The Law And Order And The Trials Of The 17th Century Essay

Astonishingly, the striking differences between today’s law and order and the trials of the 17th century are expansive and extensive. If a judge today were to sentence a defendant to a death sentence based solely on intangible, baseless evidence taken from only unfounded accusations, the world would be in a riot. And yet, this was common practice in the 1600’s, where DNA and fingerprints were not of investigative use yet, and all judges had to go on was he-said-she-said. A jury of supposedly law-upholding, learned citizens found someone as innocent, pure, and warm as Rebecca Nurse to be not only guilty, but sentenced her to hanging for the heinous crimes of witchcraft that she certainly never committed. More importantly, Nurse’s hanging brought serious doubts through some of the judges and began the momentum needed to change and disrupt the way the entire town thought of and treated witch trials and those accused. Rebecca Nurse almost managed to get out of this h orrendous situation with no repercussions, but the judges expressed their opinions thoroughly to the jurors that they should seriously reconsider their innocent verdict. Mainly due to the public’s request and the resumed fits of the girls, the jury did reconsider, and she was sentenced to death by hanging on July 19th, 1662. She even received one last chance to achieved innocence, when the governor of Massachusetts, William Phips, declared a pardon for her, but the girls were outraged and Phips was forced to extractShow MoreRelatedA New World Developed Between The 16th And 18th Century1318 Words   |  6 Pages A new world developed between the 16th and 18th century focused on growing empires establishments of ‘power and profit’. Ogborn argues that through various types of global connections and the rise and fall of global powers, a global history was created. 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