Open AccessIn the Wake of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter: The Plight of John Artis
Author(s) -
Rebekah Spaulding
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
new jersey studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2374-0647
DOI - 10.14713/njs.v2i2.48
Subject(s) - criminalization , imprisonment , criminology , criminal justice , mass incarceration , witness , homicide , economic justice , law , history , sociology , political science , poison control , suicide prevention , medicine , environmental health
In the summer of 1966 in Paterson, New Jersey, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and John Artis were arrested on suspicion of triple homicide. Tried and convicted the following year, Carter and Artis would spend almost twenty years in jail, despite evidence of witness tampering and police malfeasance. During and after their incarceration, Carter received an abundance of public support due to his famous boxing career, while Artis often went unnoticed as a secondary character by the media. By examining the details surrounding Carter and Artis's wrongful imprisonment, it is clear to see the institutional racism and systematic criminalization of African Americans, as well as the impact of notoriety in criminal justice. While this case is undoubtedly a gross miscarriage of justice, it is the forgotten story of John Artis that shows the flaws of the criminal justice system and how society is told to remember its history.