Justice is a large part of the American way of life. Americans pride themselves on the notion that they live in a country that believes and stands behind its justice system. As with anything though, the justice system has been criticized for its flaws and for cases that have slipped through. Questions have been raised about the justice system’s seemingly bias toward defendants with ample finances to buy their freedom. Can someone say William Kennedy Smith?

There have also been concerns with racial bias in criminal cases as well. Recently, the justice system has been challenged in New York for a case that was heavily publicized 11 years ago. The case involved a brutal rape that took place in Central Park on April 19, 1989. A woman was severely beaten and rape while jogging in the park and was in a coma for 12 days as a result. She could not remember much about the incident but police arrested five teenagers that night as suspects. The teenagers were later convicted, as police were able to get them to confess to the crime.

Conservative Republican, Ann Coulter asserts the teens brought it upon themselves. “What convinced the jury to convict the savages was primarily their videotaped confessions,” Coulter remarked on her Web site.

The crime was labeled “The Wilding” in the press, and many people across the country were outraged. Enflaming the passions were commentators like the Rev. Al Sharpton, who helped advise the youthful defendants, and Donald Trump, who bought full-page newspaper ads calling for immediate reinstatement of the death penalty.

Now however, another man has confessed to the rape. He is not one of the teenagers, now men, convicted 11 years ago. His name is Matias Reyes and he is presently in jail for rape and murder. Apparently while in jail, he has become a Christian and wants to purge his soul by confessing to the crime. He has stated details of the rape and his DNA has been tested and found to be a match of semen found on the victim.

The teenagers who served time for the crime have since been released. There were never DNA matches and there was no real evidence connecting them to the crime except the confessions. There were however, questions raised as to how the confessions were obtained. Although the confessions were taped and played throughout the media, the police interrogation was not. According to ABC News, defense attorney Michael Warren, a lawyer for three of the defendants argued that the confessions were coerced.

Color is another dynamic in this famous case, for the victim was a white woman and all five of the teenagers were black. Why is this a dynamic? Well, that’s just the way it is. Another part of American life is racism. The country was built on it and many of the stereotypes that exist play on fear. This case has been compared to the famous Scottsboro Boys Case. The case took place in the 1930’s when nine black men were taken from a train running between Alabama and Tennessee and charged with raping two white women. The women later took back their confessions but the men were convicted and imprisoned. Three trials and nineteen years later, the men were found not guilty. It wasn’t until 1976 that they were pardoned though only one was still alive.

The fear of black men is always just beneath the surface with racism. It is easy to believe that a black man would commit a crime. Whenever a black man is suspected, accused or convicted of a violent crime against a white person, specifically a white woman, it raises fear. Can you say OJ Simpson? Is it wrong to fear a criminal? Of course not, but it can be very wrong if fear is allowed to be the determining factor in deciding the outcomes in criminal cases.

Ironically, the press has been relatively silent on these new findings. When it first happened the case was all over the headlines. Even People magazine ran a cover story called, “The Wilding” when the story first broke. This new information is just as important but they have written nothing.

Since Reyes’ confession, Warren has requested that the convictions be overturned. According to an interview in the Amsterdam Press, New York Councilman Bill Perkins said, “We can’t sit passively by, because justice delayed is justice denied.” The D.A.’s office is to rule by the end of November.

Shonda Swilley can be reached at [email protected]