A Brief Note On The American Justice System

Courts are established social, political, and judicial institutions necessary for the manifestation of justice and the maintenance of law and order. The courts are part of the judicial branch of government, as outlined in Article III of the United States Constitution. Courts are the arenas in which the law is tried and applied. Judges are the presiding officers of the court. The United States Supreme Court is the most fundamental court because has "the authority to decide the constitutionality of federal laws and resolve other disputes over them," (United States Courts, 2012). This is true even though even though the court does not expressly enforce that law; enforcement is the province of the executive branch.

Police officers are given a lot of power because it is needed to help protect citizens and the community. However, police often abuse their power by the over use of force, corruption, sexual misconduct, bias based policing, and failure to maintain police ethics. (Peak, 2011)

The Justice System is a topic that has stirred up a lot of controversy throughout time. Is it fair or is it not? Throughout hundreds of years, people have been treated justly and unjustly by this system. In this paper, I will only be discussing my opinion on America’s justice system. However, there are many other Justice Systems that I will not get to discuss. America’s Justice System is made up of 3 parts. The Law Enforcement, the Adjudication, and the Correction. The Justice System was created to control crime and punish those who commit illegal actions. Without this system, our country would crumble and fall. Although it has been unfair on numerous occasions, we still should respect the law.

Police officers are generally well-respected in American society. They should be, since officers protect the public from drunk drivers, gunmen and other threats to the commonwealth. However, in light of uncovered events involving the misconduct of police officers, these events call into question the ability of police officers to successfully protect and serve the American people. However, in 2010, 6,613 law enforcement officers were reported for involvement in misconduct which varied from excessive force, sexual misconduct et cetera (Packman). Having 6,613 reported cases of police misconduct in America is ridiculous, especially since it is hard validating the claims against officers and it is difficult to punish officers because of this lack of evidence. While the purpose of police officers in society is to protect the commonwealth of the people, the amount of police misconduct in the United States of America involving excessive force and sexual misconduct is detrimental to the credibility of all police officers. This in turn causes rifts and distrust among the American people concerning officers. Police misconduct can be reduced in American society by requiring police officers to wear cameras while on duty, having a clear definition on what excessive force is and defining how much force is legal for an officer to utilize, and better training geared to improve overall conduct with citizens, especially mentally ill citizens.

In what ways is the indigenous justice paradigm in conflict with the principles of the traditional, adversarial American criminal justice system? In what ways do the principles of Native American justice complement more mainstream correctional initiatives?

Injustice for all appears to be the recent motto of the American justice system in the previous years. This system, increasingly known, infamously, for the wrongful incarcerations of many innocent citizens is in large part due to prejudice and a lack of due diligence by society 's finest, the police. Police departments’ focus on making the collar often leads to the use of various forms of torture such as mental, emotional, and even physical coercion. Errors of fact fail to be discovered, and wrongful convictions happen to hundreds of innocent citizens such as William Dillon, who had served 27 years for a crime he did not commit. William Dillon is among those innocent citizens that the American justice system has failed. The dawn of August 17, 1981 a man by the name of James Dvorak was found at Canova Beach beaten to death. The police department was only able to find one article of evidence, a witness, a perjured testimony, and fabricated evidence that pointed towards Dillon. From these William Dillon was convicted due to a bloody yellow shirt found at the crime scene, a half blind man, a false testimony from a past lover and phony evidence fabricated by the police and their consultants.

The development of the American justice system is a captivating subject that can prompt to years of recorded study and investigation. A decent criminal justice graduate program will give you enough information to leave you wanting more as I gained from my time in school.

Statistics from the National Police Misconduct Statistics and Reporting Project (NPMSRP), from the months of April 2009 to June 2010 showed that during this time there were 5,986 reports of misconduct. There were also 382 fatalities linked to misconduct, along with settlements and judgements linked to misconduct totaling $347,455,000. 33% of the misconduct cases went through to convictions and 64% of them received prison sentences. Yet these numbers were not enough of a shock to our city and state leaders to take action before situations, such as the riots in Baltimore or Ferguson, occurred. The warnings were there, the numbers and statistics, yet the matter was not handled in a reasonable amount of time. Leaving the public to wonder, if they were all in jeopardy. Would a simple routine check point end in violence? Fearful that any word out of their mouths, or simply the color of their skin, could bring forth such behavior.

Corruption and brutality scandals have severely tarnished the public’s faith in the police. From the killings and brutalizing of citizens in New York City to the widespread corruption in the Los Angeles Police Department, more and more law enforcement administrators are faced with the task of reforming police department, with little guidance on how to bring about the necessary changes. This is not the first time in our country’s history that

Justice is the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness. If I was the leader of a society, I would create a system of justice that would ensure fairness and discourage crime. There would be some changes in my system of justice compared to the way we run our justice system today in the United States. There would be a few laws that I would change to impact the government and citizens for the better. These changes would discourage crime, and be fair to everyone at the same time.

The US Court System has failed in many ways to the US citizens. Trying to be hard against any type of crime, The Court system holds in prisons more that 8.8% of the US population ; they have created several laws that proof this point one example is, the 1986 anti-drug abuse act, that instituted a minimum sentence of five years without parole for possession of five grams of crack, or five hundred grams of cocaine. The Tree strikes laws that specified that if you got caught more than three times, all the three sentences that you had before accumulate to one. The average sentence in the US is it three years. Also solitary confinement is a huge problem because it increases instability and violence in inmates; it could be consider as torture in many countries.

In a case there are three sides, the defendants, the plaintiffs and the truth. Often times the truth may be hard to find but when it is available, justice should be served. That is where the justice system comes in and their job is suppose to allow justice to be served. Over the years, the criminal justice system has lacked in that area according to almost half of the United States citizens. Many may ask the question, "why?", but there is no definite answer for why the justice system has lacked in its area of justice. The real question is, "how?" How can this be changed? That is the question many American Citizens are asking. The American justice system is lacking in the area of justice in many ways. The United States has a Constitution that protects its citizens from abuse in the criminal justice system. The right to a trial, to fair treatment by law enforcement are enshrined. Importantly, the Eighth Amendment also protects those convicted from cruel and unusual punishment. In spite of all this, the American penal system is broken in many ways. Examples of this happening throughout the United States are unfair punishments, prison health care and sentencing young children life in prison without parole.

The United States court system is the institution were all the legal disputes in the american society are carryed out and resolved. However, one single court is not enough to resolve every single dispute in society and that is why the court system is made up of two different courts, the federal courts and the state courts. Moreover, the federal and state courts are made up of several divisions made to handle legal disputes differently depending on its seriousness. For example, the state court is made up of trial courts of limited jurisdiction and probate courts were cases and disputes originate and then move up to trial courts of general jurisdiction, intermediate apellate courts, and courts of last resort respectively depending on the case.In contrast, the federal court consists of district courts, territorial coutrs, tax court, court of international trade, claims court, court of veterans appeals, an courts of military review which then move on to courts of appeals respectively and may ultimately end up in the United States supreme court. In addition, cases from state court may also appeal into the federal court system but not the other way around.

There are three women on the Supreme Court, one of whom is Latina, and there is one black justice serving on the Supreme Court (Brown, 2016). This is a major issue. The United States, the “melting pot”, has an extreme lack of diversity in their court system. This is an issue that affects several aspects of society. Decisions made by judges will affect the lives of men, women, and their families. The decisions made by judges can also create law. Unlike political officials, the people do not always have the power to vote judges into their positions. Instead, the people hope that their peers with the power to affect the system choose a candidate that will fight for them. Often times, this does not happen.

Imagine: twelve jurors, two attorneys, two different perspectives of the crime, one judge, one courtroom, and a verdict. All work in unity to make carefully considered decision: Do we find this man or woman guilty? Does the punishment fit the crime? To properly deal out justice these two questions necessitate thorough contemplation. Merriam-Webster defines justice in the name of law as the “maintenance or administration of...impartial adjustment...or...the assignment of...rewards or punishments”. But for broader terms, Merriam-Webster defines justice in threes. Justice is “the quality of being just, impartial, or fair”. Justice requires a “conformity to truth, fact, or reason”. Justice depends on these qualities. The American Justice System, in particular, needs all those involved in a trial to hold themselves accountable to these standards or else the system fails.