Sunday, February 19, 2012

"Wrestling" Case Draws Life Sentence

                                                       http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/03/09/national/main277536.shtml

                                                           
"I'm not sure black folks fully understand the power that media has in our life.
We are becoming who they portray us as being. We've allowed ourselves to become a collection of negative statistics. Simon says dress like a gangster, and we do. I'm amazed by what I see on television or in the movies. I'm saying, either I overslept or someone stole my culture." -
Actor Tim Reid.
     Wrestling Case Draws Life Sentence.  Violence in movies, video games, and on television has a negative impact on children.  Without proper guidance children cannot possibly know what is real and what is make believe. 
     Lionel Tate, a thirteen year old boy who was found guilty of murder in the first degree.  He said that he accidentally killed his friend, six year-old Tiffany Eunick, while imitating some “moves” that he had saw on pro-wrestling.  Tate told his psychologist they were playing, imitating professional wrestlers from TV.  During this trail, the defense says that the 170 pound boy didn’t mean to kill the 48 pound girl.  He thought he could body–slam people and they wouldn’t be hurt, just like his idols on television, however, the prosecution rejected the "TV made him do it defense".  The judge rejected a defense request to throw out Tate’s conviction or reduce it to second-degree murder or manslaughter, saying “The evidence of Lionel Tate’s guilt is clear, obvious and indisputable.” The judge also questions the defense argument that Tate was imitating pro wrestlers. “It is inconceivable that such injuries could be caused by roughhousing or horseplay or by replicating wrestler’s moves.”  Tate who is now 14 years old, avoids the death penalty because he's less than 16 years old, but now faces the possibility of life in prison.  He becomes one of the youngest defendants in the United States to be sentenced life behind bars for the rest of his life.
      I believe that violence in movies, video games, and on television has a negative impact on children.  Wrestling is a sport.  It’s “make-believe”, the wrestlers dress up and act a certain way.  They kick, punch, fight, and hit each other with objects and then get up, go home and do it again.  Tate thought he could body–slam people and they wouldn’t be hurt, just like his idols on television.  He told police he picked her up and accidentally hit her head on a table. In a videotape interview, Tate claimed to have accidentally thrown Tiffany into a stairway railing and a wall trying to toss her onto a sofa. The defense conceded that Tate’s story would not have accounted for all of Tiffany’s injuries.
Do you think that “I was doing what I saw on TV.” is a reasonable defense in a trial?
What, if any, impact has violence in the movies, media, television… had on you or someone you know?
Do you think that Tate was wrongfully convicted by being tried as an adult and not as a juvenile?
~Ebony Williams

No comments:

Post a Comment