To Kill A Mockingbird Essays: Portrayal Of The Justice System

The saying, “white men rule”, has been around since the founding of the United States of America and continues to this day. This country was built and controlled by white men. Not only were blacks frowned upon, but women too. Back then, a black person never received justice. “...our courts have their faults, as does any human institution, but in this country our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal” (Lee 274). Atticus Finch is saying how a courtroom is a place where there should be equal justice. Tom was not being treated equal therefore, this so called “place of equal justice” was not abiding to what it should be. In St. Louis, Missouri, June 2017, a white police officer shot and wounded an off-duty black police officer. In an article from the New York Times, it states, “... the off-duty officer, a 38- year old black man with 11 years of service, was inside his home nearby when he heard the commotion. Taking his police issued weapon, he went outside to help. When he approached the scene, two of the officers told him to get on the ground but then recognized him and ordered him to walk toward them. But another officer who had just arrived, a 36- year old white man with more than 8 years of service, did not recognize the black officer. That officer “fearing for his safety,”...fired a shot”. It continues to say, “... in the police report you have so far, there is no description of a threat he received,

One of the inequalities in Lee’s story is racism. Tom Robinson was a black man who was accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a white, nineteen year old girl. During his trial, his lawyer, Atticus Finch did his best showing the jury that he was an innocent man. The jury delibabrated for hours before they reached a verdict: “Guilty...guilty...guilty...guilty” (Lee 282). Tom was an innocent man but because of the color of his skin, he walked into that courtroom already found guilty. Today, people of color are targeted in many different ways, especially in the legal system:“One out of every 13 African Americans have lost their right to vote due to felony disenfranchisement versus one in every 56 non-black voters” (Quigley). Another example is, federal prosecutors are almost twice as likely to file charges carrying mandatory minimum sentences for African Americans than whites accused of the same crimes, according to a study published by the University of Michigan Law School. Our Declaration of Independence

Justice. “the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness. [dictionary.com]” Justice is implyed when something in the right thing to do, whether or not the decision is in favoe of the reciever. Fairness. “the state, condition, or quality of being fair, or free from bias or injustice; evenhandedness. [dictionary.com]” Fairness is implyed when In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the concepts of justice and fairness are two conflicting topics. They don’t seem like they are two concepts that would have conflicts, though in this story, they are clearly displayed as conflicting topics. One thing is the fair thing to do, but it is not just. Many characters are prime examples of this idea, like Tom Robinson’s

Injustice and judgments are well known in the world. With so many people who get out of what they deserve or are punished for nothing at all. People who are judged by how they appear or seem, and how cruel it can all be. The concept of injustice and judgments is written out in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Injustice and judgments is the theme of To Kill a Mockingbird with certain symbols that help convey it, certain examples are Mr. Raymond’s “liquor” bottle, the snowman Scout and Jem made, and the gifts from Boo Radley.

Yesterday, Tom Robinson was fatally shot after he attempted to escape county jail. According to Atticus Finch, defense attorney, Tom Robinson suddenly charged at the prison fence and started to climb over. The guards first asked Robinson to stop and they then fired several warning shots before finally shooting him seventeen times. He was proclaimed dead at the scene.

   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.

For him, like many other real-life Negroes in American history, the principles underpinning political, social and criminal justice failed. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus’ belief that, “in our courts all men are created equal,” ( p. 209) makes a complete mockery of the judicial system.

Although the dedication of Mr. Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird”, even though it turned out against his favor due to an absence of evidence and a debauched court hearing. This court hearing makes readers question whether or not the justice system of that era was fair and in retrospect, a good question is whether or not our justice system today is fair and lawful. If you think that a false conviction was unfair, Tom is eventually killed for his false conviction under a faulty justice system. To me the sense of justice and fairness seems to be completely violated and bigoted.

In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the most significant themes is race and social class cause inequalities. For example, when the jury was deciding Tom Robinson’s verdict, Jem was convinced that Atticus had won the trial and Tom Robinson would be found innocent. But, Reverend Sykes knew that that would not happen. Reverend Sykes said that he had never “‘seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man…’” (111). The racism in the south was so deep, even if you compared the lowest class of white people, like the Ewells, to African Americans, the Ewells were considered better. Even juries, which are supposed to be fair, still showed racism and hatred towards African Americans. The justice system is designed

Justice. “the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness,” as stated by dictionary.com. Justice is implied when something in the right thing to do, whether or not the decision is in favor of the receiver. Fairness. “the state, condition, or quality of being fair, or free from bias or injustice; evenhandedness,” as stated by dictionary.com. Fairness is implied when something is fair and in favor of a person to benefit them. To most people justice and fairness are considered interchangeable.

To Teach a Mockingbird When most people hear the word education, they will immediately assume that it's referencing school. In To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee brings a new significance to the term. As the main character Scout grows up and becomes more exposed to the world around her, she learns that there's more to education than algebra and handwriting. She recieves lessons in justice, manners, and optimism throughout the novel, resulting in her becoming a well-rounded, kind young lady.

“To Kill a Mockingbird” is a very revered book for students and adults alike. The book shows plenty of teachings, one such is justice. There are many cases of the novel that the main thought was about justice. In one such case at the very end of the novel is where I believe is the most obvious and blunt case of justice shows itself to the readers. It consists of Boo Radley and his actions against Bob Ewell to save the children that have a purposeful and incidental meaning to serve justice.

To begin, I will tell you a story. A little girl’s biological father called Child Protective Services on her new stepdad with false allegations. Consequently, the family had to separate for a period of time, while CPS looked into it. In everyday life there are examples of injustice and justice. The story I started with, is an example of injustice because the biological father tore the family apart over false allegations, which is not just. We can learn and relate to many other examples as well. In the novels, To Kill A Mockingbird and Lay That Trumpet in Our Hands, there are many examples of this. Justice and injustice are two important things that can teach us a lot.

For instance, during the closing statement of Atticus, he remarks that “a court” is only as reasonable as it’s “jury” and he is “assured” that they will “restore the defendant to his family” (Lee 294-295). In this statement from Atticus Finch, he explains the court system is only as fair as the jury. He believes the jury should not charge Tom Robinson as guilty to assure justice. Although, the jury ends up finding Tom Robinson guilty, which depicts a flaw in the court system. After the verdict is reached as Atticus is talking to Jem, he states the “word” of a “white man always wins” (Lee 295). This text demonstrates that if a white man is going against a colored man, the white man will always win even if justice is not achieved. Atticus does not let let the color of a person’s skin affect his judgement, unlike the jury for Tom Robinson’s trial. The way the jury chose their verdict based on the color of a person’s skin shows that juries disrupt justice through racial

When writing the Constitution, Thomas Jefferson said, “...all men are created equal…”. When he wrote this, he was not referring to the African American population, but rather that all free, property owning males are created equal. Why would Jefferson state that all men are to be equal, when at the time all men were not created equal? This is only one example of the many times throughout history where people showed a lack of fairness or justice. Such is the case in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird. In this iconic novel, Lee symbolizes the importance of inequality, and the way we view others. The book takes place in Maycomb County, a sleepy town in southern Alabama during the 1930s when poverty and unemployment were widespread due to the