Essay on A Member of the Jury in To Kill a Mockingbird

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the trial in the novel is one of the most important incidents that takes place in the text. It is very important to our understanding of the text as a whole as it shows the racial discrimination in that time period of the 1920 – 1930’s and how society in the 20th century has improved and has become more accepting of different races throughout the world as a whole. The topics that will be discussed in this essay are the trial and how it represented a prejudiced society, what happened after the trial and the effects that the trial had on the children.

The rest of the jury realized the boy’s race was not a fact of the matter. The condition the boy was raised was not completely certain but as the jury even walked through every witness’s perspective; they were attempting to be as realistic as possible. The 10th juror was a racist but his perspective was useful nonetheless by teaching a lesson. This responsible approach resulted from an impartial jury with different perspectives and in law reviews such as, “Diversity and the Civil Jury”; it is made clear just how legal and important impartial juries can be. “The right to an impartial jury drawn from a fair cross section of the community has mostly been expounded upon in the context of the Sixth Amendment's right to a jury trial in criminal cases, but has been applied to civil cases as well.’ In order to ensure that juries serve “as instruments of public justice,” this requirement is designed to create “a body truly representative of the community” (Carbone 840). America is very diverse so it makes sense that a jury should reflect such a mixed society and leave racism at the door.

When thinking of a jury, there is a belief that everyone is fair when it comes to making the decision of whether the person being accused of the crime is guilty or not guilty because of the person’s race. What if this belief is not necessarily correct? There have been many instances in whether race has been a factor when the jury makes a decision. According to Baskin, Goldstein, and Sommers (2014), there has been enough evidence to show that racial biases influences the decisions of a jury. In this paper, the articles will show how jury decision-making is influenced by the offender’s race.

“The harm from discriminatory jury selection extends beyond that inflicted on the defendant and the excluded juror to touch the entire community. Selection procedures that purposefully exclude black persons from juries undermine public confidence in the fairness of our system of justice. Discrimination within the judicial system is most pernicious because it is ‘a stimulant to the race prejudice which is an impediment to securing to [black citizens] that equal justice, which the law aims to secure to all others.’” (72 A.B.A.J. 68, July, 1986) With the Court’s ruling new standards were set that required the defendant to show: --That they are members of a cognizable racial group and that the prosecutor has exercised peremptory challenges to remove from the venire members of the defendants’ race --The defendants may rely on the fact that peremptory challenges are a jury selection practice which allow those who are minded to discriminate to do so --That these facts and any other relevant circumstances raise an inference that the prosecutor used that practice to exclude the veniremen from the petit jury on account of their race. (Batson v. Kentucky 476 U.S. 79 [1986])

You brought up how jurors are more likely to find a defendant guilty when the defendant is a different race, and the victim is the same race as the juror, which creates a problem if race is being viewed as a primary factor in the case. Unfortunately, as we know, racial disparities are apparent throughout every phase of our justice system. For example, black individuals are three times as likely to have their cars searched by the police compared to their white counterparts, in addition to being more likely to be pulled over (Racial disparities, 2014). On a larger scale, racial disparities in sentencing decisions are also imposed much more harshly for black individuals than white individuals in the United States. Furthermore, black males in the

It is also worth to mention that another of the white, male jurors, Henry Idle, was at that moment 27 years old, dropped out of high school after the tenth grade. He has in the past worked as a dishwasher and a fry cook, but he is currently unemployed, and leaves in a not very good neighborhood. These last facts leave no doubt as to whether the prosecutor had been entirely sincere in stating his reasons for challenging Mr. Morris and all other African-Americans. The Defense renewed all of here objections on the record and stated all pertinent inconsistencies found in the state reasons to dismiss multiple African-Americans and women, then the defense moved the court for a mistrial. (R. at 65)

There is so many reasons why which I explained throughout the whole paper. I just think that the person is not being treated the way they should be if that was to happen under those grounds. Also it’s kind of like you are judging he jury because you think that they might feel or might not feel a certain way about the case. Your race and gender should have nothing to do with your decision when you are sitting on a jury stand ready to determine how so one will spend the rest of their life. I would never want to be in that situation and I wouldn’t want anyone else to be. I do not think I would feel comfortable being excluded from a jury because of my race. No matter what my race is I should get an opportunity to sit on a jury just like others. Also my gender should not matter because whether the defendant is a male or female, wrong is wrong and there is no sympathizing with someone who is clearly wrong. I am happy that this topic is being talked about because to me it is a big issue. I feel like certain people think that there’s no problem with excluding jurors but in all reality it is. Like I’ve mentioned before, according to sixth amendment you have the right to an impartial trial and when you are excluding jurors for certain reasons that is affecting your rights. Also that leads into the 14th amendment which is the

My name is Samantha and I am a high school Freshman in the Bay Area. Recently in English class, we have finished the classic book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. In the book, we looked at the symbolism and how it relates to modern issues. I quickly noticed that the book not only show the court system in the 1960s but also the court system standing today. By having a colored man convicted of a crime he did not relates to today's issue of the colored community getting harsher and longer sentences. You are one of the people with the most power in this country so I am asking for you to put an end to the racial profiling that goes on in this country by having the jury and judge not see the defendant during hearings.

Not because of fact but because of past experiences and other issues. That is why today in our legal system the jurors are now questioned to ensure they aren’t racist or hold a personal bias against anyone. During certain points in the arguments of the jurors it is obvious through what they say that peer pressure plays a small part in deciding whether the defendant is innocent or guilty. When the first vote was cast and only one juror voted not guilty he was under intense and hostile scrutiny. The entire group cannot see why he voted not guilty and they simply say, “tell us what you’re thinking and we’ll tell you where you’re all mixed up.” The way I see it they are implying that the defendant is definitely guilty and the juror who voted not guilty is just simply confused. Some of the jurors even vote guilty because they don’t want to be the one who keeps the other jurors from being able to leave. The system of voir dire has its advantages and disadvantages. Some lawyers use it to their advantage and hire jury consultants, who try and come up with the best jury for their case, they look for things such as race, gender, and past experiences to help them determine the person’s biases. That is the lawyer’s advantage and our disadvantage. That is exactly the opposite of what a jury is supposed to be made up of. However sometimes voir dire helps to rid the jury of the racist people and helps to make it a fair trial. I believe the best way to achieve

   The trial of Tom Robinson is central to our understanding of racial and social prejudice in Maycomb. Harper Lee uses Tom Robinson's 'crime' to bring tensions in the town to a head and the author uses the trial as a way of making the ideas behind such tensions explicit for the reader.

In California, people with felony convictions cannot serve on a jury, where many important policies and trials are decided (Hersh). For example, the decision to not indict Darren Wilson was made by a jury made up of six white men, three white women, two black women, and one black man (Bell). Nine votes were needed to indict. Since there is a racial implication to people getting felonies, there is an associated relation to the racial makeup of juries (Hersh). The racial imbalance of juries is a longstanding American tradition, and for many, an imbalanced jury can be literally lifechanging. In 1961, Wilbert Rideau, who is black, was a 19-year-old living in Louisiana, trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life. Having grown up in an abusive household with little in the way of money, he felt desperate, and decided to try and rob a bank to escape his situation. In a confused and clumsy attempt, he ended up opening fire with a gun he purchased earlier in the day, killing one of the female tellers (Labranche). He then went on to be tried in front of an all-white jury, in a courtroom of angry, drunk white people; “I was the only black in sight, a fly in a bowl of milk,” he said in his memoir In the Place of Justice. The all-white jury charged him with first-degree murder and he was sentenced to death. Rideau was sentenced in a time of shifting American attitudes regarding

In today’s modern and culturally changing American society, the jury plays a crucial role in our democracy. Jury service allows defendants to exercise their right to a fair and impartial trial. However, in recent years there have been incidents where jurors have been excluded on the grounds of race, gender, religion and sexual orientation. These exclusions have a great impact on the fairness of a trial.

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it”. Discuss this quote from Atticus in relation to 3 characters from the novel.

Judges and juries often do not properly represent the whole population fairly. According to Thomas M. Ross’s article “Judges do not represent society, since most of them are still male, caucasian, and from the middle class”(Ross). This issue is not just found in the judge, but also in the jury. This issue is addressed by Star Tribune in their article “The Color of Law: Can

In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird a major theme is the loss of innocence. Whether from emotional abuse, racial prejudice or learning, Boo, Tom, and Scout all lose their innocence in one sense or another. The prejudice that each character endures leads to their loss. Through the responses of Boo, Tom, and Scout, Harper Lee shows how each character responded differently to their loss of innocence.