The committee conclusion was that Sacco and Vanzetti should be executed. Motions and appeals were made for the U.S. Supreme Court to hold a re-trial. But all these efforts failed. On August 22, 1927, hundreds of heavily armed policemen confronted a throng of demonstrators outside Boston's Charlestown Prison. There were protesters in many cities abroad who shouted their sentiments for the two men when they were electrocuted (UXL Newsmakers).
Importance of the Case current-day trial lawyer or judge who reads the court transcript will quickly recognize the unfairness in the proceedings (Sandler 2003). The judge was clearly prejudiced in his rulings and instructions. The defense attorneys were not adequately trained in their task. Sacco's and Vanzetti's cases serve as reference in trying cases of non-citizens, like terrorists, by military tribunals. In trials such as those, the suspects' rights and privileges to due process will be substantially reduced. This calls for even greater need for fairness. The Italian immigrants' cases emphasize that fear and fervor should not influence or control the individual's basic right to a fair trial. It should apply to citizens and non-citizens alike (Sandler).
Supporters of Sacco and Vanzetti see them as innocent persons who were condemned to die because of their radical views (Liptak 2007). Their enemies interpret radical views as a danger to the government. They perceive anarchists as dangerous individuals who aim at bringing down the American government. This was the fear prevailing at the time as a consequence of the trouble and destruction brought in by Communists and other radicals throughout Europe a decade after the Russian Revolution. In the succeeding years, the names of Sacco and Vanzetti turned into by-words for a politically infested justice system. The common sentiment has been that political views and the two men's immigrant background were the real grounds for their conviction and execution (Liptak).
In the trial's 50th year anniversary in 1977, the Times ran an editorial, which concluded that the trial was ridden with "gross prejudice (Liptak 2007)." Governor Michael S. Dukakis, in response to the editorial, issued a proclamation that the trial was, indeed, "permeated by prejudice." The injustice continues to ring aloud today. An Italian writer, Andrea Camilleri, said that every Italian newspaper says something about the case every August 23 from 1945 to the present. Some critics and analysts strike a parallelism between the cases and those of 9-11 terrorists in the contemporary American justice system. Suspects with unpopular views or unacceptable backgrounds may well question if they can receive justice today.William Grimes of the Times wrote in his book on Sacco and Vanzetti that Judge Thayer made fun and mocked the defendants. He did so for their political views and hardly even concealed that bias, according to Grimes. He explained that it was never easy to render an objective judgment over those who maintain "unattractive opinions" as Sacco and Vanzetti did (Liptak). It is now popular opinion that the case of Sacco and Vanzetti fuelled the development of leftist thought in America (UXL 2005).
The paranoia towards foreign threats persisted after the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti (the Independent Sunday 2007). In 1918, Congress passed the Sedition Act and criminalized criticisms against the government and the armed forces. Following the 9/11 attacks in New York, anyone with a Middle Eastern-sounding name is suspect when a bomb explodes. It was not too different in the time of Sacco and Vanzetti who were arrested, tried and convicted largely because they looked Italian. The anarchists wanted to protect their associates in the anarchist movement. A researched book quotes Sacco as saying that he would be glad to suffer if he was arrested because of his idea. He could say this although he was a family...
Civil Liberty? The Trial of Sacco and Vanzetti During the height of the first so-called "red scare" in the United States from 1919 to 1920, two Italian anarchist immigrants, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, were charged and tried for murder but the evidence against them was spurious (Robbins 178). Throughout what many observers termed "the trial of the century," Sacco and Vanzetti experienced prosecutorial and judicial misconduct. Consequently, these two men
Sacco and Vanzetti Murder Trial Throughout the conviction of Sacco and Vanzetti until decades after their deaths, there was two different of thought and stand: The first group believed that the trial was fair and that the two murders got what they deserved while the other group held the view that these two Italians anarchists were the innocent victims of political and economic interests with the intention of passing a message
1921 and 1927, the trial and appeals of two individuals, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti,, dominated the news and were the inspirational source for many political movements throughout the world (Frankfurter). The profound and wide ranging effect that these two Italian immigrants had on society in the 1920 is remarkable and provides an excellent topic for discussion. The incident giving rise to the Sacco and Vanzetti controversy occurred on April
Boston Marathon Bombing / Sacco Vanzetti There are several poignant similarities existent between the trial of Saaco & Vanzetti, which took place in the early part of the 20th century, and in the bombing of the Boston Marathon and its aftermath, which took place in the early part of the 21st century. Both events involved immigrants. During the epoch in which both events occurred, there was a social climate in the
The groundskeeper explained to the golfers, you are lucky to be alive, "You were sitting on a box of dynamite." The headline of small yet front page article LEOPOLD and LOEB OUGHT to READ THIS. A completely unrelated story of luck, becoms a very sobering reminder to the Sheboygan readers of the nationally infamous Chicago trial, still taking place and likely nearing the sentencing stage. On the same front
On the other hand, in the Dust Bowl evidence, photos and statistics play a very important role, because they paint a graphic picture of what was going on in the country and how people were suffering. This type of evidence plays a much more important role than in the Sacco and Vanzetti case, which was not so much about photographs and statistics, but about print documents and even the political
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