Pop Culture Post
Tiffany Skrzeczkoski
Pop Culter blog post #3
The Last Witch Hunt: The Legacy of the West Memphis Three
The West Memphis Three, a group of ill advised teenagers who were accused of three murders in the year of 1990. By reading this first sentence nothing much comes to mind but in reading through the facts a lot of emotions stir up. Damien Echols, Jesse Misskelley Jr. and Jason Baldwin were the three teenagers accused of murdering three, eight year old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. The boys were found tied up with their own shoelaces, mutilated and then drowned to death. Police turned straight to Damien Echols, a troublesome teenager at the time who would be considered a "goth." This appearance of Echols drove the police to question him and his three friends. The friends enjoyed dark music, dark clothing and reading criminal books. One tipping point for the police was that Echols had checked out a book on witchcraft almost promising that he was satanic, right? Well that is what the police decided after scrutinizing the boys and forcing them into a false confession. No other facts or evidence was brought up in court other than the eery appearance and habits of the boys. Eighteen years later the boys are free after being found not guilty, but they are not free from there past.
Reading this article I was somewhat not surprised after watching False Forensics for a former assignment. Criminal evidence these days are becoming loose on prosecuting people in cases. In this case the mere appearance of the boys is what found them guilty. A matter of self expression can no longer be free. This case is a horrible example of our justice system. Wasn't it said, "it's better to let 100 guilty men go than to lock up one innocent man?" Well the sad thing here is that is not what happened. Three peoples lives changed on an account of unfair accusations and I hope our system can be saved before any worse happens.
This was a great subject to talk about for your post. I thought you had a great example as well. I have never heard of this situation with these three boys though so I found it very interesting to read about.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that just because of the way the looked and their hobbies that they were just "assumed" to be the murderers. I agree with what you said that this is a a terrible example of our justice system. I hope that our justice system changes so that this type of incidences don't repeat themselves.