West Memphis Three Case Study

The West Memphis Three was a homicide case in 1993 where the murder of three 8 year old boys struck shock to a small religious town. Putting the town into hysteria, the pressure was on for the police department. Word came out about three teenage boys who were the towns out cast and were accused of worshipping the Devil. The three teenage boys convicted were Jessie Misskelley, Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin. Jessie was a highschool dropout, a delinquent, and a social outcast. He had a reported IQ of 72 (borderline deficiency in intelligence) making him an easy target for interrogation, there was no relations between Jessie and the two others. Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin were best friends, the two being opposites, Jason had a future in

This hysteria convicted innocent boys of murder and was almost like a ‘safety-blanket’ for the community given the calmness with there being a ‘suspect’ at the time. It seems to be that the thought never occurred that putting these innocent boys into a jail cell still wasn’t catching the criminal, and what if the murderer would strike back, how would this have been a better plan. Arguments would say that the accused must have been guilty since there weren't any murders since the arrest. That being said, there was solid evidence that the stepfather, Terry Hobbs, should have been a prime suspect, but since he was the father of one of the murdered children, he was least suspected of committing the murder, “One or more blood-covered knives were found in the home of at least one of the slain children's stepfathers, though police were unable to recall which one(s). While trying to remember where they found the knife or knives, West Memphis police interviewed each of the likely stepfathers, and they all agreed that the knife or knives "had probably been left at their home(s) by Damien Echols’”. In this case Damien Echols is a perfect scapegoat to put the blame on since he is already accused and the likelihood of him going to jail was already