On Sunday, a jury found Zimmerman not guilty of the charges,
which set off demonstrations around the country protesting the verdict. The jury found Zimmerman innocent under
Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law, which allows individuals to use
“justifiable force in self-defense when there is reasonable belief of unlawful
threat”.
So my question to you this week is two-fold. “Do you agree or disagree with the jury’s
verdict? Do you agree with “Stand Your
Ground” laws – why or why not?” You must
answer both questions to earn full credit.
Answers are due no later than Sunday, July 21st, 2013.Monday, July 15, 2013
Justice For Trayvon - Part 2
I’m sure by now you all have heard about the Trayvon Martin
case. Martin was a 17 year old, unarmed,
high school student who was fatally shot after an altercation with George
Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch coordinator.
I initially blogged about the details of the case last year, shortly
after Zimmerman was arrested for murder, 45 days after Martin’s death. You can read my initial post, including
Zimmerman’s 9-1-1 call and see your fellow students’ comments here: http://historicalandpoliticalissues.blogspot.com/search?q=trayvon
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I think I would have to disagree with the jury. Though I am not 100% sure of what Martin did to pose such a threat on Zimmerman in the first place, but the fact that he was unarmed I think should have posed an opposite verdict on what the jury has chosen. As far as this "stand your ground" law, I think it seems a little muddy. "reasonable belief?" "unlawful threat?" what from these statements exactly poses as such?
ReplyDeleteIn my eyes, this law seems like an excuse to kill people who you may just simply feel uncomfortable with. Again, I am not sure what was done to Zimmerman for him to react in such a dramatic way. If anything, I feel like if your life is on the line and you may barely make it out of a situation alive, then you should be allowed to fight for your life. But killing simply because you feel "threatened" doesn't seem like a good reason to take matters into your own hands and "stand your ground"..call the police instead!
I disagree with the jury. Zimmerman killed a totally innocent student, so he deserves to be punished.
ReplyDeleteThere is no reason Zimmerman should have found that student as a threat. Therefore, he did not kill the student just for self defense.
I would tend to disagree with the jury’s verdict. I think Zimmerman got the benefit of the doubt and he had a bunch of good attorneys fighting for him!
ReplyDeleteI do not agree with the “Stand Your Ground” laws. According to me it is very ambiguous.
Threat is a relative term. Someone might feel threatened if you touch him or her, while others wait for a blow to feel threatened. So making a law like this where you can take a persons life just because you feel threatened is a little hard to swallow. I think there should be more to the law that just killing people in self-defense.
I disagree with the jury! Zimmerman is an a**. He yelled at an innocent teen and shot him for defending himself. Zimmerman should have received the death penalty or a full life sentence in prison.
ReplyDelete"Stand your ground" will never work the way you wish. You can try to defend yourself but you will still get blamed.or evil sadistic jerk like Zimmerman can use it to commit murder.
-kat v
I really don't know a lot about this case, but from what I do know, I believe that the jury couldn't be more wrong. Zimmerman acted out because he "felt" threatened. There isn't any proof that he "was" threatened. Therefore, The "Stand Your Ground" laws aren't specific enough and need to be reviewed.
ReplyDelete-Brianna Krause
I disagree with the jury because Zimmerman killed someone and he should be punished. The "Stand Your Ground" laws needs to be tougher because it should say what is right and what is wrong. I think if you kill somebody, you should be punished.
ReplyDeleteLet me first start off by saying that I did not follow the Trayvon Martin case. I just heard about it once on the news and that was all I needed to hear about it.
ReplyDeleteTo answer the questions, I do not disagree or agree with the jury's verdict. I was not involved in the court preceding and I was not there when Trayvon got shot. Therefore I can not say rather or not the jury made the right decision.
Let me give this disclaimer that I read up on the "Stand Your Ground" law on Wikipedia. So what I understand about it is that it is a law that gives a person the right to use reasonable force to defend themselves without having to retreat. And I guess different states who use this law have a different spin on it...
This stand your ground law is a written law. But let's talk about an unwritten law.
You can not be black and feel that the laws affect you the same way as they do other Americans. I wonder if Trayvon's father ever had this conversation with him. I wonder if Trayvon's father ever told him that as a black man, you are already a perceived threat. There's something that all black people get. I believe Paul Mooney has described it the best. It is called the "N*gg* wake up" call. All black Americans get it at least once in their life. It's when you figure out that despite the laws, affirmative action, integration, blah, blah, blah, is "his" eyes, you are still a n*gg*. It's unfortunate Trayvon had to die when he got his.
See, I heard the case once and I knew what happened...
Martin was beating Zimmerman's ass and Zimmerman was a punk and so he shot Martin. Bottom line case closed.
I feel that the "stand your ground" law was put into place for people who truly felt the need to protect themselves in dangerous situations. Since Zimmerman was found not guilty under this law, i feel that there should have been a great amount of evidence justifying that he was truly threatened. I feel that the jurors in this case needed more evidence if this was the law they ruled him not guilty under, therefore I personally do not agree with the jury's verdict.
ReplyDeleteI cannot say that I disagree or agree with the verdict. Once the incident took place I was surprised that it made national new since most people are murdered in utterly violent acts that never make it past the local news. So I must say that I am one of those people who believe this case was pushed out to the public to cover other cases around the world.
ReplyDeleteThe "Stand your Ground" law is a issue all on its own. The law could cause more harm than justice. If one can defend themselves because they feel like they are being harassed, then another murder is just waiting to happen and all they need to say in court is "I was following the Stand your Ground law".
I do not agree with the verdict. I think this case showed some of the flaws in our court system and state laws, and it's really heartbreaking. I think it's obvious that Zimmerman was overreacting, and the "Stand Your Ground" law allowed him to get away with murder. I wonder how many people will get away with crimes by hiding behind a vague and moronic law.
ReplyDeleteKelly G.
I agree with the "Stand Your Ground" law. People should be allowed to use "justifiable force in self-defense when there is reasonable belief of unlawful threat". However, there should be some stipulations within the law. I believe that George Zimmerman killed Trayvon for no good reason and used the SYG law as an excuse. I am not up to date on every fact that surrounds this case nor do I know the little details that led up to the murder, but from what I do know, I do not think that justice was served.
ReplyDeleteThough I don't know every detail of the case, I don't feel that the jury made the right verdict. I just don't really see how an unarmed 17 year old could have posed much of a threat to an armed adult.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the Stand Your Ground law goes, I'm not sure I fully understand it. What constitutes "reasonable belief of unlawful threat?" Can I intimidatingly stare at you and give you enough reason to shoot me? What would your defense be? That I looked at you in such a way that made you believe I wanted to kill you? I think the law is too vague which is why I think the jury found Zimmerman innocent.
I highly disagree with the vedrdict. Due to the fact that raise play a big role. It wasn't a white on black crime.It was more of a law on minorit.To much evidence was brought out. That indicate that Zimmerman was guilty. In this case I don't agree with "Stand Your Ground" law. I feel that Zimmerman had a plan set out once he seen Trayvon. Zimmerman watch Trayvon walk to that store and back home.Zimmerman just showed every young black man what some of the poeple in the groverment plan to do. This is just there first act. Showing us that if they want to get out here and just start killing all of us one by one they could. We really need to weak up and stop killing each other. We need to come together young poeple and show them no more. Like tupac said "They say no hope for the youth but the true is there aint no hope for the futuer".
ReplyDeletePersonally. I have not done enough research or have followed the case enough to really have an opinion. From what little bits I have heard I do believe that Zimmerman was guilty. I feel like Trayvon's family has not got the justice they needed nor has been treated fairly. However, I do not tolerate guns what so ever. So personally I believe anyone who kills another human being is guilty no matter what the circumstances is. EVEN THOUGH if I was put in a life threating situation I might have to use armed weapons. Which is very hypocritical, I understand. But As far as the "Stand your ground law goes" I agree with Sara. The law is very vague and doesn't have a "black and white" sides. There's some sort of gray of miscommunication which is why Zimmerman was found not guilty.
ReplyDelete-Hali C
Although I don't believe he should have been sentenced to life, I believe Zimmerman should have gotten some time. Though we only see what the media portrays and could never know exactly what happened when the two of them were in a confrontation, one this is certain and that is that Zimmerman was obviously overzealous in his pursuit of Martin. That is a known fact. Had he been less erratic about the situtaion Martin would most likely not be dead and Zimmerman would not be a topic of concern for anyone other than his own family. The stand your ground laws, well... I honestly don't know enough to say if I agree or disagree. I do believe a person has every right to defend themselves. I do believe in the use of guns for protection and sport. However, an uneducated person with a gun in any situation will always be a bad idea.
ReplyDeleteNo one actually knows what was going on. He could have been threatening the other person, and etc. Circumstances differ depending on where you stand. From where I stand, the man could have handled it better and it shouldn't have to come to killing another.
ReplyDeleteThis topic is a very aggressive topic to talk about. Of course Zimmerman is going to say that he killed someone because he is looking at life in prison; he did murder someone. If someone was following me I can say that I am either likely to say something depending on how intimated I am or I may run. So in that case I do agree with the "Stand Your Ground" law because I don't believe anyone is going to be followed without any action being taken; even if its calling the police. WE do not know what was said before or during there altercation. So that makes me disagrees with verdict of Jury because nothing can convince me that someone will not act on being followed whether it is calling the police, confronting the follower or running.
ReplyDeleteI do not agree with the jury's verdict at all. I feel that they let a criminal get away with a child's murder. Even though I don't want to believe it race played a huge card in this case. In my opinion if it had been a black man shooting a white child there would not have even been a case. The man would be in jail; open and shut case.
ReplyDeleteI actually do believe in the stand your ground law just not in this case. If Zimmerman was supposedly "standing his ground" after he followed Trayvon and they got into a fight wasn't Trayvon standing his ground to fight back a stranger who was following him??? What makes his standing ground any better than Trayvons? I feel like this law is a very tricky one. It can be used for good or there can be loopholes found in it to justify an unjustified case such as this one.
In this case, I don't really feel like I can agree or disagree with the jury's decision, do I think he is guilty? yes, but do I disagree with their verdict? they operated within the bounds of Florida law with that verdict, my issue is with the ridiculous "stand your ground" law. the whole text of it sounds like a fiction, it sounds like something you'd hear discussed in a police procedural TV show when the big bad guy gets off on a technicality and the detective who busted him rants about it, it's such an absurdly abuse-able law.
ReplyDelete