The Crucible, To Kill a Mockingbird, and prejudices of the American judiciary
The American legal system comes with a protective function against unwarranted prosecutions: the suspects are innocent until proven otherwise, everyone has the right to a fair trial, the jury can not sue if they reasonable doubt, double jeopardy prevents anyone from being tried again for the same offense after acquittal.
Of course, everyone knows that idealism is not always translate very well from theory to reality. U.S. Courts have a horror story of injustice – which is reflected in many of our most famous works of literature. Just think of Arthur Miller in 1953 play "The Crucible." Set in Puritan New England in the decade to 1690, recounts the history of the Salem witch hunts that has rocked the cradle of American civilization.
With the power of local courts, a handful of young men accused of dozens of his countrymen fear witchcraft. Most say they save their own lives, but held firmly in favor of his alleged relationship with the devil. New England Well, obviously, pre-colonial America Judicial History-note is actually a veiled allegory of McCarthyism in twentieth century America.
Special interest for the title = "Crucible"> Crucible was the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), which investigated and prosecuted, and hundreds in the blacklist of suspected Communists during the early 1940 and 50. The wave of accusations and condemnations destroyed the personal and professional lives of many prominent Americans. In fact, some years after the work was produced, Miller himself was tried by the HCUA, a fine of $ 500, sentenced to 30 days prison and blacklisted. Fortunately for Miller and his then wife, Marilyn Monroe, the sentence was revoked the following year.
In 1960, after the author Harper Lee published what is now the most famous novel about the American legal justice system: title = "To Kill a Mockingbird"> To Kill a Mockingbird. In this paper, an African-American named Tom Robinson receives death penalty for raping a white woman despite an abundance of evidence to prove his innocence. Although the plot is inspired by a particular event, clearly resembles countless true stories such as of the Scottsboro Boys, nine black defendants who were convicted of raping two white women in 1931 on very fragile evidence.
To Kill a Mockingbird explicitly address weaknesses in the American judicial system especially in the speeches made by Robinson's lawyer, Atticus Finch. "The court is as strong as its jury said, "and a jury is only as strong as the men who compose it." And it's true: despite all constitutional and legal, judicial decisions often do not exceed the prejudices of his time.
Given the reality of the situation, one could say that it is difficult to have faith in a system – especially because is designed to have faith in himself, after all, because the legal precedents are difficult to overcome because we believe that our ancestors knew what they were doing. The same logic that guides the constitutional prohibition against double crime: the issue of the final decision of the court by charging someone with the same crime that affects the integrity system itself.
So when, for example, someone confesses a crime without consequences after "proven" innocent (Remember the OJ Simpson tell-all book, If I Did It?) Everything speaks of protecting the integrity of the court suddenly seems very cheap. Notably, the system U.S. legal work if it means turning a blind eye to obvious errors in justice? And if not, what this system could even replace it?
About the Author
Shmoop is an online study guide for To Kill A Mockingbird, judicial branch and many more. Its content is written by Ph.D. and Masters students from top universities, like Stanford, Berkeley, Harvard, and Yale who have also taught at the high school and college levels. Teachers and students should feel confident to cite Shmoop.
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