The Ride is the story of the heinous and gruesome murder of ten year old, Jeffrey Curley, a case that is familiar to many in the Massachusetts area. The book works its way from the grisly crime to the years afterward. It focuses on the family of Jeffrey, heavily weighted on the life of Cambridge Firefighter Bob Curley, Jeffrey’s father. Charles Jaynes and Salvatore Sicari, both from Jeffrey’s neighborhood were convicted of the murder. Within this essay I will demonstrate from The Ride the relationship between reporting and suffering that may have been brought on for the crime victims of this case, the relationship between the victim profiles and the victim family profiles, the role in which the family may have played in the …show more content…
The Boston area had been plagued with vicious and heinous crimes for years, and the Jeffrey Curley murder put the wheels in motion for changes to be made in the criminal justice system.
In a heated battle for the reinstatement, lawmakers who once opposed the death penalty were changing their stance, but in the end certain lawmakers that proposed it changed their stance too. In the end opponents were able to kill the death penalty bill with an 80-80 tie. The Curley’s were outraged at the decision, as they thought there was hope of getting this bill passed. They had lobbied, protested, gathered petitions, and worked day and night during this period, only to have it rejected. As proponents of the death penalty, they felt that Jeffrey’s murder was meaningless and unregarded to warrant such a penalty.
Throughout the Curley’s journey of this crime, specifically for Bob Curley, relationships that he never thought he would have were emerging at every corner. A once advocate for the reinstatement of capital punishment was beginning to form relationships with persons who opposed such. Not the heated debate relationships he was accustomed to, but good open and honest communication. He connected with victims of other heinous crimes, such as the father of a victim of the Oklahoma City bombing event, which resulted in his daughter’s death. Although