Why is the George Stinney Jr Case Problematic?
A double murder is a serious crime and deserves the harshest punishment possible. However, because of the serious nature of the crime, law enforcement needs to conduct thorough investigations to ensure that the correct perpetrator faces justice.
The murders of Betty and Mary were not investigated properly. Stinney was used as a scapegoat for a police department that was facing public pressure to find the killer. There are numerous issues with the case made against Stinney, which may indicate that his arrest and subsequent conviction was racially motivated rather than based on evidence. The problems that are obvious in this case include:
1. Lack of evidence
There was no physical evidence that linked Stinney to the murders. The police did not do their jobs and did not investigate the crime properly. Their eagerness to put blame on an African American individual probably blinded them to any evidence that could have led them to the killer.
The police also ignored evidence that exonerated Stinney. At the time of the murder, Stinney had been with his sister. He had an alibi that would prove that he did not murder the girls. However, the police chose to ignore this piece of information.
2. Coerced Confession
It has been reported that in addition to being questioned without his parents or a lawyer present, Stinney was tortured to get him to confess. He was not given any food during the investigation and was told that he would only be given food once he confessed to the murder. In today’s world, this would not be an admissible confession. So the one piece of “concrete” evidence the police had was not obtained legally.
3. Unfair Trial
Murder trials take months, sometimes years to prepare for. Stinney’s trial was prepared for and concluded in just one day. The jury was all white and no black people were allowed in the courtroom. This is evidence that his fate may have already been decided even before his trial took place. He didn’t stand a chance against a justice system that had already convinced itself of his guilt.
Although Stinney had a lawyer, this did not help his case much. The lawyer, who was a white male, did very little to fight for his client. He did not call up any witnesses or put forward any defense for the boy. This is probably because defending the boy would have left him ostracized by the white community who all believed that Stinney was guilty, despite the lack of any concrete evidence proving it.
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