Verified Document

Racism And Unfair Trials In Term Paper

It is the case of a black person taking the law against a white one. This is a story of race conflict, drawn through violent circumstances that will emphasize the proportions of that eternal war. The courtroom dramas, that display the ability of lawyers to argument, to bring details into light, convince jury of a point-of-view, justify facts and present evidence are a favorite topic in American film industry. The film version would have been void of density without the trial suspense.

The conflict of morality, the eternal battle of right and wrong that will not always agree with what is forbidden or allowed (is it illegal to kill a criminal, but is it right to do it if they deserve it?). And especially the moral conflict of the people that have the power to judge this kind of actions and need to stay objective even through very powerful beliefs and traditions.

Among all this conflict there is yet another intolerance issue: the sympathizing groups. The lawyer defending the black character gets threatened by the Ku Klux Klan. The community is divided between those that agree with one side or the other, and both sides hate each other to the point of reaching violent terms. Fanaticism makes them take measures against the other side, defying the laws and the order of the town. Corruption is inevitable and the groups both count with followers that will try to manipulate the laws in their own favor. This is a caricature of how real society works, bending the rules in favor of personal interests.

This story shows racism as a distortion of values in the minds that fall into that weakness. The two rapists...

They attacked the little girl, specifically, because she was black. Racism creates in the mind of people the image that the other person is inferior, not worthy of respect. In the mind of the racist characters (criminals, jury, viewers of the county) the crime seemed less serious if the victim was black than it would have seemed if she had been white. This unconscious perception of things reflects how powerful the suggestion is for somebody dominated by this kind of beliefs.
The fact that the father is released at the end of the story is perhaps the author's attempt to reestablish the faith in justice and shed a bit of light on the viewer. The book would have had a completely different impact -one much more dramatic, more shocking and more outraging on the readers if they had convicted the father for revenging his daughter on his own. The final message we receive from this book, is that, in spite of everything, justice won from every point-of-view, as the criminals where punished, and the victims were avenged. Perhaps this approach might be a little less realistic and somewhat more commercial. The author kept people in suspense and gave them what they wanted to see in the end. However the moral message lingers at the end, about the inevitable intolerance our society still has to face and how hard people must work to fight and defeat it.

Bibliography

Time to Kill." Amazon.com. 2 Aug. 2007 http://www.amazon.com/Time-Kill-Matthew-McConaughey/dp/0790729660

Grisham, John. A Time to Kill. New York: Dell edition, 2004.

Sources used in this document:
Bibliography

Time to Kill." Amazon.com. 2 Aug. 2007 http://www.amazon.com/Time-Kill-Matthew-McConaughey/dp/0790729660

Grisham, John. A Time to Kill. New York: Dell edition, 2004.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Racism in the United States
Words: 1011 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Even though slavery was abolished with the 13th Amendment, blacks in the South were still subjected to harsh and unfair treatment throughout the latter half of the 19th century and well into the 20th century. In fact, it would be more than a century after the ratification of the 13th Amendment before the Civil Rights Act would be signed into law—and it would take a major protest led by Martin

Ethical Case Study Regarding Randomised Medical Trials in a Developing...
Words: 1290 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Global Healthcare Ethics and the Randomised HIV Trial Healthcare professional face a range of ethical issues in the pursuance of their vocation. In the context of HIV research and the conducting of research among vulnerable population, such as poor expectant mothers in developing countries, the compete of global health ethics should provide a foundation for the assessment of ethical practices, both in planning, undertaking, and reviewing the work (WHO, 2014; Stapleton

Death Penalty the United States
Words: 2490 Length: 8 Document Type: Term Paper

However, this difficulty can be avoided by examining van den Haag's distinction between justice and equality. The physical reality of administering justice can never match its theoretical guidelines. Justice is a necessary tool in the aim of producing a functional society. Accordingly, inequities that arise in its practice must be tolerated -- although fought against. State sanctioned killing, on the other hand, is not a logistic necessity for any

Wrongful Conviction Textbook, Compare Problems Wrongful Conviction...
Words: 2612 Length: 9 Document Type: Essay

Wrongful Conviction textbook, compare problems wrongful conviction Canada, United States, United Kingdom. What similarities differences? Discuss Wrongful Convictions in the International Context In spite of the fact that the law system has experienced much progress in the recent years, wrongful convictions continue to occur as lawmen encounter impediments and are unable to use the law properly. It often happens for people who are innocent to be convicted on account of an

Racial Discrimination and the Death Penalty the
Words: 8134 Length: 25 Document Type: Term Paper

Racial Discrimination and the Death Penalty The United States Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that at the end of the year 2000 that there was 1,381,892 total number of prisoners under the jurisdiction of federal or state adult correctional authorities (State pp). During 2000, the prison population rose at the lowest rate since 1972 and had the smallest absolute increase since 1980 (State pp). Relative to the number

Minimizing Wrongful Convictions Through an Efficient Innocence Program...
Words: 5016 Length: 15 Document Type: Essay

Safeguarding the criminal justice system from wrongful convictions through an efficient innocence program � policy evaluation proposalExecutive summaryConvicting innocent people is a global concern. The problem has been brought to the fore in the US through DNA tests that have proven the innocence of some of the people already serving jail terms. So far, up to 138 people have been exonerated of the crimes they were accused and convicted of.

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now