Charlie (Not Class Charlie)

     At the very foundation of this piece, it is about racial injustice in America and how African American individuals are treated differently than whites. We can see an example of this from pages 120-126. During the segment of writing, we meet a 14-year-old black boy named Charlie who has been sentenced to death after killing his mother's boyfriend, who had been abusing her for some time. Now, the thing that makes this case different from many of the others is that the thing in question is not whether or not he actually committed the crime, because he had already confessed. This issue in question here was whether or not he could legally be sentenced to death. According to the book, in 1988 the Supreme Court "had barred the death penalty for children under the age of fifteen,"(118). So therefore by law, Charlie could not be sentenced to death. Yet because the man he killed was a county police officer and the judge deemed it necessary, the child was tried as an adult because of the capital nature of the crime.
     Based on the main points Stevenson has been weaving into his writing, it seems that the race of the little boy also played a role in his incredibly harsh punishment. Would he have sustained the same sentence if he was a white child instead? There is no way of knowing for sure but based on the rest of the book and our knowledge of history, we can make an assumption that race is indeed a factor. Stevenson is trying to show us that it shouldn't be and that a little boy of 14 shouldn't be put on death row when the law clearly states he can't, especially when the only reason for being there is his race.