Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
The popularity of the case made celebrities out of the judge, lawyers and criminal justice officials participating in the case. Today, 11 years after the case ended, the debate continues.
Guilty or Not?
Evidence displayed by the prosecution included a genetic match between Simpson's blood and blood found at the crime scene and proof that blood matching both Goldman's and Nicole Simpson's was found in Simpson's Ford Bronco and in his home.
The defense team argued that the blood evidence was either the result of poor police work or had been planted by racist police officers (BBC, 1995). The defense showed tapes of Mark Fuhrman, one of the LAPD officers to search Simpson's house after the murders, using racist terms in a 1994 interview. The defense attorney compared Fuhrman to Adolf Hitler and pleaded with the jury to "do the right thing" and send the police a message about racism with a "not guilty" verdict. The jury delivered the "not guilty" verdict shortly after this plea.
Many opponents of the verdict argue that Simpson bought his freedom with an unbeatable defense team (Reed, 1994). Some blamed the jurors, who acquitted despite being presented with a great deal of evidence of Simpson's guilt (including DNA evidence). Some said they believed Simpson was probably guilty, but that the prosecution messed up the case.
Many proponents of the case argued that African-Americans experienced justice through a common sense of identity forged historically by a minority people rather than by the circumstantial evidence gathered for Simpson's trial (Reed, 1994).
Many U.S. polls revealed that race does play a role in the public's beliefs (Davis, 1995). Most blacks think he is innocent and most whites think he...
A Newsweek poll showed that 60% of blacks think he is innocent, as opposed to 23% of whites. A USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll revealed that 60% of blacks think he is innocent and 68% of whites think he is guilty. An ABC News survey showed that 63% of whites said he was guilty and only 22% of blacks said he was guilty.
Conclusion
Simpson, a college football star, has moved on with his life. He was later elected to the pro-football Hall of Fame and is fairly successful in his career. However, his reputation haunts him. Throughout the trial and even now, people around the world have conflicting and strong opinions about whether or not Simpson is guilty (Davis, 1995). Some say he looked guilty and displayed behavior that is commonly associated with abusive husbands and privileged celebrities. However, others truly believe that he is an innocent victim of a racist system.
Regardless of whether Simpson is guilty or innocent, he is a free man. Simpson is protected by U.S. law against "double jeopardy," meaning he cannot be tried twice for the same crime.
Bibliography
BBC. (1995). The OJ Simpson Case. BBC News. Retrieved from the Internet at http://www.bbc.co.uk/crime/caseclosed/simpsoncase.shtml.
Jet Magazine. (July 25, 1994). Opinion poll says race plays role in O.J. Simpson case. Jet Magazine.
Reed, Ishmael. (September, 1994). The O.J. Simpson case - discussions of murder case. Ebony.
Davis, Thulani. (August, 1995). You learn to be skeptical - O.J. Simpson case. The Sporting News.
CNN. (October 3, 1995). Not guilty: "Trial of the century" ends with Simpson's acquittal. Retrieved from the Internet at http://www.cnn.com/U.S./OJ/daily/9510/10-03/index.html.
Bibliography
BBC. (1995). The OJ Simpson Case. BBC News. Retrieved from the Internet at http://www.bbc.co.uk/crime/caseclosed/simpsoncase.shtml.
Jet Magazine. (July 25, 1994). Opinion poll says race plays role in O.J. Simpson case. Jet Magazine.
Reed, Ishmael. (September, 1994). The O.J. Simpson case - discussions of murder case. Ebony.
Davis, Thulani. (August, 1995). You learn to be skeptical - O.J. Simpson case. The Sporting News.
CNN. (October 3, 1995). Not guilty: "Trial of the century" ends with Simpson's acquittal. Retrieved from the Internet at http://www.cnn.com/U.S./OJ/daily/9510/10-03/index.html.
O.J. Simpson Orenthal James Simpson, more commonly known as OJ Simpson, became the most popular man in the United States. This popularity was not due to him being a famous football player who had the greatest running backs in America or any of his roles as an actor, but because he was the defendant in the most publicized and popular murder case in American history. It was the 'Trial of the
Jury Selection Process, Sequestration, Verdict and Relevant Controversies: OJ Simpson's case had already set the record for being the longest jury trial in the history of California even before the commencement of closing arguments. For a better part of the year, the jury in the case had been sequestered and was displaying signs of exhaustion and strain (Linder, 2000). Actually, Judge Ito was blamed for permitting the trial to drag on
OJ Simpson Versus the People: Impact on Criminal justice The American criminal justice process and system are responsible for shaping the present-day US laws; influential entities include even 19th-century governmental authorities and political leaders. The system, which comprises law enforcement bodies like local police forces, correctional facilities and criminal courts, was primarily created for ensuring American citizens’ safety. It constitutes a structural framework that facilitates the maintenance of law and order
" (Linder, 1) By and large, Simpson's history would support the argument which might have been levied by forensics psychologists that, in addition to the circumstantial evidence connecting him to the murders and his suspect behavioral pattern at the inception of the investigation, Simpson did have a behavioral history that suggests mental illness and the psychological makeup to commit the double-homicide. Quite certainly, indications of his temperament, of his tendency toward
O.J. Simpson Trials: Criminal vs. Civil One of the most confusing aspects of the OJ Simpson saga for laypersons was that Simpson was apparently tried twice for his crimes, despite the protection against 'double jeopardy' or being retried for the same offense. In the American justice system, once a defendant is tried for murder, even if new evidence is discovered against him or her, there can be no retrial for the
The Los Angeles Police Department and the Coroner's Office apparently did allow enough room for error to make it difficult for the prosecution to meet its burden of proof and those mistakes were no doubt compounded by the decision to put Detective Mark Fuhrman on the stand without sufficiently investigating his reputation. The focus on race was largely the responsibility of a deliberate defense strategy in connection with the (unspoken