Memphis Three Stereotypes

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

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).

The people of West Memphis were convinced this was an act of satanic evil. From the jump police said that they believed that these brutal killings were a sacrifice to satan from the way that the bodies were tied up. According to The Truth Behind Echols v. State: How an Alford Guilty Plea saved the West Memphis Three; Detectives found all three bodies naked and hog-tied, mutilated with wounds that had been allegedly caused by a serrated knife, and bruised from what investigators deemed to be the result of sexual abuse. The police conclution of this being part of a satanic ritual lead them to believe that Echols was responsible because he is a self proclaimed

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

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.

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

On May 5th, 1993 three eight year old boys were reported missing in West Memphis, Arkansas. The boys were found the next day, hog tied in a wooded area called “Robin Hood Hills”. After the case had been “thoroughly” investigated, the West Memphis Police announced on the news that they had found the murderers, pointing fingers at Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin, three teenagers who were different from the norm in West Memphis, making it easy for them to be accused. I believe the boys were wrongfully accused of this crime because there is a lack of evidence in the case pointing to the boys, and the crime just seems to convenient for these three to actually pull off.

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

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.

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.

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

I am writing to tell you about my conclusion of whether justice was served on the Twelve Angry Men trial, in which the jurors presented a verdict of “not guilty”. I believe that the verdict could be wrong, and that reopening the case with a retrial would be the best course of action possible. To remind you about the case, a sixteen-year-old boy was accused of fatally stabbing his father with a switch knife. The witnesses were an old man who lived underneath the room where the murder took place, and a woman across the street with a window right opposite the kid’s. The old man claimed to have heard loud noises (that sounded like a fight) upstairs at approximately 12:10 and later heard the kid shout “I’m going to kill you”.

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.

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.