Cause And Effect Of The Scottsboro Boys Trial

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The trial of the Scottsboro boys was a trial that was the cause of two white women accusing nine black men of raping them. Their appeals, retrials, and legal proceedings attracted the attention of the nation and produced to Supreme Court rulings in their favor. The Scottsboro boys trial demonstrates that nonconformity to unjust practices can lead to justice for all people because their trial triggered The Supreme Court ruling that had a major impact on the American system of laws for the right to adequate counsel, the ruling for the right to not be excluded from a jury based on race, and still has a continuing effect in our own time which affirms the principle of equal protection under the law. Their case not only saved them from the death sentence but also started up debate about equal protection under the law such as in the first Supreme Court ruling. …show more content…

This was based on the “due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment” in the US Constitution. “The Supreme Court ruling said that Council was ‘ fundamental’ to due process in cases of this seriousness, whether in a state or federal court.” This decision had a major impact on the American system of laws. For the first time, the right to counsel was established for state and federal courts. However, Alabama decided to be a sore loser and re-prosecuted the Scottsboro case even though there was enough evidence to dismiss the case. This led to the second Supreme Court