A Time to Kill - Ben Ellman

1. No, what Carl Lee Haley did was not justice. Even though those boys did deserve to die for what they did, that does not mean that Haley should have killed him. Everyone deserves a fair trial, no matter what they did or are accused of. I understand that Haley was feeling helpless because of the inherent bias in the courts, but he should at least allow the justice system to run its course. Haley did what any distressed, furious father would do. He tried to defend its daughter, but in reality, nothing he could do would reverse what happened to his daughter.
2. CLH knows that these boys will probably get off easy because of the racism in the Deep South, so he kills them because he thinks it is the only sure way to get justice. CLH is distraught because of what they did to his daughter, so his anger controls him and makes him kill those men.
3. I don’t think CLH should receive a punishment. CLH was “insane” at the time the crime took place, and could not control his actions. So, CLH should not get a punishment. He was trying to protect his daughter, and was frustrated because of the racist court system.
4. The justice scale was unbalanced because of how segregated the south was and because of the racism present during the time. The South has a lot of ingrained racism because of the history there. A history of slavery and Jim Crow have caused some in the South, especially those in rural communities without much education, to continue a pattern of racism.
5. No, it shouldn’t matter whether Tanya Haley was black or white. Tanya was a little girl, regardless of race, who was innocent and deserved nothing that happened to her. However, her race did play a significant factor in the crime and trial. If she was white, not only would the trial have been better for CLH, the crime probably would not have been committed. The court would have most likely been more sympathetic to a white man with a white daughter than to a black man with a black daughter.  
6. Due process should work but because of the racism that was present during the time it interfered with CLH’s right to due process. Everyone deserves a right to a fair trial, and their right to due process. I think if race wasn’t a factor then this case would have gone unnoticed and not have received as much attention as it did.