The Importance Of Criminal Justice

1379 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Crime inequality sociology

Despite significant progress in the goal of ensuring equal treatment for all citizens in the United States, one aspect that has not seen as much development is the arena of criminal justice. Although we are all given the same laws to abide by, minorities and those living in poverty receive punishments that are extremely biased. This disproportionate treatment is not only affecting the lives of the individuals being handed these harsh sentences and their families, but society as a whole is being desecrated because of the unfairness of the judicial system. Measures need to be taken to change the radically biased system to ensure impartiality for all regardless of race or economic status. From law enforcement to jury members and all involved in the process, it is in everyone’s best interest to correct the long standing issue of racial disparities when it comes to crime and punishment. Certain measures must be taken in order to ensure that all men and women regardless of race get the proper justice so they can receive fair penalties.
In the 1960s, Congress passed several laws that should have abolished issues of racial discrimination including the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and the Fair Housing Act. Because of the unfairness in the criminal justice system, these laws are moot for people of color who have served time in prison which in turn takes us several steps back when it comes to equality in the United States. In today’s society, “Stand Your Ground” and “Stop and Frisk” laws have taken the place of lynches and lynch mobs. People of color to this day struggle with unfairness and inequality in many aspects of their lives and there aren’t many signs of that shifting until proper changes are made.
In the wake of cases...

... middle of paper ...

...ation in prison rarely happens and most go on to become repeat offenders. We must provide everyone with an equal opportunity to pay their debt to society based on the crime and not the color of their skin.
I believe things need to change for the betterment of society as a whole. The disparities that are occurring are not helping anyone. Although certain measures have been taken in some areas to change this, it is still a plague on our country. Many studies have shown that imprisonment is not a form of rehabilitation. Instead of having people jailed for countless years, why not put them through some rigorous therapy that may assist them with their issues. It would probably cost less tax dollars to get these people the help they really need. Maybe then people will start believing in a better future for themselves and their lives can be more than a burdening sentence.

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

  • Unmasking America: A Deeper Look at Social and Economic Injustices

    1261 Words  | 3 Pages

    Just Mercy’s Bryan Stevenson exposes some of these disparities woven around his presentation of the Walter McMillian case, and the overrepresentation of African-American men in our criminal justice system. His accounts of actors in the criminal justice system such as Judge Robert E. Lee and the D.A. Tom Chapman who refused to open up the case or provide support regardless of the overwhelmingly amount of inconsistencies found in the case. The fact that there were instances where policemen paid people off to testify falsely against McMillian others on death row significantly supports this perpetuation of racism. For many of the people of color featured in Stevenson’s book, the justice system was unfair to them wrongfully or excessively punishing them for crimes both violent and nonviolent compared to their white counterparts. Racism towards those of color has caused a “lack of concern and responsiveness by police, prosecutors, and victims’ services providers” and ultimately leads to the mass incarceration of this population (Stevenson, 2014, p. 141). Moreover the lack of diversity within the jury system and those in power plays into the already existing racism. African-American men are quickly becoming disenfranchised in our country through such racist biases leading to over 1/3 of this population “missing” from the overall American population because they are within the criminal justice

    Read More

  • Mass Incarceration In The Age Of Colorblindness By Michelle Alexander

    2147 Words  | 5 Pages

    ...system that has existed in the United States or anywhere else in the world” (Alexander 234). W.E.B. Dubois argued that “The burden belongs to the nation, and the hands of none of us are clean if we bend not our energies to righting these great wrongs” (Alexander 217). Our nation must address this burden and correct that racial injustices created by our so-called criminal justice system. The criminal justice system cannot continue to hide behind the front of being a colorblind system - racial inequality and injustice must be challenged.

    Read More

  • Racial Disparity in the Correctional Population

    2356 Words  | 5 Pages

    Nationwide, blacks are incarcerated at 8.2 times the rate of whites (Human Rights Watch, 2000).” This difference in proportionality does not necessarily involve direct discrimination; it can be explained by a number of combined factors. Correctional agencies do not control the number of minorities who enter their facilities. Therefore, the disparity must come from decisions made earlier in the criminal justice process. Law enforcement, court pre-sentencing policies and procedures, and sentencing all have a direct effect on the overrepresentation of minorities in the correctional population.

    Read More

  • Disparities in Sentencing: The Role of Race and Gender

    1274 Words  | 3 Pages

    “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.

    Read More

  • Race And The Death Penalty

    2375 Words  | 5 Pages

    Race plays a large factor in showing how you are viewed in society. Although there is no longer slavery and separate water fountains, we can still see areas of our daily life clearly affected by race. One of these areas is the criminal justice system and that is because the color of your skin can easily yet unfairly determine if you receive the death penalty. The controversial evidence showing that race is a large contributing factor in death penalty cases shows that there needs to be a change in the system and action taken against these biases. The issue is wide spread throughout the United States and can be proven with statistics. There is a higher probability that a black on white crime will result in a death penalty verdict than black on black or white on black. Race will ultimately define the final ruling of the sentence which is evident in the racial disparities of the death penalty. The amount of blacks on death row can easily be seen considering the majority of the prison population is black or blacks that committed the same crime as a white person but got a harsher sentence. The biases and prejudices that are in our society relating to race come to light when a jury is selected to determine a death sentence. So what is the relationship between race and the death penalty? This paper is set out to prove findings of different race related sentences and why blacks are sentenced to death more for a black on white crime. Looking at the racial divide we once had in early American history and statistics from sources and data regarding the number of blacks on death row/executed, we can expose the issues with this racial dilemma.

    Read More

  • Racial Disparities In The Criminal Justice System Essay

    802 Words  | 2 Pages

    Furthermore, race has always been a serious matter in the Supreme Court and other government administrations, but they fail to recognize the issue. The injustices that minorities had to deal with in the past are the same inequalities that minorities, especially African Americans, still have to face in today’s society.

    Read More

  • Racial Discrimination in the U.S. Justice System

    4767 Words  | 10 Pages

    In modern-day America the issue of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system is controversial because there is substantial evidence confirming both individual and systemic biases. While there is reason to believe that there are discriminatory elements at every step of the judicial process, this treatment will investigate and attempt to elucidate such elements in two of the most critical judicial junctures, criminal apprehension and prosecution.

    Read More

  • The Death Penalty and Race

    3903 Words  | 8 Pages

    There are so many more African-Americans than whites in our prisons that the difference cannot be explained by higher crime among African- Americans - racial discrimination is also at work, and it penalizes African- Americans at almost every juncture in the criminal justice system.1

    Read More

  • Final Draft

    997 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... accept the standard behaviors of individuals. In the effect of getting rid of this individual prison are needed. There are people that do crime like murder that need to stay in prison but in a couple of years you will see them out on the street again.

    Read More

  • Prison Reform In America

    1883 Words  | 4 Pages

    Maybe if I saw more reports on how prison has improved our society and the criminals who live among us, I would see why we should work on reforming our prisons. Until then, it does not seem to be working. We trust in the government to provide for our safety, but we must take responsibility among ourselves. To understand that the current system does work and that its intent is not to provide a safe society. History has shown us that. What we have done or continue to do will not make this a safer place to live. The problem is not to reform our prison system, for this won't stop criminals to commit crimes, but to find ways and means to deteriorate them from doing the crime.

    Read More

  • Is Our Justice System Fair to All?

    1191 Words  | 3 Pages

    Is our justice system fair to all? Although the answer to this question is an opinion, there are pieces of evidence and commentary to defend this argument. The process of the legal system itself is all an opinion because in the end, the only person whose judgments matter is the judge himself. Over time, the wrong people have been arrested for the wrong things. Living in the United States, a country where crimes are committed constantly; we count on this system to make the right decisions. It is important that each case is treated equally when carrying out justice to keep the United States a safe place, to form a nation with good education, and to teach people from judging right from wrong. However, sometimes rights are taken from the wrong people. Our legal system is creating a dangerous path for African Americans in our country because of its’ highest per capita incarceration rate, its’ favoritism towards those in power, and its failure to carry out justice to protect people from the dangerous acts of those who are defined as criminals.

    Read More

  • Racism In The Justice System Essay

    1377 Words  | 3 Pages

    When a person of color is being sentenced the unjustness of sentencing is blatantly shown such as in the article Race Sentencing and Testimony which stated, “ These scholars conclude that black male arrestees “face significantly more severe charges conditional on arrest offense and other observed characteristics” and attribute this primarily to prosecution charging decisions” (Mauer 4). This piece of writing explains that for no other reason than race do these people get convicted far more significantly than others who have the same charge but are white, which continues as far as giving a person of color the max sentence that they can have on a certain charge just for the color of their skin. The justice system has turned into the opposite of what it claims to be and continues to grow as a racist overseer, bashing down on those that they believe should be punished as harshly as possible simply for the color of their skin. The system has gone as deep as to making it so that even if a person has not committed a crime, but are being charged for it they can agree to a plea bargain, which makes it so even though the person did not do it the system is going to have them convicted of it anyway (Quigley 1). “As one young man told me ‘who wouldn’t rather do three years for a crime they didn’t commit than risk twenty-five years

    Read More

  • Essay On Criminal Justice

    3249 Words  | 7 Pages

    It’s clear – as we come together today – that too many Americans go to too many prisons for far too long, and for no truly good law enforcement reason. It’s clear, at a basic level, that 20th-century criminal justice solutions are not adequate to overcome our 21st-century challenges. And it is well past time to implement common sense changes that will foster safer communities from coast to coast (The US Department of Justice, para. 8-9, 2013).

    Read More

  • Should Prison Be Prison?

    1976 Words  | 4 Pages

    If you were to take a look at our prisons today, you would see that they are severely overcrowded. If there was a way that we could reduce the number of people that return to jail would you support this idea? Or would you say that it is a waste of time and money? One way of doing this would be start rehabilitating prisons so when they get out of jail, they can start contributing to society in a positive way. Currently there is more than 2.2 million people that are in prison in United States. Also the United States was one of the highest prison rates in the world. Most of the people that get arrested are brought to jail and are only there for a few years. What if we could do something about that and teach them as they come into the prison system and try to help them become a better person. If this happens, we may be able to break the cycle of repeat offenders that are coming back to jail once they get out. First people have to accept the idea that we have to put the time and effort into this in order to see a positive result. There are many different programs that are taking place in jails around the United States that are working well in reducing the number of inmates that come back to jail.

    Read More

More about The Importance Of Criminal Justice

Open Document