Was the Rubin "the hurricane" Carter trial one of the biggest miscarriages of justice ever???

Question

Having just watched the movie "the hurricane" (great movie, highly recommended) i can honestly not believe this happened and how shady things were handled around this case, for someone to be treated like that black or white is just completely diabolical. Does anyone have any more information on this.........or views.....anything would be greatly welcome.

Answer 1

I'll second the person who recommends the book.  It was a huge miscarriage of justice.  Absolutely horrible what he had to go through.  The movie doesn't exaggerate at all.  I think everyone needs to see the movie and/or read the book.

Answer 2

yes other than bush "winning" the election

Answer 3

Certainly was. I'd recommend reading the book, makes you appreciate even more what he went through.  

Answer 4

Not at all. While it's quite possible that Carter was in fact innocent, there was more than enough evidence that one can say that the conviction was fairly obtained, even if, in the end, it was incorrect.

Do not base your opinions about a trial on the way it's represented in a movie or a book. . "The Hurricane" does not even come close to being a factual account of the situation. Both the book and the movie were made both for entertainment value, and to push the writers specific point of view.

There have been many, many, far more blatant miscarriages. Take a read through the cases on the "Innocence Project" home page for some of the worst, and these are cases where, thanks to DNA evidence, we "know" that the released person was innocent - whereas many people still believe that Carter was guilty.

As a recent example, look at the "New York Jogger" case. Four black teens were convicted of gang-raping a young white woman and beating her almost to death in New Yorks Central Park in 1989. Their convictions were based exclusively on their own confessions. No physical evidence ever connected them to the crime, nor was the victim - jumperd from behind with a blow to the head - ever able to testify. Years later, after all four had served their sentences and been released, further investigation, including DNA testing on the rape kit, proved a totally different man - serving life for rapes and a murder committed after the CPJ case - was in fact the sole source of the s***n in the rape kit, and he admitted to having carried out the attack.

The youths all confessed because they were told, seperately, that the other three had done so, and that if they did not confess, the police would ensure that they were placed in the general population at the State prison - where they would have the life expectancy of a snowcone in July.

Richard

Answer 5

One of them, perhaps, but not the top of the list.  

Personally, I think Joan of Arc probably got the raw deal of all time.