A Comparison Of OJ Simpson And Tom Robinson

OJ Simpson and Tom Robinson, what exactly do they have in common? Both are African American males who were convicted for crimes against a white woman yet, their verdicts were not the same; Tom Robinson was convicted of raping and beating up a white woman while OJ Simpson was found not guilty of killing his wife and her friend. The Bill of Rights clearly promises that no “state [shall] deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” This amendment seemed to not be considered during both trials; every person should be treated equally regardless of their race and social status, but in these two trials that statement seemed to be applied

When a change of venue was made in Simpson’s trial it caused a big difference within the cases. It was deliberately not considered in Tom 's trial because in the end it was concluded that a change of venue would not be necessary since any jury would find a black man guilty in any case when it is his word against a white woman’s word. OJ’s case was changed and moved to the downtown district, in Santa Monica, instead of where the crime incident occurred to avoid racial imbalances and to accommodate the media inferno in Los Angeles (Kennedy, David and Cohen 113). This also led to the change of the jury because this also had a major effect on the result of OJ’s trial. If a change of venue was also made in Tom’s trial the outcome would be drastically different. In Maycomb, a small Southern town where Tom was from, everyone was quite interested in the case and had a negative opinion about Tom which resulted in him being treated unequally as if he was not a citizen of the United States. Tom was just concluded as an evil and an unreasonable black man while OJ was seen as a great NFL all-star who would never commit a

Tom Robinson, the African American, was a man of innocence who was accused of rape, a crime that he did not commit. If the jury had realized that they were treating Tom unequally and unfairly the verdict and outcome of the trial would be utterly different. In the trials of Tom Robinson and OJ Simpson, the amendment of the bill of rights seemed to be only considered for OJ. These two trials demonstrate how race, social status, and money have an effect on the current law system of the United