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Explain What Happens In A Criminal Trial To Kill A Mockingbird

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A) What happens in the trial to the characters involved (ie the witnesses, judges, lawyers)? To Kill a Mockingbird is entered around the trial of alleged rape of Mayella Ewell by Tom Robinson. Atticus Finch is Tom Robinson’s defence lawyer. In the trial, he aimed to truly and justly defend Tom despite the town’s prejudices towards the case. During the course of the trial, four witnesses are questioned: Tom Robinson, Heck Tate, Mayella Ewell and her father Bob Ewell. Tom Robinson is scared during the course of the trial because he knows that his skin colour will render a verdict of guilty. Even though he knows he’s innocent, he provides all relevant information to the court. He trusts Atticus to defend him. Heck Tate is confident during the …show more content…

During the course of a criminal trial, adversaries are tasked with convincing the judge or jury to believe their perspective on the case. Justice is pursued, but not always achieved. Justice in a criminal trial is achieved when the innocent is found innocent and the guilty is found guilty. The adversarial system tasks the judge with choosing the most persuasive argument. This is not justice, but a process of persuasion and wit. D) How important do you think the ‘fact’ of a criminal trial – the performance of prosecuting someone for an egregious violation of international law – is to the idea of transitional justice? Criminal trials act as a process for punishment. Even though in itself they do not directly deliver transitional justice, they act as a vehicle A primary purpose of transitional justice is to seek recognition for victims, as well as the promotion of peace and reconciliation. Criminal trials are concerned with interests of the defendant, they do not allow victims to share their stories. Victims are not given a formal or active role in all criminal trials. Testimonies from victims are subject to examination. This does not provide an adequate process for transitional

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The source examines the impact of victims being wrongfully convicted and imprisoned, and the international approach to the issue. Australia has signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) signed by the Australian government in 1972, which states once a person has been wrongfully convicted and they have received a punishment, by law they are entitled to compensation unless its proved there is an unknown fact which has arisen. However, this was never adopted into Australian law, as a result any individual wrongfully convicted and imprisoned isn’t entitled to any compensation under Australian law. Australia’s commitments to signing this is that all states and territories must meet their obligations under article 14 (6) which are incorporation of the domestic article into domestic legislation to ensure a legal right to compensation. Though a state or territory government does have the ability to make an ex gratia payment to a wrongfully convicted individual through a request or their own doing.

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In Chapter 16, Tom Robinson's trial starts with the attendance of almost every one of the Maycomb citizens except Miss Maudie who doesn’t want to see a man’s fate decided in court. Jem explains the history of Mr. Raymond, a man who came to the trial, to Scout. Mr. Raymond has children and is involved with a black women. Their children are mixed races and have a difficult time befriending either race. This causes their whole family to be outcasts in the town.

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In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, we are told of the trial of Tom Robinson from the perspective of the main character, Scout. Scout lived in Maycomb County with her brother, Jem, and her father, Atticus. Tom Robinson went to trial against the Ewell family, being accused for allegedly raping Mayella Ewell, and Atticus is appointed by Judge Taylor to defend him during the trial. The Ewell family were well known throughout Maycomb County, they lived in a small, secluded junkyard and were poor. To see whether Tom Robinson is guilty of the alleged rape of Mayella Ewell, his trial consists of the testimonies from Sheriff Tate, Bob and Mayella Ewell, and Tom Robinson himself, as well as Atticus’s closing argument.

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When it comes to the complex issues of prejudice and death, the attribution of blame can become exponentially more difficult. Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird is set in Maycomb, a fictional town in southern USA during the Great Depression and follows the trial, conviction and eventual death of Tom Robinson, an African-American man, for a crime he presumably did not commit. The text largely presents Mayella Ewell as responsible for Tom’s death and although this is true to some extent, there are clearly several other factors at play. The lies and deception of Mayella Ewell clearly help the events to conspire that culminate in Tom’s passing. That being said, the true cause of these events is rooted in the prejudices and warped social structures

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One of the main characters involved in the trial is Tom Robinson. He is the man being accused of rape by the Ewell family. During his development in this part of the book, his innocence and goodness is shown, especially during his testimony. He says, “I works pretty steady for him all year round” (190). This shows that he respects the Ewell’s and is willing to help out when needed.

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In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the story is set in the 1900’s, Maycomb, Alabama. During this time there was racism in the south and segregation which separated the whites and blacks from everything. There was also the Great Depression, the whole country was poor and people living in the country had to trade and do other jobs for people to either pay them off or to buy something from them. The trial in this book is about Mayella and Bob Ewell, two white people, claiming and arguing that Tom Robinson, a black person, raped Mayella Ewell. This trial is really important because at that time in the south, white people took advantage of black people and their kindness and thought they would take that or shut up just because they were black.

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Tom was accused of raping a white woman who was Mayella Ewell, Mayella said he raped her while he was helping her with chores. She later on tells the readers that it was false allegations. The reason why she didn 't tell the truth at her first trial was because, Mayella was afraid of being embarrassed because she kissed a black male. She rather have an innocent man get charged with a crime than that. “However, Robinson was transferred from the state prison to Maycomb 's county jail on Saturday, two days before he stood trial on Monday, and Atticus had to defend him against a lynch mob”.

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AJ 207 – Assign 7 1-To what extent do you see restorative justice practices meeting the philosophical goals of the juvenile justice system? Discuss specific features that do and do not correspond to the philosophy of the juvenile justice system? The extent that I see justice practices meeting the philosophical goals of the juvenile justice system has moved toward a retributive justice philosophy that gives punishment priority. The juvenile justice systems new approach is more of a balanced approach with a philosophical framework.

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A couple of townsfolk were talking about Atticus taking the trial in front of Jem and Scout. One told the others that Atticus had been appointed to defend Tom Robinson, but another doesn’t care that Atticus didn’t have a choice, with his mindset being that “Atticus aims to defend him. That’s what I don’t like about it” (Lee 163). Therefore, Atticus’s integrity was challenged. It’d been much easier if he just refused to defend Tom Robinson, or not give it his all.

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Atticus uses his credibility as a renowned lawyer in Maycomb County and his confidence in Tom Robinson 's to prove the jury of Tom 's innocence. He also uses the simplicity in differentiating between black and white to show the simplicity of figuring out who is lying in this case, and who is not. He then goes on to say "The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence to the effect that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place. It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witnesses whose evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross-examination, but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant. The defendant is not guilty, but somebody in this courtroom is."

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Tom Robinson's defense lawyer, Atticus Finch, in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, asserts his defense for a black man to an all-white jury in the southern U.S. known for its racist beliefs. Atticus attempts to persuade the racist, male-white jury of Tom's innocence to counter the ruling of Tom Robinson sexually harassing a white woman (Mayella Ewell). Atticus Finch employed three types of Aristotle’s appeals to convince the jury through conjecture proof, to depend confidently on testimonies, and detailed emotional responses. Atticus Finch signified that he does not always believe in the true justice of the court, but for Mayella, and Mr. Ewell, non-professionalism/ineffective communication during testimonies to pass the jury ethics would

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The justice system has always been the heart of America. But like this country, it has many faults. Prejudice has played a major role in the shaping of this system. In the 1930’s the way a courtroom was set up was completely different from how it looks to day. In the book To Kill A MockingBird, Harper Lee shows just how different it is.

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This remarkable courthouse only hosted approximately seven trials in its first year and since then has dropped even lower (Dzur, 2013). The early 20th century was the last time a jury was considered the normal process for dealing with criminal cases, and now the plea deal is king (Dzur, 2013). Simple fact is, today juries hear only a very few cases across the nation (Dzur, 2013). High-ranking members working in the justice system fear that the competence of a jury today is declining with the scientific evidence that is now available (Dzur, 2013). The statistics seem to support this fear.

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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.

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In this paragraph, the advantages and disadvantages of trial by jury will be discussed. The main advantages are that juries introduce community values into the legal process and can influence the system (Joyce, 2013); they can achieve a sense of equity and fairness without enforcing unjust laws; in addition, juries are independent and neutral (Davies, 2015). Moreover, they guarantee participation from the public in a democratic institution (Hostettler, 2004), and represent the population thanks to the randomness with which jurors are decided (Davies, 2015). On the other hand, the most important disadvantages are that jurors have no prior contact with the courts, no training (Hostettler, 2004) and therefore they lack knowledge of law, courtroom proceedings (Joyce, 2013), and lack of ability to understand the legal directions (Thomas, 2010). Moreover, they must face evidence which is highly technical (Hostettler, 2004).

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