Out At Night : The Need For Justice

One thing that struck me while watching this documentar,y was the way that the New York media sought out the information and relayed it back to the public. They created a humungous turmoil against the five teenage boys, who they claimed were out “wilding” running in a “wolf pack” after their “predators”. Mayor Koch stated, “this will be a test of the system”, regarding for the death penalty. The public wanted to see how the system would handle such barbaric acts and whether or not they will give them the death penalty for such “crimes”. Even multi-millionaire Donald Trump wrote a full-page ad in the frontlines, with the headline, “Bring Back the Death Penalty, Bring Back Our Police.” This sparked my attention as to what pandemonium was going on in the city during that time. The amount of discrimination and social tension between classes frustrated me, as I thought, well did the system go under a Due Process

In the video “The Confessions” presented by Frontline, a murder of a women that was committed by one man, quickly resulted into a false gang murder-rape scene committed by eight men. The victim, Michelle Bosko, was seen to be raped and killed in her apartment in Norfolk, Virginia. From the video, it has been proven that seven out of the eight men that confessed were innocent, but somehow they all received an unequal punishment. Because the innocent men admitted to a murder that they didn’t commit out of fear, they were all sentenced to some time in prison. The head detective, Glenn Ford, intimidated the men so much that they either were convinced that they were at the crime scene or they told him every detail that he wanted to hear.

When this Central park case was made public, the New York Police Department and District Attorney office’s main focus was to solve the case as quickly as possible. When the five teenagers were found “wilding” in the park the night of the women’s death, the police believed they had found the suspects. The police were so confident of the teenager’s guiltiness, the five boys were interrogated of their involvement in the crime. The police used their authority and persuasion to get the boys to confess and promise them that they would go home if they talked. Through strenuous and intense interrogation, the five boys confessed to the killing and rape of the young women on videotape. These confessions were given even though

One piece of evidence that proves the boy’s innocence is the height of the father. This takes an effect on the evidence against the boy because he is 6 inches shorter than his father was. So it would have been harder for the boy to stab the dad it would of taking

A very significant case in Cook County Courts was the Bridgeport case, known as a “heater” case because of the publicity that surround it, and the racial overtones (Bogira 181). The Bridgeport case involved three white teenagers, Michael Kwidzinski, Jasas, and Caruso that were accused of brutally beating two young black boys who were riding their bikes in the predominantly white neighborhood. The entire summary of the case, in Courtroom 302, was based around the fact that one of the boys, Michael Kwidzinski, was most likely innocent. The question then turns to the boy himself, Michael Kwidzinski; if he was innocent, why did hid then accept a guilty plea bargain?

They had already set their mind that these boys committed the crime and used their power to make the boys tell them what they wanted to hear. They used their power to hold the boys at the police station until they “confessed”. The boys did not know of their rights that they had and were detained for a long period of time until they were made to believe that if they were to confess, they could go home. Another way that criminal law was used to control the working class in the documentary is with bail. If someone has money, they can pay for a temporary release from jail. In the film, two boys were able to be released on bail, but three of the boys’ families weren’t able to come up the money, so they had to stay in jail. It is clear that if someone is of the working class, it would be difficult for them to come up with the money because of financial issues. If someone was rich, they would be able to pay the bail or fine without having to worry about providing food on the table or paying bills. Because of this, it seems like these criminal laws are set up to benefit those who are wealthy and weed out those that are poor. Those associated with the lower class are usually associated with crime and violence and because of that, these criminal laws are targeted towards a group of people who are at a disadvantage.

During the Holocaust, Jewish people were forced into concentration camps. They were given little to none of the things necessary to survive, and were forced to work until they died from exhaustion and malnutrition. They were treated like animals; dehumanized by the Nazis. In Night, a memoir by Elie Wiesel, Elie shares his story of the agony, grief, and torment he experienced during the Holocaust. The one thing that kept him going during this horrific event was his father. He depended on him and it's clear if he didn’t have his father's presences he wouldn't have survived.

From the start, the media's influence in the Central Park Five case is very evident . Before the adolescents’ were even sent to trial, the media had already portrayed the teens as criminals and had essentially declared them guilty of the crime. The way newspapers and television covered the case and talked about the boys made it clear that their intentions were to make people believe these five teenage boys were, in fact, guilty. They used words like “savages” and “wolf pack” to give the audience the impression that these teenage boys were not good people; they gave them a bad image before they could actually explain themselves. By using words like the ones above, the media dehumanizes the teenage boys. These kinds of phrases and words are what will catch the reader's attention and, in some cases, the reader might actually forget that these articles are talking about actual human beings and not a “wolf pack”.

During the Holocaust, approximately six million non-Aryans, especially Jews, perished under the rule of the Nazis. Prisoners were frequently beaten, starved, and treated as if they were animals. In Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, he recollects the traumatizing experiences he and his fellow prisoners

On April 19, 1989, 29 year old Trisha Meili was brutally attacked and raped in Central Park. The attack was a high profile case for a few reasons: the victim was a white woman in an affluent part of Manhattan, and the perpetrators were thought to be a group of young, low class Black and Latino teens from Harlem. Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, and Korey Wise were interrogated and manipulated, leading to their arrests and imprisonment for a brutal rape that they did not commit, or even know of initially. With the only incriminating evidence being the confessions of the teens, which were coerced and pressured by detectives and police officers, the Central Park jogger case is a prime example of the scapegoating

Through the study this term of the central text, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and related texts, films Rabbit Proof Fence by Phillip Noyce and In the Name of the Father by Jim Sheridan, my understanding of the concept of justice, or what constitutes justice, has altered considerably. We all think we know what justice is, or what it should be. In Australian colloquial terms, it is the principle of a “fair go” for everyone. In a perfect world, everyone is treated fairly. No-one is subjected to discrimination on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, sex or disability. But the reality is that the world we inhabit is far from perfect, human beings are by their very natures

Every person would like fair treatment but, in our communities, we find that some individuals do not get fair judgment regarding some issues. The topic of justice has been talked about by many individuals in our societies. Writers too have not been left out in telling about the same issue. Authors of different genres work very hard to try to help create a just society. These authors do so by using different themes in their works to let us see how our society is unjust and also what we can do to ensure justice is in practice. This essay discusses the topic of justice as displayed in the poem “The Colonel” by Carolyn Forche, the play. “No Crime” by Billy Goda, and the story “The Lottery “by Shirley Jackson.

The documentary we had to watch for this week’s discussion called “The Central Park Five” directed by Ken Burns was eye-opening. The movie was about five black and Latino teenagers aged 14 to 16 of being falsely convicted of attacking and raping a 28-year-old white woman in the central park, New York in 1989.

The topic of justice has been talked about by many individuals in our societies. Writers too have not been left out in telling about the same issue. All people would like fair treatment but, in our communities, we find that some individuals do not get fair justice. Authors of different genres work very hard to trying to create an understanding on the issue of justice. By use of various themes in different writing, all talking about justice, we can come up with a presentation of how justice is displayed in our society. This paper will discuss the topic of justice as presented differently in the poem “The Colonel” by Carolyn Forche, the play. “No Crime” by Billy Goda, and the story “The Lottery “by Shirley Jackson.

Question 2: Discuss daytime and nighttime warrant executions and no-knock entries. What problems do you believe are inherent with each? Do you agree with the courts? Why or why not?