The O.j Simpson Trial And Its Impact On America

The O.J Simpson Trial had an impact on the 20th century such as race relations, police treatment of African Americans, and domestic violence.

One thing that's amazing about the Simpson case is that no one's mind has changed in a decade. The whites who thought he was guilty still think that he is guilty , and the blacks who thought he was not guilty still think that O.J didn’t do it. They both saw the same program played out on American television, and they both had very different views about it. Their views were influenced by their experiences with race and their experience with the criminal justice system throughout their life. Whites assume that if there were enough accusations against him and what he had done that Simpson would be convicted. African Americans assume that here's another black man drawn into the criminal justice system. The difference is that this time he had Johnnie Cochran. This time he had the resources to provide a better chance for him. He had experts like the criminalist Dr. Henry Lee and forensic pathologist Michael Baden. He was somebody who had a chance fight back to a system that is frequently unfair, and to make it show its many flaws.

The O.J trial was like a racial earthquake It didn't create racial tension rather, it revealed the fault lines of prejudice and bias that trace beneath our common lives together. It did reveal to white and black America that first of all, we see things really differently. There is contrasting and almost opposed viewpoints that bring black people and white people around the issue of race, and O.J. revealed that in the sharpest of terms. The O.J Simpson trial showed that many white people felt that evidence was evidence. It doesn’t matter if it has been tampered with if there’s evidence your guilty. Many black People believed that e evidence was merely just evidence. That evidence is good to have but it doesn’t prove that your are the one who has comités the crime. This Case showed that when it came to law enforcement and belief in the police and the judicial system, black people and white people in 1995 lived in different countries.

The O.J trial had a big impact on America economically in the way that every one was tuned in to watch what was going to happen next. Over half of the nation would tune in to see what was happening during the O.J. trial. Not to mention the amount of money that it probably brought Los Angeles. Based off of how many reporters were always there. They had to pay for accommodations like hotels, food, and transportation. That would bring in a hefty amount of money for LA. Also the tv shows that came out about the trail. People were making money off of retelling the O.J trials story years later. He also had many interviews from the trial which all makes money. Practically everyone connected to the Simpson trial ended up with a book deal. More than 50 books related to the case had been published as of 1996, according to an article in the Baltimore Sun. “It’s impossible to put an exact dollar value on the economic impact of the O.J. Simpson trial. But considering it spawned two television industries and changed print media for the sleazier, it seems reasonable to peg the impact in the billions.” 

The O.J. Simpson murder trial cast a harsh light on police and forensic work, and gave law enforcement a textbook example of what not to do at a crime scene. This was because the LAPD took such little care with the evidence and the crime scene that it was an easy target point for O.J.’s lawyers to attack. An example of this is when they went back to the crime scene 2 months after the crime had happened the find socks that have blood on them. This could of been a useful tool for the LAPD but they had a bad forensic team. Since then they have had a huge pay increase into their forensics program and they have also hired more people so they can get the job done better.

One of the largest affects the O.J. Simpson trial had on America was the need for entertainment. In the O.J trial people looked into it because it was entertainment. The high speed chase in his all white bronco and the fiasco about how the glove doesn’t fit it was all entertainment to the American people which made them want to stay watching it every time it was being aired on tv.This is what started entertainment so after the trial had ended the American people needed something to watch that was entertaining. So Ever since the trial there has been a 24-hour news cycle, a never-ending stream of reality television shows and many Americans’ unquenchable thirst for celebrity gossip. His trial is what gave birth to tv shows like Keeping Up With the Kardashians and the Housewives of Beverly Hills.

So the O.J. Simpson case had a big effect on American culture. It affected how entertainment was viewed in the 20th and 21st century, it affected how white people and black people viewed the police and what the police did to become better at obtaining evidence, and it also affected how people viewed domestic violence.

Citations

• Babb, Kent. “How the O.J. Simpson Murder Trial 20 Years Ago Changed the Media Landscape.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 9 June 2014, www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/how-the-oj-simpson-murder-trial-20-years-ago-changed-the-media-landscape/2014/06/09/a6e21df8-eccf-11e3-93d2-edd4be1f5d9e_story.html?utm_term=.295fe1514c1b.
• Press, TAMI ABDOLLAHAssociated. “OJ Simpson Case Taught Police What Not to Do.” Eagle, 9 June 2014, www.eagletribune.com/news/oj-simpson-case-taught-police-what-not-to-do/article_deebf15a-43d2-5ed9-847b-ccccd3d08219.html.
• PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/oj/themes/impact.html.
• Toobin, Jeffrey. The Run of His Life: the People vs O.J. Simpson. Random House UK.
• Armstrong, Jennifer Keishin. “Culture - The OJ Case Matters More than You Think.” BBC, BBC, 17 Feb. 2016, www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160217-the-oj-case-matters-more-than-you-think.