The O.J. Simpson Trial and the American Legal Justice System
It is a common belief that the O.J. Simpson murder trial exposed many flaws in the American legal justice system. Whether or not you believe that he actually murdered Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman, it is a fact that the issues of race and celebrity advantage played a definite role in the trial of O.J. Simpson.
As categorized as the most violent event of the 20th century, the Rodney King riots revealed the gaping racial divide in American society. Just 2 years before the Simpson trial, an all-white jury acquitted the Los Angeles Police Department of the vicious beating of African-American Rodney King. When the Simpson trial grabbed the attention of the media, there was talk amongst the African American community that they would have a chance at payback for this atrocity. With the majority of the jury being African American, this created a serious challenge for the prosecution. If there was any chance of persuading them in the beginning, the tapes that showed Officer Mark Fuhrman spewing racial slurs and stories of police brutality, completely demolished these chances.
The celebrity advantage is also one of the clear flaws that was exposed in this trial. Even with the racial aspect of the case, there have been many cases in history where the 'race card' has been played, and an African American jury has still convicted them. However, O.J. Simpson was not seen as just any African American. He made it clear many times that he did not want to be seen as black, and was therefore often referred to as the one who had "transcended racial barriers" to become a celebrity loved by everyone. His celebrity image allowed him to get away with domestic violence and as seen by his criminal trial, murder. There were numerous times when Nicole called 911 to report domestic violence, but police officers washed out the charges multiple times. Furthermore, before his trial when the police were following him in a slow-speed chase, the people cheered him on as if he was still on the football field: "Go, O.J., go!" During his trial, it was made clear that money gave him a clear advantage. As money came hand-in-hand with his celebrity, this allowed for him to hire the "Dream Team" lawyers, such as Robert Kardashian and Johnnie Cochran, with fees expected to be between $3-6 million. It is a commonly thought belief that if he was financially unable to hire the "Dream Team", then the trial would not have worked out so well for him.
Thus the flaws of racial injustice and the celebrity advantage in the American justice system have become clear from the O.J Simpson trial. America is in desperate need of a solution for these problems in order to avoid a corrupt system, and to eventually become an equal society.
Sources:
http://articles.latimes.com/1994-07-11/local/me-14209_1_black-men
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/13/oj-simpson-trial-get-out-of-jail-free-kardashian
As categorized as the most violent event of the 20th century, the Rodney King riots revealed the gaping racial divide in American society. Just 2 years before the Simpson trial, an all-white jury acquitted the Los Angeles Police Department of the vicious beating of African-American Rodney King. When the Simpson trial grabbed the attention of the media, there was talk amongst the African American community that they would have a chance at payback for this atrocity. With the majority of the jury being African American, this created a serious challenge for the prosecution. If there was any chance of persuading them in the beginning, the tapes that showed Officer Mark Fuhrman spewing racial slurs and stories of police brutality, completely demolished these chances.
The celebrity advantage is also one of the clear flaws that was exposed in this trial. Even with the racial aspect of the case, there have been many cases in history where the 'race card' has been played, and an African American jury has still convicted them. However, O.J. Simpson was not seen as just any African American. He made it clear many times that he did not want to be seen as black, and was therefore often referred to as the one who had "transcended racial barriers" to become a celebrity loved by everyone. His celebrity image allowed him to get away with domestic violence and as seen by his criminal trial, murder. There were numerous times when Nicole called 911 to report domestic violence, but police officers washed out the charges multiple times. Furthermore, before his trial when the police were following him in a slow-speed chase, the people cheered him on as if he was still on the football field: "Go, O.J., go!" During his trial, it was made clear that money gave him a clear advantage. As money came hand-in-hand with his celebrity, this allowed for him to hire the "Dream Team" lawyers, such as Robert Kardashian and Johnnie Cochran, with fees expected to be between $3-6 million. It is a commonly thought belief that if he was financially unable to hire the "Dream Team", then the trial would not have worked out so well for him.
Thus the flaws of racial injustice and the celebrity advantage in the American justice system have become clear from the O.J Simpson trial. America is in desperate need of a solution for these problems in order to avoid a corrupt system, and to eventually become an equal society.
Sources:
http://articles.latimes.com/1994-07-11/local/me-14209_1_black-men
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/13/oj-simpson-trial-get-out-of-jail-free-kardashian
Great job with this blog post Em! I definitely agree that the flaws of the racial justice system was emphasized during OJ's trial. I believe an important start for a solution is to continue evaluating the system in order to bring it to light for society. In our best efforts,the more we voice how corrupt the justice system has acted, the more it will be forced to change and refine itself. Ideally, this would hopefully lead to a polished and well-mannered justice system.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a very good blog post because you showed the flaws towards the racial justice system because every black person was going for OJ because of what happened in the past and the white people didn't understand that they thought the black people were happy because they let a murderer loose.
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