Athena Bester -A Time to Kill Response

Carl Lee Hailey is the father of Tanya Hailey, the young girl who is raped and almost killed by two white men. He shoots and kills the two men because of what they did to his daughter. He is arrested and tried for those murders, his case is a major milestone for the black community in the South, especially during that time period. Carl Lee Hailey teaches us that sometimes you must do something that is necessarily "wrong" to prove that it was done for a better cause. To look at Mr. Hailey from a law enforcement perspective, he could be seen as guilty by some and not guilty by others. For example, a defense attorney could say he's not guilty because he committed the crime in retaliation to his prepubescent daughter being brutally attacked. Now in terms of a police officer, it's the law to arrest him because he still did commit two murders, whether or not it was to avenge his daughter's purity. Carl Lee does and does not do a good job in representing justice in the film. Yes, it's against the law to rape and brutally assault someone, but it's still also illegal to murder as well. In Mr. Hailey eyes, he was getting justice for his daughter, but not everyone in a jury may think the same way because by killing someone who already committed a crime, the chance to try the original offender(s) is now gone. This film offers a good look into what our society is like today. It shows that some people can be tried for horrible crimes such a rape and only have to do a short sentence, whether that be because there's not enough proof or because that's just how the law is written. It also shows how someone can commit a capital offense, such as murder and be found innocent because it was due to insanity or in self defense. Our society definitely does have its good and "needs improvement" parts of the law. But if I were to have been on that Jury for Carl Lee Hailey, I would've made the same decision that the rest of them did.