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1 - Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Mark Peffley
Affiliation:
University of Kentucky
Jon Hurwitz
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
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Summary

This case has been portrayed by the news media as being about race. But the case is not, and never has been, about race. It is about finding justice for an innocent victim and holding people accountable for their actions.

Jena, Louisiana, District Attorney Reed Walters, explaining his decision to charge six African-American high school students with attempted murder after they beat a White student but declining to charge White students, who hung nooses from a school yard tree, with hate crimes

If you can figure out how to make a school yard fight into an attempted murder charge, I'm sure you can figure out how to make stringing nooses into a hate crime.

Latese Brown, protesting District Attorney Walter's decisions in Jena

On August 9, 1997, Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant, was arrested outside of the Rendez-Vous Club in Flatbush, Brooklyn, where police arrived to break up a fight. On the way to the police station, the officers beat Louima. Unfortunately, this treatment became far more sadistic when, upon arrival at the 70th Precinct Police Station, one officer (Justin Volpe) sodomized him with a toilet plunger rod. Although Volpe is currently serving a thirty-year sentence, the other three officers had their convictions overturned in February 2002 by a federal appeals court for lack of evidence. Louima later settled with the city of New York for $8.7 million.

Type
Chapter
Information
Justice in America
The Separate Realities of Blacks and Whites
, pp. 1 - 27
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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  • Introduction
  • Mark Peffley, University of Kentucky, Jon Hurwitz, University of Pittsburgh
  • Book: Justice in America
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511760761.001
Available formats
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Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Introduction
  • Mark Peffley, University of Kentucky, Jon Hurwitz, University of Pittsburgh
  • Book: Justice in America
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511760761.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Mark Peffley, University of Kentucky, Jon Hurwitz, University of Pittsburgh
  • Book: Justice in America
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511760761.001
Available formats
×