Ox Bow Incident

Introduction: In the famous drama “A Man for All Seasons,” St. Thomas More is urged by his son-in-law to arrest a man who he thinks is a danger to More. More replies, “But he has done no wrong, and must be given the benefit of law.” His son-in-law then asks, “Would you give the devil the benefit of law?” More responds, “Yes, I would. What would you do?” The son-in-law replies again, “I would knock every law in England flat if I were in pursuit of the devil.” More retorts, “And what would you do when the devil stopped and turned on you?”

In The Ox Bow Incident, Gil (played by Henry Fonda) reads a letter from Donald Martin (Dana Andrews), one of the murdered men, to a saloon full of members of the crowd that lynched him. The camera focuses on the guilty faces of the men as Gil reads the letter.

In his letter the victim, Mr. Martin, eloquently spells out why what they did was wrong. Civilization is based on the rule of law and on giving people due process.

Your task: In a short essay, respond with your thoughts about why government is necessary to preserve due process for those accused of a crime. Be sure to include an example(s) from The Ox Bow Incident and from your own experience or observation.

[Hint: you must provide at least two examples to support your argument and one of them must be from the movie].