Two citizens of the United States were sentenced by a court of law, and were wrongly imprisoned for crimes they had never committed. The two gentlemen had spent decades in prison. The first man had spent 39 years in prison and was compensated $1 million, while the other had spent 20 years in prison was compensated $20 million.
I know you might be thinking that this is some sort of joke. But it is a true story that has happened in the modern-day US. Using simple logic, the one who had spent more time behind bars was supposed to have gotten the lion’s share of the payout. But in this case, it was the opposite. What do you think might have been the difference between these two men, with regards to their compensation?
Well, I will tell you. Ricky Jackson is an African American who was sentenced to death for a killing he had nothing to do with. The incident happened in 1975 , Ohio. Last Thursday, the court found him innocent of the murder charge and awarded him $1 million to compensate him for his needless suffering.
After the court gave this judgment, Jackson was overjoyed. He walked out from the court room, smiling and waving at those present. Jackson was grateful and made a brief statement, thanking all parties involved, including the Ohio Innocence Project which had championed his release.
“I’d like to thank you for conducting the proceedings in a fair and impartial manner. I would also like to thank the prosecutor’s office for showing a lot of integrity. You guys let the evidence be heard and you followed the evidence. I would like to thank you”, he said.
Juan Rivera-a white American spent nearly 20 years in prison for a rape and murder he didn’t have anything to do with. The Illinois man was given a $20 million settlement for wrongful imprisonment. This was also announced by a court of law in the US last Friday, a day after Jackson was freed.
Rivera seemed not to even care about the amount he received. He explained that “no amount of money could ever sum up to 20 years of prison. I went through a living hell while I was prison so to say that $20 million is a wonderful thing, of course. You know, I could live more comfortable now, my family can, I can go to college, get my education the way I’ve always wanted, but I still would prefer my 20 years with my family than $20 million.”
He is right not to care about the amount he had received; it was a waste of 20 years of human potential and human experience. But the question many people, especially the African American community, do not understand is why Rivera, who had spent fewer years in prison than Jackson, should be awarded more than Jackson?
If Jackson had worked 40 hours a week at $12.50 an hour, that would work out to around one million dollars. But we are not even talking about 40 hour work weeks. We are talking about what was essentially forced prison labor, and 24/7 imprisonment. The same deprivation of human potential that was observed with the white man.
But Rivera’s settlement breaks down to about a million dollars for each year he had spent behind bars.
Some have argued that the huge difference in compensation was a result of their ethnicity. Jackson is black. Rivera is white. They say that this is the real reason. They say that discrimination and subjugation continues unabated in the US today. What do you also think about this issue? Was this a case of discrimination, or was it because Jackson was ironically the more compliant of the men, having accepted the one million dollars gladly?
It appears you don’t know how to ask the right questions and only want to get people all excited… Not good excited either… I saw nothing in your article detailing how they decided the amount to award. That’s a key piece of information. This is nearly as bad as the mainstream media…
Maybe the fact that there in two different states because Ohio didn’t call Illinois and say what you giving that guy I wanna make sure thus black man gets less
The first point I’d like to make is that these are two different states, where in many jurisdictions they have an allotted amount set aside for such cases. Not all states can afford 20 mil.
Secondly, Juan is not white, he is Hispanic. Its really not fair to say this is a matter of white vs black discrimination when there isn’t a white person involved.
Just my thoughts.
According to the US Census he is white. If the states can’t afford to pay up then tought luck. They held an innocent man behind bars for 39 years. How about the judge, prosecution and jury sit behind bars for 39 years just for payback.
He may be considered “white” by the US Census, but by all means he is not white by the White vs Black racism standards. To say he was white in this article was only to inflame peoples emotions and keep the fires of racism burning. This man is clearly NOT white by society standards. He is still in the same “class” as Ricky Jackson and did not get more because of his “race”. There are probably many other factors that played into this, beside the fact that it was two different jurisdictions.
The white man was charged with more than the other man. I don’t know why everyone is convinced race has everything to do with everything.
Charged with more? The black man was sentenced to death and was on Death Row! FOR 39 YEARS!!! How the hell is a man sentenced to prison for rape and murder, not death mind but prison, worth more than that?
9 times out of 10 it is about race. I mean do you really believe that 19 more years of wrongful imprisonment on death row equals $19 million less in compensation. It is about race and you are delusional if you think otherwise.
Pretty sure his name is Juan Rivera, not John Rivers. Latino =/= White
Juan Rivera sounds like a Mexican name to not white this is how race problems start
This article should be retracted. Not only is Juan Rivera not white—he is Latino, and fluent in Spanish—but the factual comparisons are completely inaccurate and unfair to both Mr. Jackson and Mr. Rivera.
Mr. Jackson was given compensation through Ohio’s state compensation statute. Ohio Revised Code section 2743.48. Juan Rivera received compensation through Illinois’ similar statute as well, though at a much lower amount, around $200K, as Illinois treats all people wrongfully convicted for more than 14 years the same.
Juan Rivera then filed a civil federal lawsuit against those responsible for his wrongful conviction, which settled for $20M.
Mr. Jackson has yet to file such a federal lawsuit (though such a suit is forthcoming). The results of that suit remain unknown, and there are thousands of reasons why Mr. Jackson’s suit may play out differently than Mr. Rivera’s. All that can be said, though, is that Mr. Jackson’s attorneys in the civil suit—who are the same attorneys that represented Mr. Rivera in his civil suit—will work their hardest to secure compensation for Mr. Jackon at the same level obtained for Mr. Rivera.
Thank you, Our society and justice system sadly are the same ill informed, quick judging, ignorant people. No one wants to take the time to look into the truth of things. Even with the clearly obvious differances in this half ass article alone, should cause people to speculate on the truth of it. Instead they’d rather rely on someone else’s work no matter how faulty it may seem and judge from there. Our society has become lazy and it is to them we have to turn to seek justice from in our court systems. Given both men and many others have been wrongly convicted support my point.
Thank you for your wonderful contribution to this clearly incomplete “story”. I wish all who read this headline would get your info. But they wont.
no one has mentioned how different a rapist and a murderer are treated in jail which would factor greatly into the amount paid out as well
Juan Rivera is obviously Hispanic and the person that wrote this article is clearly race baiting. Both were innocent and neither one of them awarded themselves. The fact is they both spent time in prison for crimes they did not commit so why is the D.A not being investigated. They both deserve to be greatly compensated but the money is just that. It won’t pay for decades of their time they lost. They are different colors not different species, when will people open their eyes to this bs being flung at us that’s being made to divide us.
The white guy was probably beaten in prison for the rape charge. Life in prison on rape charges is a life in hell. Which is probably why he received 20m.
We really do see things different because we have different stimulus. Right or Wrong Whites live in a different reality so their view of the same things is usually the opposite. A lot of justification goes on for not doing whats just.
I bet you could find a black man who made more than $20mil after being freed then ask if it was racism or white oppression and no one would bat an eye this bs that black ppl are oppressed is unfounded bs backed by false statistics, more whites are killed by blacks, fact, game, set,and match so quit your bitching and stop seperating yourselves, we are all under attack, or feedings or lives everything, we will never over come it until we unite why else would the keep spreading the racism claim.
The reason for the disparity is unknown. However, Mr.Jackson seems to be very thankful and quite gracious in his response. He doesn’t seem to harbor any bitterness. Apparently he is not calculating the value of peace, joy and forgiveness. I wish him much success!
There could have many factors in play for why they got different amounts were either men raped or beaten in prison? Beaten by guards or fellow prisoners? Not to mention as justme said above different states have different protocols for such situations. To say anything about race and claim a man named “Juan” is white when it’s an obviously hispanic name is just asking for and possibly wanting the wrong reaction to this post.
why is racism the go to answer? maybe one didn’t ask for more $; you know the saying about the squeaky wheel. or maybe one had a better lawyer. or based on wages at the time and area of incarceration. or one suffered horribly more in prison. I could see if both men were in the same couthouse, in front of the same judge, and had same lawyer, from the same prison…then MAYBE YOU COULD BLAME RACISM. BUT TO JUMP STRAIGHT TO THAT CONLUSION IS RIDICULOUS AND LAZY.
Racism is the most obvious answer CICI. It may not be the only answer, but if you selected that answer on a test, you wouldn’t be wrong! Why try to pretend to be delusional and sweep it Under The RUG? The article is Black vs. White. Am I the only man besides GOOD HAIR GARY, that can tell that racism is existing in the comments. It’s RIDCULOUS AND CRAZY, if Racism is not one of your go to answers. In order for the black guy to get what the white guy got, he would have had stay in prison for 780 years!
In what way is racism “existing” in the comments? Because most on here don’t see the “white” guy but an Hispanic guy and the author is forcing this to be a white on black issue? Regardless of what the US Census states as hispanics as being classified as white, they are not in the same class as what “whites” society puts them in.
In this country, you have a mostly “white” population which is basically your Western European lot. That is the class of whites that society claims “has it all” and sits on top.. then you have the minority class that consist of Blacks, Hispanics (that are not considered the other white), Native American, Asian and so forth. Juan Rivera is not a “white” that others put in the first class, he is an Hispanic who is also a minority in this country.
Lets put it this way… you don’t see Latinos in the KKK or neo-nazi groups. That is where the difference is. So when the media or society for that matter, speaks of “whites” they are talking about the whites from the class with the lily white skin.
The problem with this article is the author is race baiting and as was mentioned is no better than the MSM trying to sensationalize a story.
Read LawDogg’s comment above and see what a little research can do for you!
Racism is the most obvious answer CICI. It may not be the only answer, but if you selected that answer on a test, you wouldn’t be wrong! Why try to pretend to be delusional and sweep it Under The RUG? The article is Black vs. White. Am I the only man besides GOOD HAIR GARY, that can tell that racism is existing in the comments. It’s RIDCULOUS AND CRAZY, if Racism is not one of your go to answers. In order for the black guy to get what the white guy got, he would have had stay in prison for 780 years!
cici, if both men were in the same couthouse, in front of the same judge, and had same lawyer, from the same prison, and had the same color, the go to answer would be. One didn’t ask for more.
WTF is this sh*t YET AGAIN!!!!? This ENTIRE SITE has become the “black man’s pity site” and “White people have it SOOOoooo much better than the BLACK man” site. What the F#CK does this shite have to do with the “Anonymous group, hackers, or new world revolutionaries? (Or ANYTHING related to this site’s purpose for that matter) I think this site is run by black American propaganda whores, that are using this page as a global tool for their bleeding heart, yet RACIST crap! It’s a fact BLACK people are far more racist than white people have been since the end of slavery. Crap like this perpetuates the hate and the b.s. F#ck this, I’m out. Leaving the site, the group, and the bullshit non-existant movement you claim to stand for. This is worse than CNN, and the rest of the world media sludge being fed to the weak-minded zombies walking around our doomed planet. Thanks for adding to the global STUPIDITY epidemic…..
White people don’t have everything, they steal it.
Huh????!
Disliked, and unfollowed!
Juan isn’t exactly white… He’s whiter than Jackson, but he’s still not white. This article is seriously flawed. And they’re from 2 different states. Different states have different compensation plans. I hope people are not wasting their time on this one.
Unfortunately they are and will spend a lot of time on this.
Many of you need to read LawDogg’s comments above so that you can see what a little research can do for you. I am surprised that Anonymous would post and obvious race baiting article like this on their web site.
Agreed…
I imagine they found this article, and posted it themselves without further research.
Thank you LawDogg… Just as I was stating but your post is more informational… This article is nothing more than race-baiting in my opinion. I thought Anonymous was about truth and facts. Perhaps I was wrong…
Again Anon, wtf people where behind you because you gave and presented facts not tried to rile people up. I don;t know who these people are writing these articles but you need to have someone with fucking common sense post them. Otherwise I will openly start pointing out how you guys became a bunch of riot enticers. The worst part is I can’t post a link from you guys anymore without having to do research first. I used to be able to rely on you and I can not seem to do that anymore.
Juan Riveria is Mexican-American.
“19-year-old former special education student, who had been convicted of a burglary and was on electronic home monitoring at the time of the murder.”
He was also mentally challenged, and after interrogation, psychologically unstable, resoling in a coerced confession. Another one bites the dust. Quick, easy prosecution and a re-election for the DA. That’s clear. Racism is only broadcasted black v. white but is actually white v. latino/ black v. latino/ white v/ black/ etc. (Azn, etc. ‘insert race/ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc.)
I have just gotten a blog on blogspot. People comment me and I was wondering how you comment back to them without e-mailing or going to their blog. .
plombier herblay https://redd.it/42nqbo