Assignment #3
Due 4/22/13

The 1996 movie A Time to Kill is an adaptation of John Grisham’s 1989 novel of the same name. The film is set in Canton, Mississippi and focuses on the trial of a black father who murders two white men for beating and raping his 10-year-old daughter. The reason the father took justice into his own hands was because it was well known that whites were favored in the eyes of the court and there was a chance the two men would get away with the rape of his little girl. This movie does a fantastic job of portraying institutional discrimination, racial inequality, and the reality of life in the south; even though slavery was abolished the deep seeded racism was still a part of everyday life and even more so when it comes to minorities and the criminal justice system.

The town of Canton, Mississippi suffers from a wide variety of social inequality. First, the criminal justice system in the South is plagued with institutional discrimination. Even though the judicial system is suppose to be set up to try defendants of any race equally no matter what charges they are facing, this is not the reality. Fact is non-white individuals are judged and sentenced harsher while white defendants serve little to no time for their crimes. Second, it is well known in the movie that minorities are treated unfairly based on their race and social class, and for this reason they have an almost impossible chance of receiving a fair trial in the south, especially when the crime is against a white person or their property. Until we see each other as equals, justice will never be fair. Social stratification in one form or another is present in all societies (Ferris & Stein 2012, p.187). The town of Canton shows various forms of stratification throughout the film. The Hailey family’s home and the rest of the black community is located “on the other side of town”, this is a representation of residential segregation (Ferris & Stein 2012, p. 210). Also, the Hailey family falls in the category of relative deprivation as they are able to meet their basic needs for food and shelter but do not have much towards economic or material wealth (Ferris & Stein 2012, p.204).

This movie highlights the inequalities of the judicial system towards minorities by referencing the fact that blacks are more likely the whites to be imprisoned in states and counties where the black population makes up a small percentage of the total population. The night before the closing arguments were to be heard, the lawyer who initially set out to prove a black man could get a fair trial in the south came to the realization that was not true. When trying to persuade his client to make a plea bargain he was made aware of just how similar he was to “them” (the prejudice community). In his mind he wasn’t prejudice because of certain interactions he did and he never treated anyone differently because of skin color. Instead of seeing a man as his defendant, he saw a black man. Thus, an attempt had to be made by the lawyer to try to get the jury to see his client as their equal, and to view his situation and the choice he made as a choice they would have made given the same circumstances. The closing statement given by the lawyer was one of the most moving statements I have heard in a long time. By making the jury close their eyes and taking their visually different perspective away, it left them with nothing but their own imaginations of what the victim looked like and gave them a way to better relate to the defendant. For this reason he was able to convince the jury to find the defendant not guilty.

Using Structural Functionalism to look at how social inequality is a part of society brings up some interesting issues. First, social inequality is a necessary part of society (Ferris & Stein 2012, p.199). Second, Racial and ethnic differences are a necessary part of society (Ferris & Stein 2012, p.230). Lastly, racial inequality has functions that help maintain social order. How can showing prejudice towards someone be beneficial? Racial and ethnic differences are a necessary but the should be appreciated not threatened. For the last example, the racial inequality shown in this movie did not show any positive ways of maintaining social order; in fact it did the exact opposite. The Ku Klux Klan protesting in front of the courthouse and burning crosses on lawn is not my idea of maintaining order.

In conclusion, even though we have come a ways from the time of slavery we are nowhere close to where we need to be in terms of equality in the judicial system or in everyday life.

Reference

Ferris, Kerry & Stein, Jill (2012) The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology (3rd Edition) New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Co.