Justice is the only thing that should be served at court, but sometimes the jury throws in prejudice and biased thinking. In To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Atticus is assigned a case to defend a black man named Tom Robinson. Even though the evidence given proves very well that Mr. Robinson is innocent, the jury voted him guilty simply because of his skin color. A quote from Atticus states, “our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal.” This statement is only partially true, because of how the jury treated Tom Robinson and how today’s juries treat the convicted. How the jury treated Mr. Robinson during his case proves how the statement could only be partially true. The story says that in the end of the court case, only some people voted that Tom Robinson is innocent and shouldn’t be convicted, but the majority of the votes were guilty. Tom Robinson was innocent, he did not commit the crime he was accused of, but because of his skin color, the jury automatically jumped to the conclusion that he raped Mayella. This shows that the jury was thinking in a biased and prejudiced way and chose to convict him for something he did not do. Because of the jury’s actions, you can’t fully say that all men are created equal in a court. …show more content…
Recently, “In 2010, the U.S. Sentencing Commission reported that African Americans receive 10% longer sentences than whites through the federal system for the same crimes,” (dosomething.org, n.d.). White Americans tend to get less of a punishment than an African American, simply because of their skin color and what people associate with their race. Although courts don’t convict innocent people frequently, they punish people of color harder than they punish white Americans. Judges and juries are supposed to be equal and just, but they don’t always put equality before