Essay On Police Brutality In A Lesson Before Dying

Lastly, a consequence of Racism depicted in A Lesson Before Dying and the global world is a Racially Biased Justice system. This can be defined as a legal operation such as the police or judicial entities that uses race to determine a verdict. The novel illustrates a racially biased Justice system by showing how race affected the life of Jefferson. In the novel he is falsely accused by two white men. However without the slightest evidence apart from testimonies, his verdict was to be electrocuted to death, because of his race he was deemed to be a robber. During the jurisdiction process of Jefferson there were a lot of instance of a racially biased Justice system. The white prosecutor proclaims, “When the old man and the other two robbers were all

Dead, this one—it proved the kind

“Police brutality refers to force used by law enforcement officers that is excessive and/or unnecessary in dealing with civilians. It may include physical injury such as using weapons, pepper spray, or fists, or psychological intimidation involving false arrest, racial profiling, sexual assault, or verbal abuse” ("Police Brutality and Race").

In the United States, there have been numerous cases of Police brutality directed towards African Americans. For example, “Staten Island police officer strangled African American man Eric Garner to death after Garner resisted being arrested for selling loose cigarettes” (“Racial Profiling”). The death caused a nationwide turmoil, because the nation was convinced that it was a race-based murder. However, the police officer was not indicted for any crime. A Lesson Before Dying connects to the theme of a racially biased Justice system to the global issue of Racism through the use of his character, Jefferson to show the unfair judicial process. Gaines also uses Wiggins to show how devastating the effects of a racially biased justice system affect a