All throughout history, there have been many cases where discrimination and prejudice were present in the courtrooms causing unfair sentences. In the films “Inherit the Wind” , “To Kill A Mockingbird” and “12 Angry Men” all three defendants are faced with prejudice and represent the faults within the social justice system. In each case, it’s visibly shown the prejudice and how the justice system has failed society. To begin, Inherit the Wind, a 1960 film, a young teacher from Tennessee, Bertram Cates, was put on trial for violating a state law that prohibits public school teachers teaching about evolution instead of the creation story. Cates was challenging the law by proving that the creation story is not accurate and that scientific research …show more content…
Mayella Ewell was the daughter of Bob Ewell, an alcoholic racist. Throughout the trial, adequate evidence was shown by Atticus Finch, Tom’s lawyer, which proved that Tom would not have been able to commit this crime. Evidence showed that Mayella was beaten by an individual who is left-handed but Tom was only able to use his right arm. Tom states, “I can't use my left hand at all. I got it caught in a cotton gin when I was twelve years old. All my muscles were tore loose.” You can also visibly view that his left arm is drastically smaller than his right arm. Atticus asked Mr.Ewell to write something for him to see if he was left-handed to prove that it was not Tom who had committed the crime but Bob Ewell. Later in the case, Tom confesses that it was Mr.Ewell and tells the story with details. Although significant evidence was shown to prove Tom did not do it as well as Tom being able to tell the full story and yet Tom was still sentenced to death. Tom Robinson was still convicted for this crime only because of the colour of his skin. This has always been a problem within the social justice system, where people of colour face discrimination and bias. The film To Kill A Mockingbird is one of many representations of the faults of the social justice