The Justice System In Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird

Even when the evidence overwhelmingly supports Tom Robinson’s innocence, the jury’s bias towards blacks convicts Tom as guilty and is the reason for his eventual death. However, Atticus’s strong efforts leads to a lengthy discussion about the verdict of Tom’s case, which creates hope for a turning point in Maycomb, where whites and blacks are treated equal, because no other trial involving a black person has taken this length of time. In summary, all the occurrences of injustice in To Kill a Mockingbird such as the trial of Tom Robinson are created by a group of people with the same immoral beliefs but can be fixed with strong determination

In court, Tom Robinson was declared guilty and sentenced to death. Atticus discusses the outcomes with Jem, stating that whites will always win over blacks. However, Jem argues by saying it “‘doesn’t make it right’”

One of the most glaring aspects that underline the trial's unfairness was the biases and prejudices that pervaded the courtroom. During this era, the

By taking the word of biased parties on both sides (with the only first-hand witnesses being the parties involved in the alleged crime), prejudice is the only thing left on which the jury can reach a verdict. The evidence is entirely circumstantial, so the jury feels left with the sole option to sentence Tom Robinson to death for being black. Correlating with this evidence is a quote from James Baldwin, a black civil rights reformer and novelist, from a 1965 debate. Baldwin says, “But what is happening in the poor woman, the poor man’s mind is this: they’ve been raised to believe, and by now they helplessly believe, that no matter how terrible their lives may be, and their lives have been quite terrible, and no matter how far they fall, no matter what disaster overtakes them, they have one enormous knowledge in consolation, which is like a heavenly revelation: at least, they are not Black” (Baldwin and Buckley, 1965). This quote resounds within the trial as a whole.

To Aristotle courage was the greatest quality of the mind. He placed such high value on courage due to the high moral character it shows. However, just as powerful as the moral character is the mental urge to act on your conviction against social and moral adversity. In To Kill a Mockingbird, the courage of many characters is tested under different circumstances in the small town of Maycomb Alabama. All of these acts show moral and social courage.

Before Jem knew the degree of how much everyone discriminated black people, he thought that Atticus was going to win the case. He even says, “Don’t fret, Reverend, we’ve won it,” (Lee, 1960, p. 212). After Tom Robinson is ruled guilty on the case, a crying Jem asks, “How could they do it, how could they?” (Lee, 1960, p. 216). The first quote shows that Jem thinks that Atticus clearly has more compelling evidence and doesn’t take into account that Tom Robinson is black and because of that, he’s going to lose the court case.

In the 1930s, if a black man was on trial there was a ample chance he would be convicted even if evidence proved he was innocent. Throughout history humans being prejudice and bias have affected the lives of thousands of people; some ending with favorable outcomes while others weren’t so fortunate. Within the book To Kill a Mockingbird the readers learn that prejudice and bias people outnumber the understanding and kind. One decision or in this case twelve decisions decide the fate for an unfortunate man. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee reveals that people often follow their biases and prejudices rather than the truth.

According to kill a mockingbird, mockingbirds represents a sense of innocence. In the book, Miss Maudie explains to scout, why to kill a mockingbird is a sin. She says, “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

After Atticus loses his trial, Jem notices that the Maycomb County justice system is broken and it needs help, “Then it all goes back to the jury, then. We oughta do away with juries. ”(294) This shows that Jem now understands that people are racist in everything and racism needs to be fought. On top of realizing that the justice system is in shambles, Jem realized that Tom Robinson’s case was very good at showing that.

Don’t see how any jury could convict on what we heard-’...’Now don’t be so confident, Mr. Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man,”’ on page 279 paragraphs 6-7. Harper Lee then continues on page 282 paragraphs 2-3 to write, “A jury never looks at a defendant it has convicted, and when this jury came in, not one of them looked at Tom Robinson…’Guilty...guilty...guilty...guilty.’” Then, on page 285 paragraph10 it says, “‘They’ve done it before and they did it tonight and they’ll do it again and when they do it-seems that only children weep.’” This all comes together to prove that the children, Jem especially, saw how the verdict should have been and then goes on to suggest that if the jury had been made up of kids the verdict would have been much faster and would have been right because the children would not have been blinded by public opinion. So, the irony of Jem believing Tom Robinson would be free and the belief everyone else had including Atticus that the jury would convict Tom Robinson, shows that adults have come to believe that justice no longer matters, while hypocritically teaching their children that it

This is a quote from the trial of Tom Robinson. It is said to Jem by Reverend Sykes: “Now don’t you be so confident, Mr. Jem, I ain’t ever seen any jury decide in favor of a colored man over a white man…” (Lee 179). This quote shows disparities within the court system based on race. Reverend Sykes knew that Tom would lose simply because of his being a black man being accused by a white man.

In the South of the United States in the 1930´s, the justice system was very unfair towards colored people. Colored people that were sent to court could not receive a fair trial because of the prejudice and racism from the jury. This happened all the time, especially in Maycomb Alabama. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a colored man named Tom Robinson was convicted of assaulting a white woman just because of the color of his skin. Tom Robinson should have been found not guilty for many reasons.

Because the jury did not favor black men, Tom Robinson did not receive a fair trial, although Atticus made a great case. Segregation directly disobeys the fourteenth amendment, “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” Maycomb Alabama is where the story, To Kill a Mockingbird takes place. Tom Robinson’s trial out come was not based on factual evidence. Mayella was lying to the jury, while Tom was completely innocent.

This behaviour is deemed as natural, and few people question the roles put in place, this is truly terrifying so we are lead to wonder if what we accept as normal is perhaps corrupt instead. Race is the dominant cause of inequality in To Kill A Mockingbird, thus Maycomb’s views on race heavily influence every aspect of life. Although racial inequality is clearly illustrated in the in the injustice, prejudice, discrimination and antagonism surrounding the Tom Robinson trial, it is also shown more subtly throughout the novel. In Chapter 25 Atticus Finch is quoted disclosing that the corrupt justice system is a direct cause of a racist society. “In our courts, when it 's a white man’s word against a black man’s, the white man always wins” (Lee, 295).

Jem is clearly conflicted over Tom being guilty. Jem unlike the other Maycomb residents realizes the crudeness and unfairness of the case. Everyone knows that Atticus had given all factual evidence but Tom was guilty because he was black. In Today’s society the same goes. From the New York Times Article, “Blacks were also slightly more likely to be sentenced to prison than whites.