Lies By Kenya Woods Sparknotes

We can tell the story in two ways. The first way goes as follows. Thirteen-year-old black boy in Atlanta has been charged for murdering Darrell Woods, a middle-aged black family man. The second way goes as such. Michael Lewis, a thirteen year old boy, grew up in the slums of Atlanta with no father and a drug-addict mother. He was essentially set up to fail because of the lack of facilities that most children are given. The neighborhood he grew up in, known as the Bluff, does not provide fresh food markets, pharmacies or doctor’s offices, bank branches, or recreational entertainment. Rather, the streets are infested with drug dealers and criminals. Police brutality and infant mortality more prevalent in the Bluff because there is no one there

Not only does Kenya Woods’ story of the night her husband died not add up, but also the only reason that Michael was ever brought into question was based on the testimony of Eric Mills, known as Big E in the streets. When Michael was arrested, he did not have a legal guardian present, the police did not read him his Miranda Rights upon arrest, and they did not even give him a lawyer until days after his detainment. To make matters worse, his lawyer was completely unuseful and did not put up a very strong defense. As the trial approached and jurors were interviewed, nearly all of them had some sort of bias. Despite this, all of them, even the alternate jury members, still remained assigned to Michael’s case. Throughout the actual trial, the image of Michael as an evil thug was dramatized by Prosecutor Burgess. There was one piece of physical evidence against Michael, and one single person (who happened to be a high profile drug dealer in The Bluff) who claimed that Little B did it. The whole trial was manipulated to work against Michael, even the judge seemed to be extremely biased. In general, American opinion has shifted towards more punitive laws, especially towards juveniles. Unfortunately, the children affected will suffer the consequences of their actions for the rest of their life, with little opportunity to ever become successful. As a result, the failure to stamp out crime benefits only a certain part of our society, leaving juvenile offenders such as Little B to become very cheated by the criminal justice