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A hot topic that always draws an interested ear to the conversation is ones views on social justice. The mere mention of the words draws people from far and wide and from all mixes of society. The main problem seems to come up when people really dont know what social justice issues face their society and the rest of the world. The question comes up of how much real knowledge of this subject do people invest in. It is quite surprising how many half truths that run rampant in any society. The whole idea around the word social is society but they tend to be for the most part in the dark on the subject.
The people who have the monopoly of truth are the people instituting the injustice and the few who are publicly opposing them. The movie, In The Name of The Father, portrays a social injustice that took place in England. It is a story of a family that was wrongly imprisoned for a crime they did not commit. The two main characters who are suspected of the bombing are Paul Hill and Gerry Conlin. They are both from Belfast, Ireland and are in England to get away from all the craziness in their hometown.
The two of them are shortly arrested after Gerry robs a prostitutes apartment. They took the money he stole and started spending it like they were truly wealthy. Gerry decided to return home and share his new wealth. Little did they know that this night would be the start of the downfall for them. Gerry and Paul are both arrested but neither knows why this is happening to them. They are both being held on a new law that allows police the right to hold possible terrorists for seven days before charging them.
This gave the police the power to arrest anybody they wanted and do with them as they want for seven whole days. This power is never a good thing to give anybody and it did not work well here either. The police tortured them both and got names and anything they can use against them. The whole time trying to get them to admit to the bombing that had taken place in Guilford, England. While these interrogations were going on the police went out and arrested even more people which was the McGuire family, Gerry's father, Guiseppe Conlin, and a couple others. Carole Richardson and Patrick Armstrong were arrested for the bombing as well because they were friends of Gerry's.
Annie McGuire (his aunt), her sons, Patrick age 14 and Vincent age 16, and her husband Patty and finally Guiseppe Conlin were charged as being a IRA support network for Gerry and the other bombers. The only proof that was shown against the McGuire family and Guiseppe was that they were there and that Annie and the kids had some chemical on their hands that could be used to make a bomb. It was all circumstantial evidence. They could not really prove they had done anything wrong. Paul and Gerry finally signed the confessions after many hours of getting beaten. Paul was forced by gun point and they threatened to kill Gerry's father and only then did he said he would sign.
The part of their story that come to be their salvation later in the movie was the alibi Paul and Gerri told the police. They swore that they could not have been part of the bombing because they were with a bum in the park when it happened. They said the bums name was Charlie Bark and he could back them up on where they were that night. The case in court did not go favorably and Inspector Dixon said they never found no bum and said they just made it up. The prosecutor also brought up the fact that Gerry robed the prostitute and argued that if he would rob then why should we believe his story, he is just lying. They were all found guilty of the crimes and were sentenced.
Gerry and Paul were sentenced to life with a minimum of thirty years. Carole and Patrick were sentenced to thirty years. Annie McGuire was sentenced for fourteen years and her sons had four and five year sentences. Finally Guiseppe was sentenced to twelve years too. The movie changes a little around this part and they mostly only focus on Guiseppe and Gerry.
They were taken to Puck Royal prison and stuck in with the murders and rapist. This prison held the most dangerous criminals on England. After about a week in the prison Inspector Dixon found out that they had nothing to do with the bombing and they had imprisoned completely innocent people. John McKendrick was the man who had done the bombing and many other and he confessed to the police when he got caught and told them to release the other people. The police not wanting to look bad did not a thing to right the wrong they had committed to these people.
John is also sent to this prison where he meets Gerry and tells him that he confessed to the bombing but the police will not do anything about it. While in prison Guiseppe is hurt during a riot and his medical condition worsened. He already had pulmonary problems and being in jail was not helping. Guiseppe tries to find ways to wrong this injustice that has been sprung on them.
He contact a lawyer who starts to look into things for them. Her name is Gareth Perce and she feels she might be able to do something for them. While this is happening Gerry is going through times of rebellion and kinds of joins with John McKendrick and harasses guards and causes problems. It is only later that he sees what his dad is doing and joins him. They finally see eye to eye and are both helping Ms. Perce.
Guiseppe takes a turn for the worse and he cant breathe and Gerry calls for help they take him to the hospital and wont let Gerry come along. Hours latter a priest comes and tells Gerry that his father had passed away. Gerry is really wanting to prove his innocence and get out of this jail. Ms. Perce is willing to do what she can but she faces much resistance from the police. She keeps coming up against files that are classified and she is only allowed to look at one document at a time.
Well, one day she goes in and the normal attendant is not there and he says that she needs to come back and she argues that she can not because she has to go to court the next day. So he went back to get the file and when he got there he said there are two Conlin's which do you want Guiseppe or Gerry. She takes the file on Gerry because she has never been allowed to see it and in it she finds a statement proving the alibi that Gerry had said with a note attached that said do not show the defense.
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Research essay sample on Social Justice Thirty Years
