To Kill a Mockingbird Research Paper In previous eras, anti-black sentiment was widely recognized and sometimes encouraged in the United States. Black litigants have endured a long history of racist attitudes and inequality in the criminal justice system. To date, it is impossible to determine whether jurors present a fair trial for defendants, regardless of their racial background. While the undercurrent of racism may continue to be present in modern juries, racial bias in the modern legal system is certainly less flagrant than many others. Mockingbird Trial As indicated by To Kill a Mockingbird, the legal system in the courtroom has been influenced by pervasive racial injustice and stereotypes. of the premodern era. Despite this overwhelming evidence that had indisputably proven their innocence, Tom Robinson, who had raped a white woman, was "a dead man the moment Mayella Ewell opened her mouth and screamed" and even Atticus Finch's final plea that " In the name of God, do your duty,” the failure of the jurors to carry out this moral obligation and obtain an impartial verdict was due to the fact that the jury did not fully represent Maycomb. Although the novel establishes that the town of Maycomb had women and minorities, the jury itself was monochromatic and consisted of only twelve white men. It was this lack of diversity that prevented the Maycomb jurors from granting Tom Robinson the right to a fair and impartial trial. The Scottsboro Boys In another similar case, nine black teenagers ages thirteen to nineteen were arrested, falsely accused, and initially convicted of raping two white women, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates, on a train in Scottsboro, Alabama, in 1931. The boys were also tried...half of the document...helps the goal of providing defendants and the public with an impartial and honest system. Conclusion Revisiting the issues raised by Harper Lee in To Kill a Mockingbird, it seems clear that the majority of Americans do not live in a racist society like the one depicted in Maycomb. After centuries of prolonged struggles for activism and change, open hatred and prejudice against Black people have become unacceptable and often taboo in today's society. While there may still be underlying trends of prejudice that may influence jurors' decisions in today's trials, the heavy cascade of anti-Black sentiments and overtly racial norms that had previously prevailed in America has greatly diminished. Black defendants have a far greater opportunity to receive a fairer and more impartial verdict in the modern legal system than in years ’30..