Comparing Prejudice In A Lesson Before Dying And Steven Avery

Prejudice is defined by a preconceived opinion about something that is not based off reason or actual experience. This injustice has always existed in society. Through means of racial inequality, hate, stereotypes and jurors wanting to take an easy road out of trials, it makes appearances in court trials and the justice system. I believe that through the similarities and differences within the trails of Jefferson in A Lesson Before Dying and Steven Avery seen through this real-world court case accurately demonstrate the unacceptable, unchanging prejudice present in the justice system.

In the novel A Lesson Before Dying, Jefferson is convicted of a murder he did not commit simply for being the wrong colour, in the wrong place, at the wrong

It’s quicker to take the easy road out of something but it is intolerable to have it be the go-to option when it comes to convicting criminals. A lot of the time, jurors have their minds made up prior to even listening to a case because of being bribed and threatened by either the prosecution or defendant. This was something present in the case against Steven Avery as one of the jurors from Avery’s 2005 murder case later came out and mentioned he was threatened. The statement mentioned in the article “the juror voted to convict at the trial under duress,” implies the fear for personal safety present for the juror at the time of trial. This ultimately corrupts the whole system and opens up a potential of doubt whether Avery truly did commit the murder or not. The jurors went and listened to the first confession they could find. In this case, it was of Avery’s nephew with a story that matched up perfectly with the evidence. Many would find this suspicious and question it, however, in this case, it was taken as true and put Avery behind bars. Similarly, Jefferson faced the same kind of situation. At the scene of the murder, Jefferson was incorrectly convicted of committing, he was the only one left alive. With this scenario, there is no one else left to convict so in order to speed up the whole process they convict Jefferson. Currently, the justice system just takes whatever information and evidence they have and twist it slightly to make it more convincing to close the