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Mass Hysteria Case Analysis

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Historians have presented many perspectives as for why Leo Frank was incarcerated, which include gender, mass hysteria, and anti-Semitism, with mass hysteria presenting the strongest argument. All these arguments recognize the breach in justice that occurred in the case, but they differ when presenting why this breach in justice occurred. An advocate for the gender perspective, Nancy MacLean, looks at the attitudes of the time and is able to support her perspective, but the argument falters when relating gender to anti-Semitism. The perspective stating that mass hysteria was the driving force behind the guilty verdict is able to effectively explain why the public and police concentrated on Leo Frank and was able to overlook important facts, but fails to address the many appeal attempts. …show more content…

The mass hysteria perspective is unable to account for how Leo Frank failed to win an appeal at nearly every level of government, “Following the verdict, Frank and his attorney appealed against this sentence as far as to the United States Supreme Court, but without success.”11 While mass hysteria was able to account for the local courts, the mass hysteria cannot account for the Supreme Court ruling. While there was a great deal of public pressure in Georgia, the sentiments felt there were not widespread throughout the entire country. In fact, in some states, such as California, there was widespread support for Leo Frank.13 When the case reached the Supreme Court, they did not have the public pressure that the courts below it did, therefore mass hysteria cannot account for the ruling in that case. The Supreme Court said they merely found minor infractions in the trial, but nothing that would force them to have a retrial.14 There ruling means they found the trial for Leo Frank fair and accurate, without public

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Precis: According to Melanie Eversley in “What’s next in Freddie Gray case: Decision on retrial”, featured in USA Today, a Baltimore judge has met with prosecutors and defense lawyers trying to come to the decision of whether or not police officer William Porter will be retired on charges of Freddie Gray’s death. Rep. Elijah Cummings says that he was told the state intends to retry the officer. However, there were protests after the announcing the mistrial and vasts majority of Baltimore’s populations is very disappointed with the outcome. The lawyer of the Gray family, William Murphy states that “The outcome of the trial was not a disappointment for either side in the racially charged case.” After the announcement of the mistrial Murphy says,

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The results of the trial in Stamford was that Mercy Disborough was temporarily convicted of witchcraft while Goody Clawson was acquitted. The consequences for Mercy Disborough were that despite months and jail and continued peer accusation, she was acquitted. The consequences for the townspeople are blurrier, but it is evident that persistent hysteria was not one of them. The results of the trial in Stamford were largely reigned in from the massive hysteria and mass convictions associated with contemporary witch trials by the law.

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Once someone steps in the court room to oversee a trial of this caliber (or any caliber) they must not and will not let the media dictate their perspective of events. Scott Peterson’s jury saw the burden of proof provided by the prosecution and were left with no doubt in their minds by their own deductions he was guilty. The Casey Anthony jury on the other hand took all of the evidence into consideration, but they still were not completely convinced she was capable of the charges being filed against her, leaving them no other decision but to provide a not guilty

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Alice McGrath comes from Russian Jewish immigrant family, she became involved in the People v. Zammora case, though during the first part of the case she was hospitalized. After being hospitalized, she started to get involved in the case. She had noticed that the judge, Charles Fricke, was being disdainful and commented “If people were reading the commercial press…they would be getting a picture of a group of gangsters, killers…a very sensationalized picture of the defendants on trial for something they deserved to be punished for.” Meaning she was stating that the public would be looking at these people, these young boys as people who deserved to be punished for what they did, which to her was unfair especially how the judge was treating them.

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Earliest to 1990, wrongful beliefs produced only minor interest. The well-known writer of the “Perry Mason” legal crime novel, Erle Stanley Gardner, produced an informal type of last resort in the 1950s to examine and create a more accurate way to pursue the failures of justice. However, the community, as well as most juries and criminal attorneys, were influenced that a very scarce quantity of truly innocent individuals were ever convicted. When the Supreme Court prolonged defendants’ trial constitutional rights in the 1960s, for instance, the motivation given was not to make the criminal justice system more accurate in defining guilt and innocence but to prevent government domination. Some type of earlier funding did increase the issues of

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From a well educated background, his qualifications verify his interpretation to Martin Guerre’s case. Not only was he present for the trial, he was one of the ten judges overseeing the case. He was also a skilled lawyer and professor at a university. He

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But somehow, when I present this same basic belief in the context of a secular humanist thrust into the brutal world of criminal justice, it loses its coherence. (Feige 238) Feige cites the criminal justice environment as “brutal,” which has been demonstrated time and time again in the book. He sums up his argument by reminding his audience that there exists no relative glamour in being a public defender: “We public defenders are a strange breed: passionate people spending ourselves in a Sisyphean struggle for justice in a system rigged to crush us” (Feige 268). Exceptionally thankful, then, should all people be for public defenders who spend day in and day out consistently doomed to fail.

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The prosecution did not prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt; thus, justice was not served for the real victim, Caylee. Although Casey Anthony won in a court of law, she lost in the court of public opinion; thus, being punished by society just as OJ was. References Anthony v State of Florida Case No. 5D11-237 (FL Dist. 5 Ct.

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Thane Rosenbaum, in his “Should Neo-Nazis Be Allowed Free Speech?” essay, used the Supreme courts justifying the right of a church group opposing gays serving in the military to picket the funeral of a dead marine with signs that read, “God Hates Fags” as well as neo-Nazis marching in a holocaust survivors’ town as an opportunity to oppose on justifying hate speeches with offensive intentions. Even though it was a strong topic, by missing an ethos appeal and stressing pathos appeal, Rosenbaum failed to make an effective and convincing argument. Rosenbaum did not share that his parents survived the holocaust, and that he is heavily involved in opposing the Nazi regime. He is a law professor in the U.S., and he was also visiting professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in Israel, where he has been a frequent speaker, including at the annual Yom HaShoah Lecture hosted jointly by the American Society for Yad Vashem and Cardozo 's Program in Holocaust & Human Rights Studies on “Remember How the Law Went Horribly Wrong”; the 60th anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials on "A Reappraisal and Their Legacy"; and as the Uri & Caroline Bauer Distinguished Lecturer on Rosenbaum 's book, “The Myth of Moral Justice."

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Defense attorney Ruben Arnold argued that if Frank wasn’t a Jew he would it have been prosecuted at all, claiming that Frank was a victim of rapid anti-semitism. As trial continued Hugh Dorsey for the state of Georgia had cues defense attorneys of appealing to Rachel pre-justice to the salvage of losing a case. The jury deliberated less than two hours when asked by Judge Rowan if they had reached a verdict, Fred wilburn replied “we have your honor, we have found the defendant guilty.” This is not the end of Leo frank's trial, New evidence came into play when difference found out that there had been pre-trial by us in

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This trial was viewed as an opportunity to challenge the authority of the law and to publicize the accuracy

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The definition of “crucible” - in context to the theme of the play - reads, “a situation of severe trial, or in which different elements interact, leading to the creation of something new.” In The Crucible, many people are tested in scenarios they would never have imagined would happen to them. Many different groups and families are drawn together, whether it’s to fight for one another, or against. As well as coming together, or being torn apart in a time of hysteria, every character’s morals are put to a severe test when truths and lies seep to the surface of their daily lives. There are many different variations of ways the great Crucible is able to live up to it’s proud and famous title.

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We must go and overthrow the court, he says!’” (Miller 119). Miller gives insight into how the accusations around 1950-1954 may have also included the pressure of higher authority forcing someone (of the lower authority) with power, money, and etc. to testify false accusations. The author presents an interesting story that mirrors and represents a different time period, displaying the social injustice of people as they are motivated by fear, jealousy, hatred of one another, and more.

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