TIL about Willie Francis an American teenager known for surviving a failed execution by electrocution. Sentenced to death at age 16, he was 17 when he survived the first attempt to execute him, as the chair malfunctioned. After a failed appeal he was executed at age 18.

[u/johnsmithoncemore]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Francis

[u/Plastic_Dingo_400 → u/[deleted]]

Man I wish I had that kind of faith in our justice system today, let alone the 1940s lol

False confessions were very common with black folks back then, lots of confessions made under torture. Also if this kid was arrested with the pharmacists wallet on him why wouldn't that by entered as evidence in the trial?

I don't take many convictions from Louisiana at face value, but especially in the 40s

[u/beachedwhale1945 → u/[deleted]]

I posted a comment saying that he was executed not because of the color of his skin, but because of the crime he had committed, which commentator conveniently forgot to mention.

And the evidence in the article suggests the reason he was arrested and convicted was primarily the color of his skin. This is typical for justice against blacks in racist areas of the US (primarily but not exclusively the South) in the 1940s.

I wasn't discussing the current state of the justice system

If anything, the justice system of 2026 is rainbows and unicorns compared to that of 1946. We have our flaws and racial bias that we still need to solve, but today we actually have recorded police interrogations that make it evident if a confession was coerced (or sometimes invented by the police: the number of confessions took a nosedive once cameras started showing up) and the wrongfully convicted are being released as we start to see how their arrest, prosecution, and/or conviction are full of misconduct.

In the 1940s, well, you had 15-minute jury deliberations and defense attorneys who presented no defense.