Salem Witch Trials

How would you feel if you were a person, accused of being a witch, and being held a trial against, in 1692? The main question behind that would be whether the procedures followed by the court in the Salem Witch Trials satisfy the requirements of due process. I neglect to say yes for the following reasons: The suspected witches were not given the proper warnings, they were punished for answering both “yes” and “no”, and most importantly, confessions were beaten out of the ones that said they were not witches.

First, the accused witches were not given the Miranda warnings, which say that they have the right to remain silent. In The Crucible, when the judge walked up to Tituba, he started asking her questions right away, without telling her that she didn’t have to answer them. This is a completely unfair thing to do, considering that the accused servant would have been able to not be guilty. The judge should have given her the warnings before asking her if she was a witch or not, which would satisfy due process more than what he originally did.

Second, the accused witches were punished if they protested their accusation, and if they agreed to it. Since they were accused of being witches, it would be reasonable to punish them, because it was considered a crime. However, if they said that they were not witches, the judges said they were lying, and, without evidence, punished them anyway. One of the girls in The Crucible said that she had not seen the devil and was not a witch, but the judge kept on pelting her with questions related to “why are you lying?”, so the girl had to admit she was a witch so she would be put in jail, not something much worse. I think this is wrong of the judge, because you cannot get out of the “mess” you get into when someone accuses you of being a witch. If the Judge would have let the accused explain themselves more thoroughly, and provide evidence, this would be a much more just thing to do towards the person.

Finally, if any witch said that she is not a witch, they were beaten with whips, clubs, etc. until they agreed to say they were witches. When Tituba was first seen in the movie The Crucible, a lady said that she was witch, Tituba kept saying “no”, but the judge started beating her with a club, so she had to confess to doing it. I think this I completely inhumane, because people should not be forced to tell lies about themselves, especially by government officials. That is what the mafia does. If people were given the chance to argue their case, then that would more or less satisfy due process. We would also have much less corpses to swim between in the lakes.

The measures followed by the court did not satisfy due process in the Salem Witch Trials. Miranda warnings were not given to accused witches, these witches were punished for both accepting and rejecting the accusation, and confessions were beaten out of them, so that they agreed that they were witches. Today, all of the accused are given Miranda warnings, and more than once, whether they want it or not. Also, no one is permitted to beat anybody else, unless it is self defense. That is why today, the court is much more just to the accused, than it was back in Salem when they held their Witch Trials.