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Crime and Justice Learning through Cases 2nd Edition
Carolyn Boyes-Watson Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Carolyn Boyes-Watson, Susan T. Krumholz, Aviva M. Rich-Shea
ISBN(s): 9781442220881, 1442220880
Edition: 2
File Details: PDF, 3.99 MB
Year: 2013
Language: english
CRIME AND JUSTICE
CRIME AND JUSTICE
Learning through Cases

SECOND EDITION

Carolyn Boyes-Watson

Contributions by
Susan T. Krumholz and
Aviva M. Rich-Shea

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.

L a n h a m • B o u l d e r • N e w Yo r k • To r o n t o • P l y m o u t h , U K
Published by Rowman & Littlefield
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.rowman.com

10 Thornbury Road, Plymouth PL6 7PP, United Kingdom

Copyright © 2014 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems,
without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote
passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Boyes-Watson, Carolyn.
Crime and justice : learning through cases / Carolyn Boyes-Watson ; with
contributions by Susan T. Krumholz and Aviva M. Rich-Shea. —Second edition.
pages cm
Revised edition of the author’s Crime and justice : a casebook approach,
published in 2003.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-4422-2088-1 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-1-4422-2089-8 (pbk. :
alk. paper)—ISBN 978-1-4422-2090-4 (electronic)
1. Criminal justice, Administration of—United States—Case studies.
2. Criminal justice, Administration of—United States—Cases. 3. Criminal law—
United States—Cases. I. Title.
HV9950.B69 2014
364.973—dc23 2013020567
™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

 CONTENTS

Preface and Acknowledgments ix

PART 1

CHAPTER 1
Case #1: A Seventeenth-Century Crime Wave: The Salem Witch Trials 1
Crime, Law, and Justice 7

CHAPTER 2
Case #2: The Scottsboro Trials 25
The Struggle for Justice 33

CHAPTER 3
Case #3: Execution or Self Defense? When Women Kill
Their Partners 51
The Legacy of Gender Injustice 57

CHAPTER 4
Case #4: A “Run of the Mill” Crime 73
The Justice Process 79

CHAPTER 5
Case #5: Winning at All Costs: The Rise and Fall of Enron 97
Understanding the Crime Picture 103

CHAPTER 6
Case #6: Accident or Homicide? The Shooting of Yoshi Hattori 129
Principles of the Criminal Law 137

CHAPTER 7
Case #7: Facing the Demons: Making Amends for Drunk Driving 155
Understanding Victims in the Criminal Justice System 163

■ v
vi ■ CONTENTS

PART 2

CHAPTER 8
Case #8: Security or Dignity: Rosa at the Border 179
Police and the Rule of Law 185

CHAPTER 9
Case #9: The Thin Blue Line: Rodney King and the LAPD 207
Beyond the Limits of the Law 217

CHAPTER 10
Case #10: A Woman in Charge: The Case of Paula Meara 235
The Mission of Policing in the Twenty-First Century 243

CHAPTER 11
Case #11: A Businessman of Crime: The Rise and Fall
of Al Capone 265
Prohibition and Policing: Rethinking the War on Drugs 273

CHAPTER 12
Case #12: False Patriots: The Oklahoma City Bombing
and the Politics of Fear 291
The Impact of 9/11 on Civil Liberties and Law Enforcement 299

PART 3

CHAPTER 13
Case #13: It’s Never Too Late for Justice: The Prosecution
of Edgar Ray Killen 315
The Structure of the American Judiciary 323

CHAPTER 14
Case # 14: Can Corporations Commit Murder?
The Prosecution of Ford Motor Company 337
Understanding the Courtroom Workgroup 343

CHAPTER 15
Case #15: America in Black and White: The Celebrity Trial
of O. J. Simpson 363
Trials, Juries, and Judgment 369

CHAPTER 16
Case #16: Bargaining for Justice: Bordenkircher v. Hayes 385
Plea Bargains in the Criminal Justice System 393
 CONTENTS ■ vii

PART 4

CHAPTER 17
Case #17: The Crime of Punishment: The Story of Kemba Smith 403
The Justice of Sentencing 411

CHAPTER 18
Case #18: Surviving Time: The Case of Rubin “Hurricane” Carter 433
Inside the Prison World 443

CHAPTER 19
Case #19: Making Parole in California 469
Community and Corrections 477

Index 499
About the Author and Contributors 505
 PREFACE AND
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

O
NE OF THE pleasures of teaching this subject is the central importance
of justice to our lives as human beings and as citizens. Crime and jus-
tice is inherently fascinating to students. Few topics elicit such strong
opinions. Because the topics studied in this course matter so much, teachers have
a powerful opportunity to introduce students to forms of critical analysis that can
influence their thinking throughout their college years and beyond.
Yet teaching an introduction to crime and justice poses unique challenges.
Because students come to the material with implicit assumptions, there is a need
to stimulate thinking about such fundamental questions as “What is crime?” and
“What is justice?” and to encourage students to draw connections between the
processes of the criminal justice system and the structure of our wider society.
At the same time, students must be systematically exposed to a near encyclopedic
range and volume of information drawn from criminology, legal studies, soci-
ology, anthropology, psychology, forensics, education, philosophy, and political
science.

LEARNING THROUGH CASES

Crime and Justice: Learning through Cases is an effective pedagogy and a popular
teaching format for students. For the student, the case is the “hook.” Students
become invested in the case that has been purposely designed to raise critical
questions rather than provide answers. Cases empower students to think inde-
pendently and to actively utilize the concepts presented in the chapter. As stu-
dents become engaged in the dramatic narrative, the critical-thinking questions
invite students to view the administration of justice through multiple lenses and
to raise critical questions about the meaning of justice in a broad sense and in the
events connected to their own lives. Abstract issues of law, criminology, politi-
cal science, sociology, and criminal justice administration come alive as students
grapple with the concrete dilemmas raised by each case.
The casebook approach also creates a lively interactive classroom environ-
ment based on discussion and dialogue among students and instructors. Students
remain focused and interested in the drama of the cases, are better able to apply

■ ix
x ■ P R E FA C E A N D A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S

the concepts, become active participants in the learning process, and have a deeper
understanding of the issues presented in lectures and the text. Students enjoy the
class because this approach builds upon what is of most direct interest to the stu-
dent: the drama of actual people who are facing, reacting to, and “doing” justice.
Crime and Justice: Learning through Cases offers all the tools instructors need
to successfully apply the case method approach to a traditional classroom. Each
case serves the core learning objectives within each chapter; the narrative form
of the case holds student attention and provides historical, sociological, political,
and legal context for each case, which provides rich detail for class discussion,
analysis and assignments. Key questions provide the basis for critical analysis of
the case. The instructor’s manual provides detailed suggestions for in-class assign-
ments and exercises such as mock trials, debates, role-plays, individual, and small-
group exercises using the case material adaptable to different size classrooms and
pedagogic styles.

THE TEXT
Each chapter covers the core knowledge required for an overview of the criminal
justice system that prepares students for higher-level courses on the justice system.
Thematically, the text emphasizes justice studies and the process of social change
within the criminal justice system. Throughout the text, students are encouraged
to see the justice system as a “work in progress”: the meaning and administration
of justice has evolved historically and is continuing to do so, influenced by forces
within the broader society.
Written in a highly accessible, compelling, and concise prose, this text adopts
a justice studies approach to the criminal justice system suitable for students in a
wide range of institutions, from community colleges to highly competitive four-
year institutions. The central question “What is justice?” is the primary focus.
The text analyzes the criminal justice system in the context of our wider issues of
social justice and structural inequality based on race, gender, class, and corporate
power through historical and contemporary analysis. The text also provides full
coverage of victims’ issues and restorative justice throughout the text. All of the
chapters in the casebook focus on the ongoing struggle for equality before the law
for all members of American society. Issues of race, class, and gender inequality
are raised through multiple cases, emphasizing legal and policy developments that
have resulted from various social movements. Students are encouraged to con-
sider their own role in shaping the future of the criminal justice system.
Substantial new material has been added to the second edition. Five new cases
cover neglected but complex issues of corporate crime, civil rights cold cases, the
war on drugs, and terrorism. Three new chapters focus on the legacy of gender
injustice, the issue of drug prohibition, and the impact of 9/11 on the structure of
domestic law enforcement.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I must begin by thanking Sarah Stanton of Rowman & Littlefield for recognizing
the value of the Learning through Cases approach, and for her support on this
new edition. Thanks as well to Kathryn Knigge of Rowman & Littlefield, who
inherited the project and managed all things editorial while Sarah was out on
 P R E FA C E A N D A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S ■ x i

maternity leave. I would also like to acknowledge Dr. Rich-Shea for assisting in
the preparation of the prospectus for the second edition and for attending meet-
ings with Dr. Krumholz and myself to discuss the content of the second edition.
My deepest gratitude goes to Dr. Susan Krumholz for her excellent and exten-
sive contributions to this book. Dr. Krumholz authored the new case and chapter
on the “Legacy of Gender Injustice” and undertook a massive revision of part 3
on the courts. In addition, Dr. Krumholz worked tirelessly to update data from
the first edition and provide cogent editorial assistance on all new material in this
edition. One of the great pleasures of working on this second edition has been to
collaborate professionally with Dr. Krumholz; we discovered our personal styles
and work habits make us a terrific team, and I look forward to many future col-
laborations based on the Learning through Cases model.
My eternal thanks also goes to Matthew Boyes-Watson, who stepped in at
the eleventh hour and provided able and much-needed assistance in researching,
editing, and formatting. Finally, I want to thank my entire family—Mark, Emily,
and Matthew—as well as my sister, Judy, and brother-in-law, Robert, for always
being on my team.
PA RT 1 C AS E 1

A SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
CRIME WAVE
The Salem Witch Trials

T
HE YEAR is 1692; the place is a small farming
village in Massachusetts. Inside the household
of the Reverend Samuel Parris, a small group
of young girls—nine-year-old Betty; her twelve-year-
old cousin, Abigail; and a pair of friends—have spent
hours indoors amusing themselves with secretive
games of “fortune-telling” and “little sorceries,” pre-
dicting futures and performing magic on household
objects. These obsessions with the occult were
inspired by tales told by a West Indian slave named
Tituba who worked as a cook in the Parris household.
Before long, more girls from the village had joined in
the mysterious club that met in the kitchen of the par-
sonage during the long, dull afternoons.
The master of the household, Reverend Parris,
was having troubles of his own during this difficult
winter. He had recently been appointed minister of a
new church in the village of Salem, a position of great
importance and power in the colonial community. But
this position was very shaky: only a handful people
within the community had elected to join the new
church. Many more refused to worship at the village
meetinghouse, to pay the taxes to support his salary,
and in a recent annual election in October a majority
in the village had voted out of office those who had
been responsible for his appointment. The future of
Reverend Parris seemed very precarious in the winter
of 1692 as the new village committee challenged his
right to the position of minister and refused to even Women on trial for witchcraft in a seventeenth-century
pay for firewood to warm his hearth. courtroom.
As winter wore on, the black magic games of the
young girls came to the attention of the adults within
the Parris household and the wider village commu-
nity. Rumors spread that the girls were meeting in the
woods to perform the black magic Tituba had brought

■ 1
2 ■ CASE 1

with her from her native Barbados. The youngest of to reveal the names of the individuals responsible
the girls was the first to exhibit strange and worri- for their suffering. “Who are your tormentors?” they
some behaviors: sudden fits of screaming, convul- asked repeatedly. “Name who is doing this to you!”
sions, barking and scampering about on all fours like The girls hesitated at first, but then named three
a dog. The adult women in the household fretted in women: Sarah Good, a local beggar known through-
muted tones that the afflictions of the child were a out the village for her nasty temper and bitter tongue;
malady brought on by the dark forces of witchcraft. Sarah Osborne, an elderly women with a dubious
Witchcraft was believed to be a particularly ter- reputation; and Tituba, the slave woman herself. On
rifying and horrible crime, not only because it was February 29, several men, including Putnam, traveled
responsible for evil consequences such as murder, to Salem Town to swear out formal complaints charg-
physical torture, or destruction of property, but also ing witchcraft against the three women before the
because it challenged the supremacy of God in the local magistrates. Warrants were issued for the arrest
affairs of human beings. The crime of witchcraft was of the three women and an interrogation or prelimi-
written into English statutes of law as early as the six- nary hearing was hurriedly scheduled for the following
teenth century. The Massachusetts Law of Statutes, morning.
likewise, included the crime of witchcraft as a capital All three accused were typical of those found
offense. guilty of witchcraft throughout Europe and colonial
The belief in Satan and his role in the affairs of America. They were marginal, unrespectable, pow-
humans and their evil doings was not confined to hys- erless, and deviant in their conduct and lifestyle.
terical young girls or religious fanatics. On the con- Although they lived within the community, they were,
trary, the idea that the Devil was real and operated to in a sense, outsiders viewed with suspicion and dis-
do malicious things in the affairs of human beings was like by the majority of the community. Sarah Good, at
a widely accepted belief common to most individu- the time of accusation, was both homeless and desti-
als of all social backgrounds and educational levels. It tute: she and her husband, William, had been reduced
was believed that a person who entered into a cove- to begging for shelter and food from neighbors. In her
nant with the Devil by signing his book had the power requests for assistance, she had the effrontery to be
to call Satan to enter his or her body to perform evil aggressive and angry, cursing and muttering repri-
doings and deeds to others. By deploying the power sals to those who refused to offer her charity. Few
of the Devil, the witch was able to act out his or her in the community stood to support her once she was
own petty hates toward other human beings. accused; indeed, her husband was one of the first to
At the suggestion of Aunt Mary Silbey, who lived proclaim that she was, in fact, “either a witch or would
in the house, Tituba was asked to prepare the tradi- be one very quickly.”
tional “witches cake,” a recipe guaranteed to identify Sarah Osborne too was an “outsider.” Although
the source of the affliction. By baking a witches cake— she possessed an estate from her first husband, she
a recipe that combined rye meal with the child’s urine was old, had no children, and had suffered the gossip
and feeding the cake to a dog—it was thought that the and disapproval of the community when several years
dog would immediately identify its master, the witch. earlier she had cohabited with her second husband for
Before this method of investigation could be com- several months before becoming officially wed. The
pleted, however, Reverend Parris called in the town slave woman, Tituba, was, of course, a natural target
physician, a William Griggs, who examined the girls of suspicion and her involvement in the baking of the
and proclaimed the chilling news. Malevolent witch- cake only hardened assumptions that it was she who
craft was the source of their malady, not any sickness was acting as an agent of the Devil.
responsive to the cures of medicine: the Devil had
come to Salem Village.
THE INVESTIGATIONS
The strange behaviors first seen in the Parris
household now began to spread like wildfire among The date for the first hearing to determine if there was
the group of girls who attended the secret meet- sufficient evidence to hand down an indictment for
ings in the Parris kitchen. Parris and another father, the crime of witchcraft was scheduled to take place
Thomas Putnam (one of Parris’s key supporters and the next day at the inn in Salem Village, but on the
father to Ann Putnam, aged twelve), urged the girls morning of the hearing so many townspeople turned
 A S E V E N T E E N T H - C E N T U RY C R I M E WAV E ■ 3

out to witness the proceedings that the venue was she saw an apparition of one of the townspeople in the
changed to the larger meetinghouse to accommodate rafters, a Martha Corey who had publicly expressed
the agitated and curious crowd. The accusers—the her own doubts over the whole affair. The next day,
afflicted girls—were seated in the front row as one by Goodwife Corey was arrested to be examined in the
one each of the women were brought before the mag- presence of their accusers before the magistrate.
istrates for questioning. As each of the women came Within a month, two more “witches” had been identi-
into the view, the girls began to exhibit the tortured fied by the girls and were arrested: Rebecca Nurse
and tormented behavior in a dramatic enactment of and the four-year-old daughter of Sarah Good.
the charge itself. The behavior that had so frightened As the snows melted, the intensity of the girls’
their parents astonished observers and convinced affliction seemed to increase rather than wane. By the
many skeptical witnesses that they were indeed suf- end of April, a total of twenty-eight more people had
fering from an affliction of supernatural causes. been accused and charged with the crime of witch-
craft. The month of May saw an additional thirty-nine
These children were bitten and pinched by invis- people accused. The town of Andover requested the
ible agents; their arms, necks and backs turned this afflicted girls come to their village and identify sus-
way and that way, and returned back again, so as pected witches among the townspeople. Although
it was impossible for them to do of themselves, the girls did not personally know any of the people
and beyond the power of any epileptic fits, or natu- accused, they managed to name more than forty per-
ral disease to effect. Sometimes they were taken sons as witches. By the time of the first trial on June 2,
dumb, their mouths stopped, their throats choked, 1692, a total of 160 persons had been publically and
their limbs wracked and tormented so as might legally accused and many of them were languishing
move a heart of stone, to sympathize with them.1 in the local jail awaiting trial. These included not only
those men and women who were marginal or poor
During the proceedings, as the girls were contort- but a large number of men and women of consider-
ing in dramatic displays of torture and physical agony, able wealth and power, including the former minister
the magistrates pressed the women with questions: of the parish, George Burroughs, who was arrested
“Have you made no contract with the Devil?” “Why in his new parish in Maine and transported back to
do you hurt these children?” The girls themselves con- Salem, charged with being the master wizard during
tinued to moan and plead for the women, especially the years he had served in Salem Village.
Sarah Good, to put an end to their torments. Before
long, Tituba confessed, named the other two as her THE TRIALS
accomplices, and announced that there were many
others in the colony engaged in the conspiracy against The royal governor of Massachusetts had just arrived
the community of God. While Osborne continued to from England when he was confronted with the
maintain her innocence, Good eventually accused epidemic of witchcraft accusations that had swept
Osborne and by so doing implicated herself in the through the villages of New England in the preced-
eyes of the magistrate. At the end of the interroga- ing four months. Governor Phipps responded to the
tion, and before a crowded and tightly packed audi- crisis with swift action, appointing a special judicial
ence composed of the entire village and many from body known as the Court of Oyer and Terminer, which
neighboring communities as well, the magistrates means literally to “hear and determine.” The Massa-
ordered all three sent to jail on suspicion of witchcraft chusetts attorney general was ordered to begin pros-
to be held there until trial. ecutions; a jury was selected; and on Friday, June 2,
1692, the infamous Salem witchcraft trials began.
The first to appear for a formal trial was Bridget
THE PROSECUTION
Bishop, an unpopular and widely despised woman
At the religious services the very next day, the fits who had been held in prison since her indictment on
and afflictions of the young girls continued along with April 18. The evidence against Goodwife Bishop was
more accusations of witchcraft directed against other considerable, and many people came forward to pro-
women in the community. During the service, twelve- vide testimony to support the charge against her. She
year-old Abigail Williams suddenly began to shout that was accused of causing the death of a child by visiting
4 ■ CASE 1

as an apparition and causing the child to cry out and the trial provided the most convincing evidence to the
decline in health from that moment onward. Several jurors since the accusers often described the image
men and women testified that she had visited them of the accused flying on the rafters, or exhibited signs
and afterward they had suffered from strange misfor- of distress and torment as the accused witch moved
tune or peculiar experiences. The jury returned a ver- her head or arms.
dict of guilty against Goodwife Bishop, and she was In addition to testimony by witnesses of spectral
sentenced to death by hanging. On June 10, 1692, evidence, there were several other important forms
Bridget Bishop was the first to be executed during a of evidence. Because it was believed that the Devil
public hanging on a rocky hillside forever after known would not permit a witch to proclaim the name of God
as Witches Hill. or recite the Lord’s Prayer without error, there was
At the second sitting of the Court of Oyer and Ter- often a trial by test in which the accused was asked to
miner, the court tried and sentenced to death five more perform these tasks. Errors, stumbles, or failures of
accused witches. A session on August 5 produced six memory were seen as proof they were agents of the
more convictions and five executions including the Devil. Evidence of “anger followed by misfortune” was
former parish minister George Burroughs. In Septem- another form of evidence. Since the crime of witch-
ber, the court sat two more times, passing a death craft was believed to be an instrumental one in which
sentence on six more persons in one sitting and nine the witch takes out her personal anger against oth-
more in the final session of the court on September ers using the power of Satan, the testimony of those
17. The last executions were held on September 22 who gave examples of conflict, disputes, or angry out-
when eight persons, six women and two men, were bursts followed by bad fortune was also seen as com-
hung at the gallows. A total of twenty-three persons pelling evidence of the crime of malevolent witchcraft.
accused of witchcraft died: most by hanging, a few In the case of Bridget Bishop, five townspeople came
while in jail awaiting trial, and one by being crushed to forth to accuse her of being responsible for “murder-
death from heavy rocks piled upon his prostrate body, ing” a family member. In each instance, evidence
an ancient form of execution reserved for those who was presented of a display of anger on the part of the
refuse to testify at all. accused followed sometime afterward by an illness
The evidence used in the trials was typical of that or accident befalling those who had displeased her. A
used to prove the crime of witchcraft but quite differ- fourth form of evidence came in the search for physi-
ent from that used to provide evidence for ordinary cal marks on the body of the accused, such as moles,
murders, assaults, and thefts. The ordinary rules for warts, or scars, which were believed to be “witches
trial procedures called for two eyewitnesses in a capi- teats” or places where the Devil and other evil crea-
tal offense, but in the case of witchcraft the rule was tures gained sustenance from the witch herself.
altered because witchcraft was deemed a “habitual” A final form of evidence, and ultimately one of the
offense. It was sufficient, therefore, that there be two most compelling, was the freely given confession on
or more witnesses coming forth with testimony about the part of the accused. Beginning with Tituba her-
different images or incidents to support the charge of self, as many as fifty of the accused eventually con-
witchcraft. fessed to their status as witches and to their involve-
The most abundant form of evidence came in the ment in witchcraft, in some cases providing elaborate
form of spectral evidence. These were eyewitness detail and accusing others in the process. During the
accounts of seeing the image or apparition of the hearings, as soon as an accused confessed to the
accused. This might be in a dream or in their bedroom crime, the agonized writhing of the girls suddenly and
at night, or even in a crowded meetinghouse or court- instantly ceased, and the girls fell upon the confessed
room. The unique difficulty with spectral evidence witches with kisses and tearful pledges of forgive-
was that it was believed that the image might be vis- ness. None who confessed were brought to trial or
ible only to those being tormented while completely hung: the intention of the court was to spare them in
invisible to others present in the very same room. As order to make use of them in testifying against others
long as more than one person came forth with spec- in future trials. Only those who continued to proclaim
tral evidence, it was not necessary for them to be their innocence were made to suffer the spectacle of
“seeing” the same image. The behavior of the girls at the trial and the horror of the public execution.
 A S E V E N T E E N T H - C E N T U RY C R I M E WAV E ■ 5

THE AFTERMATH 17th-Century Massachusetts (Boston: University of Mas-

sachusetts Press, 1984).
Between June 10 and September 22, 1692, twenty-
four people were executed for the crimes of witch-
craft. As the New England fall began to cool the air,
an additional 150 people remained awaiting trial in THINKING CRITICALLY
local jails, and 200 more formal accusations had been ABOUT THIS CASE
made against others as well. On the part of the judi-
cial authorities, there was a sudden sense of unease 1. Do you believe the accused in seventeenth-
about the quality of the evidence used to convict and century Salem received a fair trial? Why or why
hang the accused. Anyone might indeed fail to recite not?
the Lord’s Prayer without a slip of the tongue, par-
2. Why did so many people confess to the crime
ticularly if they were standing before a packed court-
of which they were accused? What forces might
room, charged with being a representative of Satan.
convince innocent people to confess to a crime
And legal opinion was plagued by the question that it
they did not commit?
might be possible for the Devil to present himself in
the image of innocent folk as well as those who had 3. Consider the powerful statement made by
struck a covenant with the Devil. Increase Mather: “It is better that ten witches
On October 3, Reverend Increase Mather, presi- should escape than one innocent person be con-
dent of Harvard College, delivered an address that demned.” Do you agree with this statement? Why
claimed that evil spirits might be impersonating inno- or why not? Would you still agree with this state-
cent men and implied that it was possible the girls ment if we substituted the crime of murder, rape,
themselves were fabricating their afflictions. Mather or drug dealing for the crime of witchcraft? Why or
went on to declare that “it was better that ten sus- why not?
pected witches should escape, than that one innocent 4. Consider the spectacle of the public execution.
person should be condemned.”2 Many more joined How do you think you would feel if you were to
the chorus to object to the fallibility of the court to witness such an event? Would you bring your chil-
prove the crime, and the injustice of the proceedings dren to an execution? Why or why not?
in potentially condemning the innocent based on the
unsubstantiated accusations of the inflamed. Within 5. The term witch hunt has moved into our common
days, the governor had disbanded the Court of Oyer everyday parlance. What does it mean to you?
and Terminer and replaced it with a court that forbade Give some examples of contemporary “witch
the use of spectral evidence. The jury acquitted forty- hunts” in American society today.
nine of the fifty-two cases it heard; the remaining
three had entered confessions, but these were given
immediate reprieves by the governor. The remaining
prisoners were all discharged, and a general pardon CHECK OUT THIS CASE
was issued against all who had been accused in the
terrible and most infamous series of trials within our Salem MassachusettsWitchTrials, www.salemweb.
nation’s history. Two years after the trials the crime of com/guide/witches.shtm, and The Salem Witch
witchcraft was no longer a legal offense in the colony Museum, www.salemwitchmuseum.com/, to learn
of Massachusetts Bay. more about Salem in the seventeenth century.
Case adapted from Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissen-
Witchcraft in Salem Village, http://etext.virginia
baum., eds., The Salem Witchcraft Papers: Verbatim
Transcripts of the Legal Documents of the Salem Witch- .edu/salem/witchcraft/
craft Outbreak of 1692, vol. 1 (New York: Da Capo Press, Check this website for access to the detailed informa-
1977); Kai Erickson, Wayward Puritans: A Study in the tion about the victims and the accused. Read narratives
Sociology of Deviance (New York: Wiley & Sons, 1966); of the “examinations” of each of the accused; search
Richard Weisman, Witchcraft, Magic, and Religion in rare documents of current debates and dialogues on
6 ■ CASE 1

the crime of witchcraft. Explore historical sites and con- presents a historically accurate narrative of the climate
sult the experts with your questions! and events of the time. The Crucible was written and
produced in the 1950s as a deliberate effort to criticize
Famous American Trials, http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/ the anti-Communist “witch-hunt” of Senator Joseph
trials.htm McCarthy as he accused hundreds of celebrities and
Click on this website for access to the actual tran- politicians of being Communists, forcing people to
scripts of the trials. Read the narratives of the “exami- defend their innocence, confess, and name names or
nations” by the judge. Read an individual biography of risk losing their careers and livelihoods.
those who were accused. Find out what happened to
the accusers after the hysteria was over.
NOTES
The Crucible 1. Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, eds., The
This is a lavish film starring Wynona Ryder and Daniel Salem Witchcraft Papers: Verbatim Transcripts of the
Day Lewis with a screenplay written by the original Legal Documents of the Salem Witchcraft Outbreak
playwright Arthur Miller. Miller fictionalizes the events of 1692, vol. 1 (New York: Da Capo Press, 1977), 9.
of 1692 in the invention of an affair between Abigail Wil- 2. Boyer and Nissenbaum, The Salem Witchcraft Papers,
liams and John Proctor as a key motive but otherwise vol. 1.
CHAP TER 1

CRIME, L AW, AND JUSTICE

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After reading this chapter you should be able to:

• Explain the difference between crime and deviance and explain
why crime is a social construction.
• Identify a moral entrepreneur and explain their role in the Salem
witch trial and in the creation of deviance and crime.
• Articulate the difference between a law and other types of rules
within society.
• Explain the difference between the consensus and conflict theo-
ries of law.
• Distinguish between social control and crime control.
• Identify the values underlying the crime control model of justice
and the due process model of justice.

WHAT IS CRIME?

T
HROUGH contemporary eyes, it is tempting to dismiss the “crime” of
witchcraft as religious superstition. Given our knowledge of science and
technology, it is hard for us to believe those girls were really tormented
by witches wielding the dark powers of the Devil. But to people in the seven-
teenth century, the existence of God and Satan and their active role in the affairs
of human beings was a form of common sense, a set of beliefs about the world
shared by most members of society, rich and poor, educated and illiterate alike.
Sociologists claim that all human ideas, from our basic beliefs about the nature
of the physical world to the rules of social interaction to our convictions about
what is right and wrong, are a product of that human society. Is a rock inhabited
by living spirits? Is it composed of tiny particles so infinitesimally small they can
never be seen by the human eye? What you believe depends on the society you
live in. Beliefs about “reality” are embedded in the cultural beliefs of the entire

■ 7
Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
 “Papa Nebo,” Flanked by Gouede Mazacca the Midwife and
Gouede Oussou the Drunken One. These Are Sorceresses Who Use
Corpses for Magical Purposes,
 Above: New Grave with Offerings of Food and Water for the
Dead. Below: Tomb in the Mountains, with Water Jug and Legba
Tree-of-Life Tainted Above Niche.
 Left: Garments of a Sorceress’ Son, Hung Above Her New-
Made Grave. Right: Girl Wearing a Ouanga Charm — a Small Bag
Hung Around Her Neck.
 Soulouque, Crowned King of Haiti and Emperor of the Isles
In 184S Under the Name of Faustin 1 he Oueen Adelina, Empress
Consort of Faustin I.
 Faustin E. Wirkus Crowned King of the Haitian Island of I.a
Gonave in 1924: A Crown of Modified Tribal African Design Was
Constructed of Ribbons, Feathers and Mir 
 Left: A Typical Haitian of Pure African Blood. Right: A Man
of La Gonave. Observe that the African Mode of Cutting the Hair Has
Survived Through the Centuries.
 The Oueen Ti Meminne, Whom Wirkus Found on La Gonave
and C'onhrmed in Power Subject to His Authority.
 NOTES ON PART ONE 311 The incessant booming of the
drums, the sight and taste of blood, and the great amount of rum
drunk cause a religious form of hysteria to sway over the audience.
At the close of this sacrificial ceremony the worshipers begin a dance
called the “loiloichi,” a stomach dance which is well known in West
Africa. The dance gets wilder and wilder and more degraded until it
ends in the orgy of the worst description which lasts until daylight.
The worship of the snake in Haiti is by no means so literal as
commentators have supposed. It is true that on every Petro altar in
Haiti there is a serpent symbol, sometimes painted on the wall,
sometimes carved of wood and elevated on a staff. It is true also
that living snakes are regarded as sacred objects, not to be injured
or molested. One of the commonest and handsomest is a harmless
green tree snake which grows to three or four feet in length, but all
snakes are held sacred. But the serpent is worshiped symbolically,
and not because they believe he has any power of his own; he
represents the great god Damballa. ’Ti Cousin, at Leogane, said to
me that the serpent was the symbol of Damballa in the same way
that the lamb is the symbol of Christ. Papa Theodore, with whom I
often discussed this same question, was of the opinion that this
symbolism was identified with the jagged lightning flash which
zigzags through the sky like a serpent; the lightning is also
connected with Damballa, and Damballa’s heavenly consort Ayida
Oueddo. It is interesting in this connection that the Yezidee devil-
worshipers, whose temple I visited at Sheikh Adi in 1925? in the
Kurdish Mountains east of Mosul, and who have a sacred serpent
carved in stone beside the doorway of their temple (although the
symbol of their principal god, Satan, is a peacock), are also
worshipers of fire and lightning. So far as I am aware no living
serpent is kept “in a box” or otherwise on any Voodoo altar today in
Haiti. A negro friend has told me, however, of an Obeah ceremony
which he had seen in Cuba in which a living snake was the central
 312 FROM THE AUTHOR’S NOTEBOOK object. He said that
a large non-poisonous snake was kept in a big earthen jar on an
altar, that some ten or fifteen Megroes made a sort of circular
endless chain beginning and ending at the rim of the jar by locking
their arms around each other’s shoulders; that the snake was then
drawn from the jar and induced to crawl over their shoulders,
making the circuit and returning to the jar. With reference to the
belief that meetings of the cult “are held at night about bonfires at
secret places in the forest,” Maman Celie and others told me that
ceremonies were held on rare occasions in that way, usually at times
when criminal prosecution was particularly active, but the normal
place for holding these ceremonials is the Voodoo temple and the
compound adjacent to it, always in the neighborhood of human
habitation. Miot of Kenscoff told me also of a special ceremony
which he had seen in his youth in which in time of epidemic or local
famine the worshipers repaired by tortuous zigzagging routes to
some very remote place in a gorge or forest to perform ceremonies
placating certain of the elder demons, who were so dangerous and
dreadful that they did not dare to invite them to the temple or to the
neighborhood of human habitation. Hatred of the whites has no
normal part in the Voodoo ceremony or creed. The majority of
Haitian peasants are normally either friendly or utterly indifferent to
whites. From the earliest times, however, at periods when there was
war and hatred between the blacks and whites for other causes, the
Voodoo gatherings have naturally played a part. The first great
insurrection and massacre of white French colonials by the slaves
was planned on the night of August 14, 1791, at a Voodoo gathering
arranged by a slave named Boukman. Dr. J. C. Dorsainvil in his
Manuel d'Histoire (THaiti^ Port-au-Prince, 1925, says: Ne a la
Jamaique, Boukman etait un N’Gan [Hougan] ou pretre du Vaudou,
religion principale des Dahomeens. . . . Pour faire
 NOTES ON PART ONE 313 tomber toutes les hesitations et
obtenir un devouement absolu, il reunit, dans la nuit du 14 aout
1791, un grand nombre d’esclaves, dans une clairiere du Bois-
Caiman, pres du Morne-Rouge. Tous etaient assembles quand un
orage se dechaina. Au milieu de ce decor impressionnant, les
assistants, immobiles, saisis d’une horreur sacree, voient une vieille
negresse se dresser. Son corps est secoue de longs frissons; elle
chante, pirouette sur elle-meme et fait tournoyer un grand coutelas
au-dessus de sa tete. Une immobilite plus grande encore, une
respiration courte, silencieuse, des yeux ardents, fixes sur la
negresse, prouvent bientot que I’assistance est fascinee. On
introduit alors un cochon noir dont les grognements se perdent dans
le rugissement de la tempete. D’un geste vif, la pretresse, inspiree,
plonge son coutelas dans la gorge de I’animal. Le sang coule, il est
recueilli fumant et distribue, a la ronde, aux esclaves ; tous en
boivent, tous jurent d’executer les ordres de Boukman. Similarly
during the caco uprising in 1918-20 against the American Marines,
Voodoo priests were active in aiding the revolutionists. In normal
times, however, hatred of whites and fulmination against them has
no more place in Voodoo ceremonial than hatred and fulmination
against the Germans has normally in the Christian temples of
England and America. 2. Dr. Arthur C. Holly of Port-au-Prince,
though he leans strongly toward the esoteric, has written an
extraordinary moral and philosophic defense of Voodoo in the
preface to his book Les Daimons du Quite V odu published by
Edmond Chenet, Port-au-Prince, 1918. He says, in part: We are
Latin-Africans. But our Latin civilization is all on the surface; the old
African heritage prolongs itself in us and dominates as to such an
extent that in many circumstances we feel ourselves moved by
mysterious forces. Thus, our sensibility and our will undergo strange
emotions when the unequal rhythms of the sacred dances of
Voodoo, now melancholy, now passionate, always full of magic
effects, are heard in the silent night.
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