Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
The significance of due process in our justice system
Due process in our legal system
Due process of law
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The significance of due process in our justice system
Due process in our legal system
Due process of law
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The court refused, to which Gideon replied with the claim that the Supreme Court had ruled that all citizens being tried for a felony crime should have aid of counsel. The court ignored the defendants plea, and he was subsequently convicted. Gideon filed a habeas corpus petition to the Florida Supreme Court, which was also rejected. In Gideon's petition to the Supreme Court, found on page eight of the book, he claims that the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, stating that, "[n]o state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law," was violated when the trial court denied Gideon's request for an attorney (Lewis). Although Gideon mentioned a right to counsel roughly six times in his plea, he never mentioned Betts v. Brady (1942).
Unlike during the Unmentionable Times, when men created “towers [that] rose to the sky,” it is an affliction to be born with powerful intellectual capacity and ambition in Ayn Rand’s apocalyptic, nameless society in Anthem. Collectivism is ostensibly the moral guidepost for humanity, and any perceived threat to the inflexible, authoritarian regime is met with severe punishment. The attack on mankind’s free will and reason is most evident in the cold marble engraving in the Palace of the World Council: “We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, One, indivisible and forever” (6). Societal norms force homogeneity and sacrifice among all people.
On an unanimous vote, the Supreme Court ruled in Gideon’s favor. He was given another trial and the charges were acquitted. His efforts against this issue led to it being made known that no matter the crime, each and every person must be provided a lawyer if they cannot afford one themselves. “If an obscure Florida convict named Clarence Earl Gideon had not sat down in his prison cell with a pencil and paper to write a letter to the Supreme Court, and if the Court had not taken the trouble to look for merit in that one crude petition ... the vast machinery of American law would have gone on functioning undisturbed. But Gideon did write that letter, the Court did look into his case ... and the whole course of American legal history has been changed.”
Even though it’s nonfiction, it reads much like a fiction novel would, getting comparisons to ¬To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. What makes it even more compelling than the fictional novel is that these are the stories of real people, of those wrongly convicted or unfairly sentenced. Stevenson’s memoir truly shows the power of mercy and what it can do for those wronged by judiciaries. This book’s story of justice and redemption and Stevenson’s struggle to free convicts from unjust or excessive punishment is deeply moving and powerful. The reader will root for him as he struggles to do as much as he can for the accused.
“The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is full of many different symbols, but the most notable one is the veil itself. Throughout the story, Hawthorne presents many instances where the veil could mean several things. Some may see only one meaning, however, others may see a number of them. Hawthorne may have been the only one who truly knew what the veil symbolized, but at the same time the fact that the story makes the reader think even after reading it is what makes it all the more interesting to analyze. The veil itself could symbolize things such as rebirth, secrecy, ambiguity.
Beware of the Sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis A Greek poet named Homer wrote a famous epic poem called The Odyssey. The epic poem was about a brave lord, Odysseus, and his men encountering a few arduous obstacles during their journey back to Ithaca. In Book 12, “Beware of the Sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis,” translated by Robert Fitzgerald, Odysseus has to make a difficult decision about losing all his men to Charybdis’ whirlpool or only six to Scylla’s ferocious head. This story can relate to the poem, “The Sirens,” written by James Russell Lowell. Both men being compelled by sirens’ singing.
To Kill a Mockingbird is famous for its controversy. In fact, it has been banned from being read at many schools for its use of racial, sexual, and political content, all of these aiding the book’s “big ideas”. To Kill a Mockingbird has many themes. For example, one is about racial injustice. You would think a jury would establish their final decision based upon the facts, but in this book, the jury had already made up its mind once it heard that the case was a white man versus a black man.
Atticus takes the trial knowing the consequence that him and his family will be harrassed by the town because it is the right thing to do. Atticus finch decides to defend Tom Robinson to be a good role model for his children and prove that the “Golden Rule” is a rule to
Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise. In a society that functions by this proverb, wisdom is hard to come by. However, for a being longing for this wisdom, with a natural urge of curiosity, this “bliss” is hell. Equality, a being longing for the validation of his differences in a society of group mentality, is spare of individual morality. He accepts the ignorance of total equality that is forced on him, but is contrastingly different from the image of a part of a communal whole.
Even though the justice system has evolved, people such as African Americans are still judged based on the color of their skin, their country of origin, or their religion. This book has thrived through the 1930’s and the 1960’s and continues to portray an important message today which is why it is so successful. The Eighth Amendment in To Kill A Mockingbird highlights important issues such as putting a stop to cruel and unusual punishments, and dictating excessive fines and excessive bail. Will there ever be a day where the Tom Robinsons in the world will see the Eighth Amendment apply to
The case was first heard in Pennsylvania but once that court ruled the law did not violate the first amendment he appealed and took it to the Supreme Court. In this hearing his main argument was that the law was in direct violation with the constitution which did not tolerate religions benefiting from state laws. The court went over the “three main evils” in order to prevent sponsorship, financial support, and involvement of the sovereign in religious activity. The first of those three tests is that the statute has to have a legislative purpose. Second, the principle must not advance or inhibit religion.
Living in a world with complete fairness among people sounds perfect, but not when everyone in your society is forced to be completely the same. In the story Anthem, Equality is a character that is different from the others in his society of forced sameness. Equality longs to learn and expand his knowledge, however, there are rules that halt Equality from following his own will, but also push him to learn more. No one is allowed to read, write, experiment, or explore. These rules allow the community to be easily controlled, and forces them to stay similar to one another.
In Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy, he writes to illustrate the injustices of the judicial system to its readers. To do so, Stevenson utilizes multiple writing styles that provide variety and helps keep the reader engaged in the topic. Such methods of his include the use of anecdotes from his personal experiences, statistics, and specific facts that apply to cases Stevenson had worked on as well as specific facts that pertain to particular states. The most prominent writing tool that Stevenson included in Just Mercy is the incorporation of anecdotes from cases that he himself had worked on as a nonprofit lawyer defending those who were unrightfully sentenced to die in prison.
In the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, the author seeks a way to retrieve their lost honor and certainty. In the story, Amir loses his honor when he decides not to assist Hassan while he is being rapped by Assef. Amir continues to lose his faith in himself
Wainwright illustrated the importance of personal rights guaranteed by the constitution. This case began when Clarence Gideon was denied a court appointed lawyer to represent him in a petty crime case. Gideon, unable to afford his own lawyer, was unable to adequately defend himself and consequently was convicted. However, he was undeterred. Gideon then wrote a letter to the Supreme Court to overturn this conviction with the 6th Amendment as his evidence of the court’s misconduct.