These days you have to life live to the fullest without getting into trouble with the law. So many people are taking justice into their own hands. Slightly due to the economy and lack of police, people feel that they should take crime into their own hands. But even as we look back in time people have been committing crimes just to get what they need or want. Some people have always felt that is they need money then rob a bank, or if they are being abused then kill your abuser. But can the courts really give people the justice they deserve regardless of sex or race.
After reading the article The Killer inside me, by Seth Mnookin, I realized that jail time is a very controversial subject. In this article Seth Mnookin talks about the life of Wilbert Rideau, in 1961 he is a 19 year old African American bank robber that murdered 2 of the employees of the bank and shot another. “While incarcerated at Angola, Louisiana’s infamous state penitentiary, Rideau won his jailer’s trust with his good behavior and efforts to improve inmates’ lives” (Mnookin, 2005, 297). Rideau was sentenced to death three times but because of his good behavior he was recommended for release. But every time he is recommended the courts overturns it. As of 2003 Rideau was still in jail behavior very well and still helping other inmates.
The next case to think about is the case of the “blue-eyed butcher” (Jakabsson, 2010). This Texas woman, Susan Wright, was sentenced to 25 years in jail due to the murder of her husband in 2003. “Harris County District Attorneys alleged that Wright tied her husband to their bed during a seduction, dripped hot wax on his body and killed him. Susan Wright claims that she stabbed her husband to death after years of abuse” (Jakabsson, 2010). After 7 years Wright is getting another trail she is hoping for probation.
What is the difference with these two cases, in the first case the man is African America in the second case the woman in Caucasian. Even though in the first case the man killed more than one person, he has tried to rehabilitate him and helps those around him. The woman in the second case has only claimed abuse and continues to justify herself and her actions.
References
Jakabsson, L. (2010). Texas woman who stabbed husband to death gets second chance at
sentencing. CNN Justice. Retrieved from http://articles.cnn.com/2010-10-
22/justice/Texas.stabbing.resentencing_1_susan-wright-murder-trial-
sentencing?_s=PM:CRIME
Mnookin, S. (2005). The killer inside me. In R. Browne, Profiles of Popular Culture (pp. 296-299). Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press.
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