Prejudice In The Criminal Justice System Essay

Prejudice in the Criminal justice system

We are not all treated equal where equality is required to assure the law is upheld. One of the flaws in our criminal justice system is how prejudice is often present in trials, and prevents suspects from having a fair trial. In “Serial”, a podcast about a first generation American teenager of Muslim religion named Adnan who was charged with the murder of his ex-girlfriend, prejudice is shown very strongly. At his bail hearing the prosecutor led the court to believe that Adnan 's extended support from his Muslim community would do anything they could to help Adnan escape the country and the justice system, ultimately getting away with murder. She furthered this claim with a report that there was a

In "There Is Nothing Casual About Prejudice", the author informs readers of 'implicit bias ' which includes "stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner"(Mitchell 46) This is explained as a mentality that people in the criminal justice system have; whose actions have been of prejudice. Many people do not even realize they are prejudice unless otherwise pointed out. This is an upsetting thought to have, especially about our justice system, something we put our trust in to uphold the law and act fairly. In the podcast 's 10th episode the prejudice in Adnan 's case is fully revealed to listeners. When talking about Adnan’s case, his mother says, "it 's discrimination. Because we are Muslim, and we are minority in this country"(Podcast 10) If even someone who has hardly ever been exposed to discrimination in her life can clearly see it in the case, who is to say it was not present through the investigation and trials. While discrimination may not have been the entire case against Adnan there was definitely a considerably good amount, when there should not have been any. Discrimination does not belong in our criminal justice system if we want to abide by the law that requires a fair

In the podcast, Jay, the eye witness that the entire case is based off of, changes his story several times throughout the investigation and trial. After the trial, after seeing most of the arguments surrounding Adnan 's Muslim religion, Jay said that Adnan said "only Allah knows" in reference to the crime being one of religious intention. There was no mention of religion having a role in the crime that Jay describes until after the trials. This leads one to believe that perhaps he added this religious part in to tie his story to the prosecution 's argument. It is also possible that Jay realizing that his plea deal was on the line, added in these extra details to make Adnan look as bad as possible. It is also believable that he was changing his story to please the police and prosecution, since the prosecutor helped Jay get a private attorney to represent Jay for free. This is something that is frowned upon by the law since it is a form of bribery, and can make the receiver feel indebted to please the benefactor. In addition to discrimination, unreliable witnesses are another deficiency of our criminal justice