Justice System Paper

Justice System Paper

Imagine an overcrowded prison. There are inmates who are hardened criminals who are guilty of murder, rape, and grand theft, but right alongside them are children who have been bagged for truancy. The situation is dire, but the prison needs more room. So logically, one should think to let the children go. But is our justice system really that logical? Perhaps not, considering that a Kentucky prison faced this very problem, but instead of releasing the children, they put the hardened criminals back on the streets to commit the very same crimes again. Now why is this? Let's take a look at our justice system to reveal what it does well and where it lacks in the areas of policing, sentencing, and incarceration to solve this issue.

Policing now a days is a huge problem in our country. Everyone's main focus is on the bad things the police in our country are doing and many say our system is corrupt. Many believe racism is a big part of the problem with policing; minorities are arrested for petty offenses such as drinking on a sidewalk, hanging out in parks while they’re closed or driving with suspended licenses. It is said that the justice system tends to be much more strict with minorities than they are with white people. Bill Quigley a legal director of the center for constitutional rights says the U.S justice system is a race based institution where minorities are targeted and treated more aggressively than whites. La Congresswoman Maxine Waters things the system is racist and that because of that the color of your skin dictates whether or not you’ll be arrested, prosecuted harshly or given a strict sentence. It’s also said blacks and whites are arrested and convicted at different rates. A survey was given to the 960 LAPD officers, and a quarter of those officers agree that some of the officers held a racial bias towards people who weren’t white and more than half agreed this leads to excessive force used when arrests happen. In April 30, 2014 officer Christopher Manney shot Dontre Hamilton who was an unarmed 31 year old African American with a history of mental illness, in a downtown park. Manney tried to save himself by saying Hamilton who also to be homeless, attempted to grab his baton during a pat down. Manney says he shot Hamilton 14 times in self-defense. He was fired in october but not charged for killing Dontre. In July 17, 2014 Eric Garner who was 43 was killed while being wrestled to the ground by a new york officer attempting to arrest him for selling illegal cigarettes. In a video recorded by a bystander, Garner is heard saying, “I can’t breathe.” The phrase was soon adopted as a rallying cry by protesters. On Dec. 3, a grand jury decided not to indict the officer in Garner’s death. So many officers have killed innocent people who didnt even have a weapon or no way of self defense. But not all officers who make arrests can be racist there are just some who are so aggressive, in a video there was a man home with his family and officers came due to a noise complaint and for them not cooperating the officer became aggressive trying to get into the apartment to arrest one of the family members and he got to the point he started to tase people along with calling in the swat team.

After an arrest is made it’s time for the trial and sentencing. If the person is convicted in a case the judge sets a date for the sentencing. Before the sentencing happens the pre-sentencing takes place which is is an investigation that takes place for the judge to determine an appropriate sentence to be imposed. A defendant who ends up pleading as guilty or is found guilty by the jury in criminal trials then there is a punishment but the punishment varies depending on the crime and how it was committed. If someone pleads guilty as a plea deal or if not the sentencing for the crime will happen almost immediately, if the crime is a felony and the defendant could get prison time the sentencing will be delayed until the judge can hear from the defendant and prosecution and receives a pre-sentencing report. They must also hear from the victims of the crimes before sentencing