Race, Ethnicity, Class, and Crime in the Media Fall 2020

The Trials of Darryl Hunt

For my third and final media blog post I decided to watch the 2006 documentary titled “The Trials of Darryl Hunt”. Basically, this documentary is about a brutal rape and murder that a man named Darryl Hunt was wrongfully arrested and convicted of which caused him to spend over twenty years in prison just to find out it was not actually him who had committed this horrific crime. This case took place from 1984-2004 and it was a big topic of discussion. The Innocent Project also got involved and they were the ones who helped free Darryl and help him overcome all the racial bias, judicial, and mental response that he received while going through trials and even after when being sent to prison. This man had his whole life taken from him in the matter of a second all because he was from the south, not super wealthy by no means, and African American. All three of these factors during this time period was just the tip of the iceberg for Hunt. Since being in prison for almost twenty years his redemption was hard. He was not used to the things in 2004 as he was back in the 80’s. He spent that time in prison and had no idea how the world was evolving around him. This is a great example of class and racial bias in the South and in the American Criminal Justice System.

All Americans, regardless of where they came from, how they live, and ore the color of their skin deserve to have the right of unbiased justice, but that is not always the case. There are plenty of more high-profile cases but this specific one is just the prime example how racial bias can really destroy someone’s life in many ways. Throughout the class, we had many discussions about racial bias not just with African Americans, but with other ethnic groups and even certain social class statues. Not everyone gets the right to have an unbiased trial or even gets the justice they deserve. Watching this documentary really put it into perspective on how unfair the criminal justice system is and how just being at the wrong place at the wrong time can really destroy your life in more ways than one. This poor man who was innocent in many ways, was destined to be set up from the get-go all because of the color of his skin and where he was living at the time. These individuals are more likely to get into trouble that live in poverty because they must do what they need to do in order to survive and that can put a target on their back for an opportunity to blame someone just to get the case over and done with and just have someone in prison for that crime they did not even commit.

There are a lot of questions raised by this documentary that I thought of when watching and they are the typical questions that a lot of people ask. Basically, it is just so unfair that the color of your skin can determine if you go to prison or not. Not everyone is a criminal and sometimes they are just a bystander but the second someone says an African American did it they automatically stick with that and only that instead of looking further and gathering more evidence and information that could possibly turn them in another direction. Darryl Hunt was innocent, but the justice system failed him in more ways than one. Discrimination and inequality amongst African Americans and lower-class people are something that happens all the time and it needs to stop. We need to be having more conversations and not be so racially biased when it comes to high profile cases. Prosecutors need to look at the whole picture not just two rumors they heard and decide to just go with that because that will always be a win under their belt and that is what the prosecution does. They want to put away as many people as possible but that is not the case whatsoever. A lot of these people cannot afford proper defense, and that can also play a huge part in conviction because you need more than just an appointed attorney that has more cases than anyone and yours is on the backburner.

This documentary basically describes our class in a nutshell. We talk about the hardships these people go through daily and we learned a lot about racial bias and how it effects people long-term that are in these categories of constantly receiving no justice. At the end of the day, this documentary about Darryl Hunt is a perfect example on how the justice system fails to give anyone a chance that has not only a different skin color, but those who live in lower class neighborhoods.