Memphis Three Stereotypes

The unfortunate truth about this case is that while the boys were eventually released it was nineteen years later and that is a staggering loss of life. Not only does the victim’s family suffer not having proper justice, but also the two innocent boys lost years of their lives. Paul went insane in prison, and after being released he was not able to carry on with a normal lifestyle. Bach does a good job of building her case against the competitive, frat-like antics of prosecutors much like Thomas Breen. He utilized tactics such as appeal to emotion by having Cabassa’s mother cry on the stand clutching her daughters blood streaked clothes, and defending the tenuous witness by arguing the great courage it took for her to even come forward. He went so far as to say that her fear caused her lapses in memory. This is both irrelevant and creates sympathy in the jurors who are seeking for reprisal for the victim at any cost (212). This proves that the justice system would rather the poor and unrepresented stay buried behind bars than risk embarrassment for lawyers as a

All of the boys’ trials were suspiciously speedy and did not last more than a few days. There was only one lawyer for all nine of the boys. The lawyer was not trustworthy and he was seventy-one years old. Also, there was minimal or no proof that the boys had raped the girls and there, of course, was an all white jury. In the case Powell v. Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the convictions because the defendant had not received a legal counsel, the trial was not fair, and there were no blacks on jury. It claimed that this case violated the 6th and 14th amendments (6th being the right to counsel in trials and the 14th is prohibiting states from denying the rights of people without Due Process of Law). This was the same for Norris v. Alabama. The convictions ruling was that the state had excluded blacks from the jury, which is a violation of the 14th amendment. Besides all of these Due Process violations, one of the girls did admit that there was no harm that occurred, and no one was raped. Although, this did not matter or change the opinion of what should happen to the Scottsboro

The Scottsboro Boys were a group of nine boys who were wrongfully sentenced from 1931-1937 and not proven innocent until 1977 to a tedious life of trials and prison, tribulations and death. Everything started when the nine boys set off on a southern railroads train heading towards Memphis from Chattanooga, looking for honest work. They started a little scuffle with the white teenagers in the train until eventually a white boy called the conductor, who in turn called the police. Despite the whites having just as much to do with the fight as the blacks. The police arrested every black teenager they could find, and not a single white was bothered. The nine boys they found were deemed the name: The Scottsboro Boys. After they were hauled off to prison, two girls Ruby Bates and Victoria Price, falsely accused the boys of raping them. This is what started the trials, and highlights how prejudiced people were at the time.

though judge William Callahan had a bone to pick with the defense, saying he was “Disrespectful”. He convicted Patterson again and will see to it that he gets the death penalty. Crowds are gathering, and this case is now the talk of the town of Paint Rock, Alabama. However, there might still be hope for these nine “Scottsboro Boys.” The people seem to be rooting for the boys. There have been multiple protests, and restaurants have been seating black people. Price seems adamant on killing off these “Negroes” for what they allegedly did, but is very inconsistent with her testimony. The fact that there is no hard evidence is the only reason she can get away with this. She falls back on poor memory when asked hard questions or very important questions. She always has some remarks to utter, and is allegedly a prostitute. Semen has been found in her vagina, but it belonged to none of the Scottsboro boys, therefore she had an affair while or before the train ride. Some speculate that the white men on the train could have done the deed. She allegedly left her husband because he was always drunk, but the records show that her husband left

They lied to the 5 teens saying, the other in the group is telling them they did the crime and if they admit it they can walk out a free man. Manipulating and pressuring the teens to do something or say something they want to hear is a terrible persona. That is a tough situation for a teen to be in; they are not used to being locked up for days and being interrogated by the police. In their head, they thought the only way to get out was by saying something the prosecutor and detective wanted to hear, which untimely ended up hurting them the most in the trial.

They 're deemed guilty for the sheer fact that they are being investigated, even though the investigators took few, if any, of the steps necessary to warrant investigating the young men. In their haste, the police force overlook crucial evidence at the scene, take the word of individuals with less than credible backgrounds, and most importantly let the palpable anger of the city dictate how shifty they come up with accusers to take the fall for the triple murder.

This case was one of truth and justice. It becomes evident when the Juror 9 says to Juror 10. ‘Do you think you have a monopoly on truth?' [Juror 9, page 8] The fact is, nobody really knows what the truth is, and at the end of the play, still nobody does. The boy may have been guilty, but as Juror 8 pointed out, who were they to make that assumption? Most of the Jurors had taken for granted that what the prosecution had told them was the truth. Through much discussion the Jurors realised that this may

After reading and viewing the racism pieces, i conclude that the Scottsboro Boys were only found guilty and convicted because of the racist society that the boys were currently in. Their is lots of evidence to show that the boys did not commit the crimes. One of the accusers later told media that there was no rape, the accusers were prostitutes trying to cross the border and were trying to find a way in, and the boys were even on a different car than the prostitutes. The boys were also tried unfairly. All of them were tried at once, the trial only took one day, and the defense attorney for the boys wasn’t even a real attorney, he was a real estate agent. This is why i believe that the Scottsboro Boys were only found guilty because of racism.

This letter from Haywood Patterson shows exactly that: “Anything might happen at such a place and then again I had received several threats on my life and they would not give me any Medical attention there and worked me quite hard every Day when I couldn’t hardly get around my leg. You see they sent me right out of the Hospital one day and the next day I was put to work” (Kinshasa 186). This proves how Haywood Patterson was being treated in a brutal way and was not given any medical attention which is only one example of the miscarried justice. Patterson had not been shown the proper respect because he was being worked too hard when he was ill. If this was not because of the color of his skin then what other reason would it be? “First, they had been given unprofessional and ineffective legal counsel—a real estate lawyer and an elderly attorney who had not tried a case in decades—who offered no witnesses or closing arguments to the jury. Then the testimonies of the boys themselves conflicted with one another, as six denied the rapes entirely while the other three alleged that the six had committed the acts; the boys later stated they lied about the rapes because they had been beaten and threatened” (“Scottsboro Boys Trials”). The boys had their “mouths taped shut” because they had been beaten and threatened which is another example of miscarried justice. They were destined to lose this case because they were given a lousy counsel and lawyer to fight for their justice. How could there be such a lack of

Famed journalist and prime minister Winston Churchill once said “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often”, and I agree with him. I believe Memphis is one of the greatest cities in the U.S. It contains a rich history of triumph and struggle that allows it to distinguish itself from other cities. Even as great as Memphis is, it is still a work in progress. Memphis changes and changes often, but I think it still has a ways to go. Memphis has to improve its social relations problems to become more sustainable, in my opinion. Even though Memphis isn’t the perfect city, it's trying to become one.

April 6, 1931, the trials for the Scottsboro boys begin(Uschan 16). The boys were represented by Milo C. Moody and Stephen Roddy who were only given twelve days to prepare for the trials. Stephen was and unpaid, unprepared real estate attorney, and Milo was a forgetful seventy year old local attorney who hadn’t tried a case in a long time (“San Marcos” line 13). The trails were completely unorganized and false information was stated throughout the whole thing. The cross examination of Victoria Price lasted minutes and the defense offered very little information to the judge. Six out of the nine boys ended up denying the rape while 3 admitted to it. Even though the three men didn’t rape the women, because of beatings and threats, they admitted to the gang rape. By the time the trail had ended 8 out of the 9 boys were convicted and sentenced to death. Since one of the Scottsboro boys was only thirteen, he was considered too young to be tried as an adult (“UMKC” par. 6-7).

Have you ever told one of your friends something, and you just felt the need to throw in

This trial did not just impact the life of the boys it impacted the life of others, after this trial they looked at how they did all these cases. As the time went on there became more and more fair trails, less biased jury and judges. But it does still exist, racism in court many years later. But the trial from Scottsboro, Alabama with Olen Montgomery, Clarence Norris, Haywood Patterson, Ozie Powell, Willie Roberson, Charles Weems, Eugene Williams, Andy Wright, and Roy Wright all falsely accused of raping Ruby Bates and Victoria Price was a prodigious part of the way they treated trails against African

Since they have no status or significant wealth of their own they are seen as lesser than those of higher status. One of the murder victims was the stepson of the pastor in West Memphis, who has superior authority over most of the citizens. In the beginning of the film he is seen slandering the names of the alleged killers and damning them for their actions. Throughout the film he mentions taking actions into his own hands if the three teenagers are not found guilty. He is also seen giving sermons and performing hymns during the trial which could inevitably influence the jurors’ opinions.

The members of the jury were no exception. At least half of the members of the jury discriminated against the defendant based off of the simple fact that these men believed him to be a criminal, partially based off of the boy’s father’s criminal record and the boy’s own criminal record, but mostly stemming from the idea that he was a minority from the slums of New York City. The jurors all looked at his previous record, but took his entire testimony with a grain of salt. Rather than listen to what the boy had to say, the members of the jury focused on any of the other witnesses’ testimonies to put this young man behind bars until his execution date. These men were not a jury of his peers.