Not guilty was the decision made by the jury during the George Zimmerman vs. Trayvon Martin trial. That verdict may have been the most controversial one of recent time. Many people were upset by the decision and felt that justice was not achieved for the young victim, Martin who was seventeen years old when he was killed. This incident seems to be a tragic example of stereotyping and racial profiling. It is also an example of how a verdict, based on the strict interpretation of the law can be the wrong verdict.
The case involved a neighborhood watchman, who happened to be on duty when he saw a young black man wearing a sweater jacket called a “hoodie”, walking through the neighborhood. George Zimmerman, the watchman, who was twenty-eight years old at the time, called authorities about a suspicious character walking around in his neighborhood. The authorities told him not to do anything; just continue with his rounds and not worry. Zimmerman, however, decided he would take matters into his own hands. He confronted the young man; they got into a brawl and Zimmerman pulled out a gun and shot and killed Martin. That premise will play a role in this paper as an argument as to why George Zimmerman should have been convicted of committing a crime. Even if the jury could not have reasons to convict him of the second degree murder of Trayvon Martin; they had other choices.
Stereotyping happens when individual members of a group are considered to all be alike. The judgment made of the group can be based on such factors as sexual orientation, religion or race. Racial profiling is a technique used by law enforcement officers to target people of a certain race. Therefore, being a young African American male can make one a target. Just a f...
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... Till, Evers, King and Martin all seem to be cases of stereotyping and racial profiling. These cases make it seem as if justice was not served and that the wrong verdict was rendered initially. That is the same situation with the Zimmerman vs. Martin case. . Hopefully justice will prevail, in time, just as in the cases cited and George Zimmerman will be placed behind bars for a long time; the place where he belongs. If history repeats itself, a wrong verdict will be overturned.
Works Cited
Verdict and More: Get caught up on the George Zimmerman Case." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 04 Nov. 2013.
Krauthammer, Charles. "The Zimmerman Case and Human Justice | National Review Online."
National Review Online. N.p., 18 July 2013. Web. 25 Oct. 2013.
Tucker, Eric, and Pete Yost. "The Big Story." The Big Story. N.p., 14 July 2013. Web. 25 Oct.
2013.
The jury in trying to let the defendant go considered if there were any circumstances that would provide say as a self-defense claim to justify this horrific crime of murder of two people named Mr. Stephan Swan and Mr. Mathew Butler. Throughout the guilt/innocent phase, the jury believes not to have heard convincing evidence the victims were a threat to the defendant nor a sign the defendant was in fear for his life before he took the victims’ lives.
Botelho Greg, Yan Holly. “Zimmerman not guilty in Martin death”. Cnn.com Web 14 July 2013. Online.
They complained that the NAACP was trying to bring fear and hatred to the people by making this situation a race issue. Clearly they hadn’t seen the lynching of young Emmett till as a hate crime against blacks. On September 6th, The same day as tills funeral service, a grand jury in Mississippi met to indict Milam and Bryant for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till. They both plead innocent, and were held in jail until the start of the trial. The actual trial lasted only an hour an seven minutes. A white juror boasted that it wouldn’t have taken so long had they not stopped to drink coca cola. Whites were careless and insensitive to the seriousness of the case. The life of a teenage boy was dealt with like it mattered less than a worthless animal. Both, Milam and Bryant were not guilty and set free. This story went viral across the world, newspaper articles posted things like “the life of a negro isn’t worth a whistle” and other touchy headlines. Whitfield, S.
I am going to write about the Trayvon Martin vs. George Zimmerman case. I’ll be trying to prove how George Zimmerman got always with murder and how the jury let it happen. Trayvon Martin was a 17 year old black male who was shot and killed by George Zimmerman because Zimmerman claims he was defending himself. A 29 year old, 5’8, 170 pound white male was being beat up and threaten by a 5’11, 158 pounds, 17 year old boy is just extremely hard to believe. George Zimmerman had no right to shot Trayvon and the fact that Trayvon Martin at no weapon of any kind makes things worse. All he had was a bag of skittles; an Arizona iced tea, and had on a black hoody. The points I want to make are how Zimmerman is guilty, how the criminal justice department didn’t do their job with trying to get justice for Trayvon and his family, how the jury didn’t do everything they could to make sure George Zimmerman didn’t get away with this terrible crime and how Zimmerman could have been convict for a hate crime instead of manslaughter or 2nd degree murder.
Justice was not served in the controversial nature of the Bernhard Goetz subway shooting trial. After shooting four black teenagers, Bernhard Goetz turned himself into the police in Concord, New Hampshire. He was denominated, “The Subway Vigilante”. This case was brought to court approximately two years later, where Bernhard Goetz would ultimately be voted guilty of one count of illegal firearms possession, and served just six months in jail. Following the trials, questions are still being asked if justice has been served.
It was April 29th, 1992, and “Dawn was just filtering over Los Angeles and Courtroom 890 was silent as a tomb”(Mathews 1). The Rodney King trial had taken a little over two months and the verdict had the potential to change the history of the United States indefinitely. In both the Rodney King Beating Trial and the play Twelve Angry Men, racism played a major part in the original verdict. Rodney King was definitely in the wrong on the night of the beating, but the beating he got was not necessary. The trial was moved to a community with little diversity, therefore, the police officers were acquitted. The outcome of this trial would have turned out differently if the jury had been more diverse
On March 12, 2012 Bill Lee, the Chief of Police for Sanford Florida, explained Zimmerman had not been arrested because the police found no evidence to refute Zimmerman’s self-defense claim (Timeline of events: Trayvon Martin shooting case). Then the media decided to bully the state of Florida into bringing Florida by influencing public opinion. One of the ways the media achieved this was by making it seem like the reason there was no evidence to refute Zimmerman’s claim of self-defense, and Zimmerman’s eventual acquittal, was because of the controversial law in several states, including Florida, known as “Stand-Your Ground.”
The Zimmerman case allowed me to be aware of something that was right in front of me. At a young age, my mother's significant other was arrested and imprisoned for "trafficking drugs". My mother had always maintained that he was initially arrested due to racial profiling, as there was no sufficient evidence to warrant the police to search his car. Despite this information being told to me as a child, I remained blind to the effects that such a system of injustice could have on your economic status, mental health, etc. However, I believe that the outcome of the Zimmerman trial opened my eyes to this effect. I believe that Trayvon Martin's family most likely received the same financial and emotional stresses due to the racial injustice associated with their experience. However, they had lost their son. Following the shooting of Trayvon Martin, I began to understand the effect that systemic racism could have on the lives of Black people, and how it had already been affecting
[4]. Valbrun, Marjorie. "Rewriting the Script Won’t Change the Facts in the Trayvon Martin Case." Slate.com. April 2, 2012. Accessed April 12, 2012. http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2012/04/02/trayvon_martin_zimmerman_s_black_friend_and_hispanic_defenses_won_t_work_.html.
Trayvon was in a hoodie walking in a neighborhood in the rain. George Zimmerman was part of the neighborhood watch and he seen Trayvon while he was driving home. George thought that Trayvon Martin was up to no good and looked suspicious. He thought he looked suspicious because he was walking through the middle of houses and
Although race may be a tragic decision in some people’s decision to kill somebody, Cynthia does no justice on providing that evidence or swaying individuals to her cause. Whether it be the poor lack of evidence thrust upon the reader, her clearly biased opinions, or simply her poor claims with the Zimmerman and Dunn cases it felt as so much went unjustified. Such a noble cause to stand for with the right technique and the right mindset. However, to try to scare citizens into being afraid to protect themselves out of fear of prosecution or persecuted as a racist is not the way to do that. It is in this sense that Cynthia’s argument falls short in convincing the reader to see her point of view.
George Zimmerman was a normal once upon a time, he was married. He was neighborhood watch captain of his community, and a part-time student at Seminole state college. Life could not be better for George. That was until the day of February 26, 2012, when he shot and killed unarmed teenage Trayvon Martin.
Racial profiling in America, as evidenced by recent events, has reached a critical breaking point. No longer can an African American, male or female, walk into a store, school, or any public place without fear of being stereotyped as a person of suspicion. Society constantly portrays the African American
Racial profiling is a negative action in the nation. In which many people across the country have experienced this sort of treatment leaving a demoralizing effect on the citizens. Racial profiling is an act of discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual 's race, ethnicity, religion or national origin.This in which acts on a terrible and negative impact to the society. Race as we know it has such a powerful contribution of the person people are that it can have life or death consequences. A person should not be judged due to their appearance.
Was justice really served in the “State of Florida vs. George Zimmerman” case? Is our justice system fair to all races? This case is about a 16 year old kid from Miami named Trayvon Martin. On the night of February 26th, Trayvon walked from his father's house in a gated community to a nearby store. When walking back he was spotted by George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer. There had been a number of break-ins in the neighborhood over the last few weeks and Zimmerman though that a young black man walking in the rain and wearing a hooded sweatshirt looked suspicious. Zimmerman then called 911 to report this person who "might be on drugs." He then got out of his car and...