We have talked a lot about white privilege through the beginning of this year. After watching the video on Ethan Couch, it struck me that though white privilege has a big play in court, so does wealth privilege. Ethan came from a very wealthy family without rules. When in court, the negligence he experienced from his parents overall gave him very little of a sentence. A student in my class brought up a good question about how if that was a black male who drunk drove and killed four people, would he have gotten the same sentence. In this situation, I do not think that race would have any factor in the overall decision. It was money that influenced the outcome. Being white or black didn't matter, it was if that person had money. If it were a poor person who was in that exact situation, neglection from their parents wouldn't have mattered in my opinion. It is hard to say of course what they outcome would be with a poor person involved, but anyone would agree Ethan should have been charged and have paid for killing multiple people under the influence.
We see the effects of money on most every case in some sort of way. With Ethan, it was that his money didn't give him guidance. In the OJ Simpson trial that we are currently studying, he was able to pay for the BEST lawyers to try to prove that he was not guilty. Without that money, the entire case would have turned out differently. Though we haven't finished the case, it is clear to see that money has a huge influence in court. It is interesting to think of the court in that way though because we are all entitled to a lawyer if we can't provide one, but if that lawyer is not half as good as the opposing one, your case is bound to lose. We say that we have a fair justice system, but when money comes into play, there is nothing fair about it.
I like this blog post because it brings up a new idea that we have not talked about much in class. I think that it is very clear in many of the cases that we have looked at, that the people who have money are able to buy there ways to saftey. Another example that we looked at in class is the Von Bulow case. Von Bulow, like OJ Simpson, was able to pay for the best lawyers that money could buy.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's right to just look at the Ethan Couch case is about wealth OR race. By far, this was definitely a wealth case. I'm not denying that in the slightest. However, it's difficult to say that race didn't play any part at all. Nothing is ever (pardon my turn of phrase) black and white like that.
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ReplyDeleteI agree that wealth has a great part in winning court cases but I also think that other things can influence a jury's decision as well. We looked at the Von Bulow case and OJ Simpson case which showed that money can help you win the case. I do think there are other cases where the people had a lot of money and were able to buy the best lawyers, but were still found guilty.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up an excellent point, that money has a bigger role than you'd think in the justice system. If OJ didn't have all that money to pay for the best lawyers, would he have been found not guilty? Same goes for Ethan Couch, what if his parents were not extremely wealthy, would he have gotten the same verdict? Personally, I don't think so.
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