful places, there are many real life cases of people being condemned to the wrong fate through the justice system. The most notorious case was that of OJ Simpson, a black man, accused of murdering his wife and friend, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. On the day of June 12, 1994, the two were stabbed and found dead. Following this incident on June 17, a deadly car chase followed from 2 to 8PM, where the cops were in pursuit of OJ Simpson trying to flee them after not showing up for a court date. He eventually parked back in his driveway. Finally, he was rightfully brought to court, accused of murdering his wife, where he was thrown much evidence at him in support of the accusation. The cops had found make up glue, a fake moustache and goatee, Simpson’s passport, and a gun inside of his car, but his lawyer flatly refuted the statement. Not to mention, there was the blood of his victims in his car and on his socks. Also, the most famous piece of evidence was the glove which was found at the crime scene. After fighting with his lawyer for a while, the prosecutors agreed to let him to try it on but wear a latex glove underneath to preserve it. As ABC News quotes, he came up with a lame excuse that the glove was “too tight”, though it clearly fit from looking at it____. When Simpson was given a picture of bruises on his wife’s dead face, he simply commented that the burst capillaries were makeup for a stage act. It was almost as if, Mirror News says, “he had an answer for everything,”_____. During this case, the public got heavily involved due to the racial tensions at the time. The African-American society started to protest in anger against OJ Simpson’s accusation in support of the black race. After 8 months of dilemmas upon dilemmas, these racial tensions caused OJ Simpson to be ruled innocent, despite the obvious facts in the favor of the accusation. In 1997, however, he was ordered to pay thirty-three million dollars for their wrongful deaths. Now, he is serving prison for kidnapping, robbery, burglary, assault with weapon; these are totally unrelated facts to the case. Thus, in the real-world case of OJ Simpson, the real culprit was ruled innocent, while the victims’ deaths remained in vain.
Lastly, not only in the real world do such cases occur, for there are plenty of cases in literature where these can happen.
In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Tom Robinson, a black man, was accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white woman. During the time in which the book took place, blacks were considered as being very inferior to the whites. They had just came out of slavery a little less than a century ago, and the economy was all but booming. In the justice system, a black person’s word was merely ignored, while a white person’s word was held to a much higher degree. As Atticus would later explain, “Tom was a dead man the minute Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed,” for there was not one black person who had ever won a case at the time_____. Throughout the case, the lack of evidence made it blatantly obvious that Tom Robinson was not the culprit, but Bob Ewell, the father of Mayella, was. The story, as told by Mayella, included Tom Robinson being called to her house to bust up a chiffarobe, but Tom then raped her instead. On the other hand, Tom’s version of the story showed that Mayella was feeling lonely, so wanted the company of Tom Robinson. Since the author wrote this book in the 1950s, elements of her political and social milieu seeped into her book. The main major event occurring during the time period was the Civil Rights Movement, where African-Americans demanded equal rights. This was evident in her book, where she showed the Africans as being extra innocent and naive to further spread awareness of the horrible feats African-Americans would have to deal with and the hurdles they would have to jump. In the end, Tom Robinson was ruled as being “Guilty… guilty… guilty… guilty…” by the white jury______. One may even argue that the jury knew that Tom Robinson was innocent by the way the court case played out, but they would never support a black man in fear of being robbed of their social reputation. It was never okay for a white man
to even be in favor of a black man during the time period, which is why Harper Lee’s character, Atticus, was so revolutionary. Despite the lack of evidence Mayella Ewell had and that “The state has [had] not produced one iota of medical evidence,” the court case was set in the white girl’s favor from the moment it started______. Although Tom Robinson was innocent, he was condemned to a prison, where he was eventually shot seventeen times. Justification by evidence alone, no matter how innocent one many be, is not enough in the American justice system. One shouldn’t judge a book by its cover; however, many judges have to do that in order to get a full understanding of the person, mainly in terms of their race. In fact, the website, The Campaigning for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, argues that African-Americans are a stunning 1.4x more likely to be arrested than white people. Therefore, the case of Tom Robinson in the renowned novel by Harper Lee stands as a golden example as to why all should fear the justice system, especially based on their race.