Lastly, gender bias in the courtroom is a concern for many, especially for fathers in custody cases. The problem with this is that the bias in the courtroom is brought to the courtroom from without. Patriarchal gender roles are taken into consideration (whether consciously or unconsciously) when there is no place for them in the courtroom, in the legal system, or really in any facet of society. In custody cases, this automatically defines the mother as the caregiver, and usually stereotypes the father as emotionally detached. Nina Trovato at Everyday Feminism provides a strong outlook on this in her article, “The Truth About Father Bias in Family Courts,” when she provides points such as “Even if the courts are biased, they are not biased because …show more content…
Until recently each of the states in the United States of America allowed for something called the panic defense to be viable in a courtroom setting (with California being the first to outlaw it). The panic defense allows for an individual that has assaulted or murdered a transgender or queer individual to say that they panicked upon discovering the person’s gender or sexuality and reacted violently, in order to get a lighter sentence. As absurd as this sounds, this defense has actually been used in court, and successfully, nonetheless: “In 2008, Brandon McInerney was convicted not of murder but voluntary manslaughter for shooting his high school classmate, Larry King, in the back of the head after his counsel used "gay panic" as a defense.” The transgender and queer dehumanization in court and society is appalling, but gender bias continues to extend even …show more content…
Police officers have the most powerful job in our nation, and so it seems that the only way we will truly be able to honestly continue calling the United States of America “our nation,” is if we limit the power of these officers, just as we do with our government officials, so that no one is above the law. If we can ever hope for change to occur, we must start by noticing that there is a problem, speaking out against it, and doing our best to contribute to revolutionizing not only the world around us, but we must start by revolutionizing ourselves. If we can ever hope for change to occur, we must realize that what is happening is wrong, we must let go of everything that we’ve been taught about the differences between men and women and “what a man should be” versus “what a woman should be.” If we can ever hope for change to occur, we must realize that we are not all equal; that most of us are still oppressed and objectified; that ignoring racism will not destroy racism; that ignoring sexism will not destroy sexism; that by simply not acknowledging our problems, does not mean that they will disappear. Just because the strife and turmoil of injustice may not affect you directly, does not mean that you should not rise
...erall, I think that this interview has taught me that every law enforcement officer have a different opinion and it should be voiced. Mr. Cayette told me exactly how he felt without holding back. It was different just listening to the responses because it was said by an actual officer instead of just another ordinary person expressing how they feel. The interview also made me realize that people cannot be mad at every police officer for one police officer’s wrong doing. According to National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund, “There are more than 900,000 sworn law enforcement officers now serving in the United States, which is the highest figure ever. About 12 percent of those are female.” People should stop listening to the media all the time because it does convince people to hate police officers because there are many police officers in the U.S. with good intentions.
“The truth is that the police reflect America in all of its will and fear, and whatever we might make of this country’s criminal justice policy, it cannot be said that it was imposed by a repressive minority. . . . And so to challenge the police is to challenge the American people who send them into the ghettos armed with the same self-generated fears that compelled the people who think they are white to flee the cities and into the Dream. The problem with the police is not that they are fascist pigs but that our country is ruled by majoritarian pigs.”
Jury Bias With jury bias we examined that the perspective taking, victim impact statements and race of the victim had no main effects with ps > 0.26 and no significant interactions with ps > 0.64. Jury Race The race of the jury was divided into white and non-white participants. An ANOVA was then run with perspective taking, victim impact statements, and race of the victim as the between-participants factors to test against empathy felt for the defendant, for the victim, for the victim’s significant others. White participants. We observed that there was a main effect with the race of the jury and the empathy felt by the jury for the victim.
If given this prompt at the beginning of this semester I would have answered with a resounding yes, the criminal justice system is racist. The classes I have previously taken at LSU forced me to view the criminal justice system as a failed institution and Eric Holder’s interview in VICE - Fixing The System solidified that ideology. The system is man-made, created by people in power, and imposed on society, so of course there will be implicit biases. The issue is that these internally held implicit biases shaped the system, leading the racial and class disparities. VICE – Fixing The System addressed heavily the outcomes that we see in today’s society based on these implicit biases. Additionally, this documentary focuses on the ways that mainly
“Most modem sentencing systems in the United States express an explicit commitment to ensuring that a defendant 's sentence is not affected by the defendant 's race or gender (Hessick, 2010).” Even though individuals are protected through the Bill of Rights and Sentencing Reform Acts, there are still disparities in sentencing within the criminal justice systems. Often, race and gender bias negatively affects sentencing.
Police misconduct is as rampant as ever in America, and it has become a fixture of the news cycle. Police brutality is the use of any force exceeding that reasonably necessary to accomplish a lawful police purpose. The media is inevitably drawn toward tales of conflict, hence why there are so many crime and police stories on the news. Despite the increasing frequency of misbehaving cops, many Americans still maintain a high respect for the man in uniform. Still, police misconduct is a systemic problem, not just an anecdotal one. Here are some reasons why it is a problem. First, many departments don’t provide adequate training in nonviolent solutions. With this, police are unfamiliar with what to do in a non-violent situation, often resorting
The negative views of everyday people often make work hard for officers, adding more stress to their careers. The general public regularly criticizes officers for using excessive force and brutality, especially when a police officer ends up killing a suspect or criminal. Oftentimes, especially when a white police officer shoots a citizen of a minority race, the general public is quick to find faults in the officer, blaming the officer for being racist. However, cold, hard statistics show that the majority of police officers are, in fact, white, and the neighborhoods in which these officers are placed in tend to be high-crime areas with many minority citizens living there (Miller “When Cops Kill”). In addition, people might say that a citizen who was shot was not armed; however, almost anything close to the shot individual could have been turned into a deadly weapon that he or she could have used to wound or kill the officer involved. Whenever officers are in this position, the natural reaction is to defend themselves. Everyday, police officers confront the most aggressive, immoral, and sick-minded individuals of society. Officers jeopardize their own lives every time they report for work. Officers witness things that no person should ever have to encounter. They see the most horrific and gruesome scenes that the general public turns away from and
The Black Lives Matter Movement (BLM) that has spread over recent years is destroying police-black citizen relations. They are constantly spreading hateful propaganda and creating danger for the number-one protector of black lives, police officers. BLM is damaging race relations in addition to putting police in danger. The organization is reversing years of wounds that throw us back into race-relations from decades ago. Another way the relationship of black men and police officers is being harmed is by the lack of respect that is being given to officers. Subsequently, police have backed down on their proactive methods and therefore weakened our justice system, and the effects of a weak justice system could be deadly. Americans have to change
In the Ferguson article (2015), there was an example given about an African American man claimed that he was standing outside of of Wal-Mart, an officer called him a “stupid motherf****r” and a “bastard.” According to the man, a lieutenant was on the scene and did nothing to reproach the officer, instead threatening to arrest the man (p. 80). This demonstrates that the police in Ferguson had no respect for the civilian and even though the lieutenant was present, they did nothing. The officer was not suspended nor held responsible for this incident. By failing to hold officers accountable, it sends a message that officers can behave as they like, “regardless of law or policy, and even if caught, that punishment will be light.” (Ferguson, 86). This message serves to excuse officer wrongdoing and heighten community distrust. This is also to say that police can possibly get away with murder because they are higher officials and work for the
A police officer is a law enforcement official whose job is to protect and serve all people, not to ignore racial equality. Because the U.S consists of many different races and ethnic groups, the ongoing conflict between police officers and citizens of color is constantly rising. Although police officers today are no longer allowed to have racial bias, which can be described as, attitudes or stereotype used against individuals of color to define their actions and decisions, officers sometimes abuse their authority going around racial impact tools and policies. This results in citizens viewing it as discrimination and mass criminalization. By changing the way laws and regulations unfairly impact Black and Brown communities can improve the justice
The movement BlackLivesMatter have outed hundreds unlawful officers and victims that never got the justice needed. The same characteristics (color and style) that emulates strong, noble people can backfire. Black people in this country who actively resist dehumanization makes a call to action and a response to anti-Black racism in our current society. (Cullors, 2015) The growth of the movement has moved country-wide, first starting in the south; the south had always had history of racism and anti-black impulses. This movement is continuing to carry up north and west, and is projected that any officer can be the next one to unlawfully kill another black individual. These immoral police officers are no different from the rest of the police force, their uniforms are no different color or style they do not have different titles, there is no distinction between the these two types of officers. African Americans are persuaded to be more cautious and angry towards police officers; anyone with a cop uniform can be considered a threat to their life. Innocent cops were murdered in retaliation to the unfair judicial systems that are not punishing these cops. Once a police-like uniform is worn it not only once symbolizes honor and power, but t too many communities
Before the jury stands the defendant. There is overwhelming evidence in the favor of the prosecution. The verdict comes back from the jury, not guilty. Why? The defendant is a woman. In our era of equal rights and civil liberties women have made great strides in their advancement and role in society, yet it seems that gender segregates when it comes to crime. There have been countless cases where women and men have been tried for the same crime, yet when it comes to verdict and sentencing, the results don’t necessarily match. If one commits a crime one should be punished accordingly regardless of gender. In our society we seem to have two separate rules for our criminals, one for men and one for women. The key issue is are men and women treated equally by the criminal justice system. Another issue in gender biased sentencing is in its is its severity. Are women sentenced heavier for certain crimes then men.
Similarly to what Abraham Lincoln said in his speech during the 1858, Illinois Republican Senate Race “ a house divided against itself cannot stand” (Lincoln). America is divided as of now, over the long matter of African-Americans. Police aggression has reached if not passed it’s peak, specifically towards Blacks. Police officers are using a derogatory approach, racial profiling, for apprehending people based on what they look like; skin color. Racial profiling has now led a lot of people to live in worry, categorizing members of certain communities to be suspects and criminals.Now the force that was created for the purpose of protecting the people, serving justice on a silver platter, and ensuring to maintain order in our society has crumbled furiously. This department has become the epitome of fear in our American Society. How can we ensure equal protection under the law, when a sector of the law is undermining and infringing on the rights of individuals? So we have to be advocates for change, or else the system will slowly dissolve and lose to uphold its legacy. We have to understand that as Americans of today’s society, we to be tolerant and open minded rather than being opinionated. Be able to detect a wrong act, without situating an individual into a stereotypical
Police brutality is an act that often goes unnoticed by the vast majority of white Americans. This is the intentional use of “excessive force by an authority figure, which oftentimes ends with bruises, broken bones, bloodshed, and sometimes even death” (Harmon). While law-abiding citizens worry about protecting themselves from criminals, it has now been revealed that they must also keep an eye on those who are supposed to protect and serve.
Florida’s, Texas’s and Kentucky’s new proposed bathroom laws have “caused fear and dismay among transgender people around the country” (Tannehill). Kentucky laws are more focused on the school systems but Florida 's and Texas’s laws treat transgenders as if they were criminals. Both of these states have regulations that will give transgenders civil and or criminal charges for using the bathroom they identify with (Tannehill). A transgender could be charged a fine for using the wrong bathroom and “people who report a transgender people in the bathroom to claim civil damages, for example a bounty” (Tannehill). Florida and Texas are trying to look out for the best interest of the majority population, however, “we all have to use the bathroom, but these laws would seemingly force transgender people to choose between fines and jail, risking horrific violence or leaving the state” (Tannehill). These laws have been seen as unreasonable to the transgender community and have been fought by the ACLU lawyer Joshua Block, “We’re talking about people who also have their sense of privacy and modesty, and who are not going to want to have everyone see an anatomical part of themselves that they feel should never have been there in the first place,” (Marcus). It has also been found that it’s illegal for employers to carry out such rules, “The Equal Employment