Reflection Paper

722 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Police brutality and prejudice

I come from a household that watches the news often. It was a pattern that was embedded in our lifestyle when my family first fled famine and civil war in Somalia to come to America. Constantly being exposed to the news trained me to notice trends. One of the trends that I noticed was the unfair and dominant role race played in the criminal justice system. Although slavery was abolished with the thirteenth amendment. Many in America still believe that race does not play a prominent role in government, evident in the election of Barack Obama as president. However, the government still uses race as a justification for discrimination, which causes social animosity towards criminals. America’s current justice system allows for legal discrimination …show more content…

I hope to gain the necessary skills to pursue my dream of using the legal system to end racial inequality in the judicial system. Although I’ve served as an activist in my community regarding police violence against minorities, I believe that I can do more. Activism is great to raise awareness and to keep people informed in subject matters that are difficult to talk about. However, I believe that in order to create a real difference in the criminal justice field change must occur from the inside. According to the American Bar Association, 88% of all lawyers are white and only 4.8% are black. I believe that with a more diverse judicial system, criminal cases involving minorities well result in more fair trials. I also believe through a more fair judicial system the gap between racial and economic disparities amongst racial groups well improve. My desire to become a lawyer is further intensified due to other prominent black lawyers in America. These lawyers include U.S attorney general, Loretta Lynch, and her predecessor Eric Holder. I am also further inspired by Baltimore state attorney Marilyn Mosby who secured the indictment of six police officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray. I hope to become a trailblazer like these lawyers in the future so that I too can create my own legacy in the law field. Furthermore, by attending the TRIALS

Show More
Related

  • Diversity within the Criminal Justice System

    2181 Words  | 5 Pages

    Ward, G., Farrell, A., & Rousseau, D. (2009). Does racial balance in workforce representation yield equal justice? Race relations of sentencing in federal court organizations. Law & Society Review, 43(4), 757-806. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5893.2009.00388.x

    Read More

  • Power Matters By Brenda Allen

    1173 Words  | 3 Pages

    In her book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander states that we still use our criminal justice system to “label people of color ‘criminals’ and then engage i...

    Read More

  • The New Jim Crow Rhetorical Analysis

    1202 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The New Jim Crow” is an article by Michelle Alexander, published by the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law. Michelle is a professor at the Ohio State Moritz college of criminal law as well as a civil rights advocate. Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law is part of the world’s top education system, is accredited by the American Bar Association, and is a long-time member of the American Law association. The goal of “The New Jim Crow” is to inform the public about the issues of race in our country, especially our legal system. The article is written in plain English, so the common person can fully understand it, but it also remains very professional. Throughout the article, Alexander provides factual information about racial issues in our country. She relates them back to the Jim Crow era and explains how the large social problem affects individual lives of people of color all over the country. By doing this, Alexander appeals to the reader’s ethos, logos, and pathos, forming a persuasive essay that shifts the understanding and opinions of all readers.

    Read More

  • Mass Incarceration as a Modern Racial Caste System

    1886 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the wake of President Obama’s election, the United States seems to be progressing towards a post-racial society. However, the rates of mass incarceration of black males in America deem this to be otherwise. Understanding mass incarceration as a modern racial caste system will reveal the role of the criminal justice system in creating and perpetuating racial hierarchy America. The history of social control in the United States dates back to the first racial caste systems: slavery and the Jim Crow Laws. Although these caste systems were outlawed by the 13th amendment and Civil Rights Act respectively, they are given new life and tailored to the needs of the time.In other words, racial caste in America has not ended but has merely been redesigned in the shape of mass incarceration. Once again, the fact that more than half of the young black men in many large American cities are under the control of the criminal justice system show evidence of a new racial caste system at work. The structure of the criminal justice system brings a disproportionate number of young black males into prisons, relegating them to a permanent second-class status, and ensuring there chances of freedom are slim. Even when minorities are released from prisons, they are discriminated against and most usually end up back in prisons . The role of race in criminal justice system is set up to discriminate, arrest, and imprison a mass number of minority men. From stopping, searching, and arresting, to plea bargaining and sentencing it is apparent that in every phases of the criminal justice system race plays a huge factor. Race and structure of Criminal Justice System, also, inhibit the integration of ex offenders into society and instead of freedom, relea...

    Read More

  • Randall Kennedy Race Crime

    832 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the first chapter of Randall Kennedy’s book Race, Crime, and the Law, he discusses and elaborates on the effect race has had on the development of criminal law, more specifically, covering specific issues within the justice system in relations to racial discrimination against African Americans (blacks). He uses the first chapter to give a basic overview of what each following chapter grasp; he starts by identifying the four major camps regarding the race question in criminal law. The four major camps include law and order, limiting governmental power, color blindness, and advancing the interests of blacks. First, the law and order camp, basically code words to appeal covertly to anti-Negro prejudice from those who are concerned about personal

    Read More

  • Disparities In Criminal Justice Essay

    1127 Words  | 3 Pages

    The criminal justice system is full of inequality and disparities among race, gender, and class. From policing neighborhoods, and the ongoing war on drugs, to sentencing, there are underlying biases and discriminatory practices in the criminal justice system that impacts minority communities and groups. Fueled by stereotypes and generalizations, it is important to identify and discuss what crimes take place and who actually makes it up.

    Read More

  • Race, Class And Gender Play

    892 Words  | 2 Pages

    Alexander does an incredible job of covering the issue of race in today’s criminal justice system. We discussed in class that it is a relatively difficult issue to discuss and a sore point of our country, but she recognized the need for it to be addressed from start to finish and really paints a picture of how racially biased the laws are and have been since the days of slavery. I think an important framework to discuss race and the causes and responses to crime is something that Alexander deems the new caste system. She argues that our new system is the rebirth of a redesigned caste system. In her introduction, she notes that “to put the matter starkly: the current system of control permanently locks a huge percentage of the African American community out of the mainstream society and economy. The system operates through our criminal justice institutions, but it functions more like a caste system than a system of crime control” (Alexander, 2012, p. 13)

    Read More

  • Racial Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System

    1131 Words  | 3 Pages

    Extensive research has been conducted in different regions of the United States and each study has revealed the same thing, a person’s color affected the decisions of the law enforcement personnel involved and how their case progressed through the system. Racism is present in the criminal justice system of the United States. It should not be assumed that all practitioners within the criminal justice system display racial bias. However, the sentencing guidelines and punishments handed down by the courts show that the system itself may be set up in such a way that minorities are disproportionately affected by these guidelines and thus further the belief that the system as a whole displays racism and not necessarily those working in

    Read More

  • Racial Inequalities in the Justice System

    1738 Words  | 4 Pages

    Many inequalities exist within the justice system that need to be brought to light and addressed. Statistics show that African American men are arrested more often than females and people of other races. There are some measures that can and need to be taken to reduce the racial disparity in the justice system.

    Read More

  • Racism In The Criminal Justice System Essay

    930 Words  | 2 Pages

    The criminal justice system is united under one basic law body, in which no racism is present. Personal beliefs and anecdotes prove nothing, the criminal justice system isn’t racist. Although it may seem African Americans are highly discriminated upon in the justice system, there is ample amounts of data to prove otherwise. The criminal justice system is united under one basic law body, in which no racism is present. The system is not to blame for the racial differences found in the United States criminal justice system. The racial issues found in the system are due to inner city isolation and common crime patterns involving drugs even if it may seem as if the system is racist.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Racism In The Criminal Justice System

    1979 Words  | 4 Pages

    Much progress has and is currently being made over history for the laws concerning the equal treatment, but this civil rights crisis seems like the criminal system does not follow its own laws. There are more African American males arrested and incarcerated than Hispanic or White males. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2010, the Black male imprisonment rate was 3,074 per 1000,000 U.S. Black males in total. They are incarcerated at seven times higher than Whites (The Sentencing

    Read More

  • Justice in America: A Critical Examination

    946 Words  | 2 Pages

    Do to common knowledge most black and hispanic people are unable to afford their own lawyer. Which is why one in three black men will go to prison and one and six latino men. “So does the law protect us from racial discrimination or does hurt us for our race ? The undebatable and undeniable answer to the basic question of equal access to justice and fairness in the criminal justice system to all American citizens is a resounding "No." A simple dance through recent history depicts, in the most lucent fashion, an unfortunate and quite lengthy landscape of unequaled access to justice and abject unfairness in the criminal justice system as it applies to a substantial segment of the American population. However, there are many examples of justifiable equity in judicial discretion, or as some would call it, judicial balance. Our high court has, on occasion, actually reversed itself and halted a system of wrongdoing, e.g., Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v.Board of Education of Topeka (Durant III).” It is not a thought that it is a fact that race plays a major role in the courtroom from the prosecutor 's speech when on the stand to the jury 's decisions. In the movie Twelve Angry Men one of the jurors said we can 't trust them people saying the boy “isn 't like them because their white and the boy is latino”. It might not be said out loud but their are a lot of people serving the jury

    Read More

  • Racism In The Justice System Essay

    1377 Words  | 3 Pages

    Racism within the Justice System. Living in the twenty first century, Americans would like to believe that they are living in the land of the free, where anyone and everyone can live an ordinary life without worrying that they will be arrested on the spot for doing absolutely nothing. The sad truth, with the evidence to prove it, is that this American Dream is not all that it appears to be. It has been corrupted and continues to be, everyday, by the racism that is in the criminal justice system of America. Racism has perpetuated the corruption of the criminal justice system from the initial stop, the sentencing in court, all the way to the life of an inmate in the prison.

    Read More

  • Diversity In The Criminal Justice System

    1370 Words  | 3 Pages

    Torres-Spelliscy et al. (2010) encouraged diversity in the American court system and provided ten practices to attract the brightest female and minority candidates for the judiciary, and they are as follows: (1) grapple fully with implicit bias; (2) increase strategic recruitment; (3) be clear about the role of diversity in the nominating process in state statutes; (4) keep the application and interviewing process transparent; (5) train commissioners to be effective recruiters and nominators; (6) appoint a diversity compliance officer or ombudsman; (7) create diverse commissions by statute; (8) maintain high standards and quality; (9) raise judicial salaries; (10) improve record keeping (p. 3). Appointing minorities and females to the U.S. bench will increase public confidence, and it will also bring important value towards the representation of women and ethnic

    Read More

  • Reflection Paper

    1029 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout this fall semester in college, I have had one of the biggest learning experiences of my life. College not only gives me an education, but real world experience as well. It will teach you many things and I know I am not done learning yet. When I first started Montgomery College, I took with the AELP English classes before I started college English now. I felt moderately unprepared taking EN 101A because it is college English. Since English is my second language, I was afraid that I was not going to get through this course. However, thanks to Prof. Vilceus and friends who helped me to get through it. Taking ENG 101 A helped me to achieve many objectives such as to learn the steps of the writing process, to improve my grammar skills and to cite an outside source.

    Read More

More about Reflection Paper

Open Document