Criminal Justice System Analysis

Alexander believed that rates and patterns of drug crime do not explain the fact that although the majority of illegal drug users and dealers nationwide are white, but prisons are only filled with blacks and Latinos. Now the statement she made is very much so true when it relates to the criminal justice system. Now I am not saying that blacks are not drug dealers but they are not along Whites sell three times as much as a black individual. Just recently down from my home, a white man who had been selling drugs for years was finally caught by the feds. However, if was living in white community with his black wife and mix kids he probably would have never got caught. This is because the police do not ride in the white area trying to catch someone

I agree with the speaker that the criminal justice system in America treats you better if you’re rich and guilty than if you’re poor and innocent. I believe that in not only in American society but also around world, wealth has a major roll in the outcome of a situation. Money does what money does best, it buys. Unfortunately, money can buy you your freedom and a judge. With money people look up to you, but without money people look down on you.

were wealthy could pay for their crime and since indigent could not pay,they would be

The criminal justice system is made for two groups of people: the poor and the wealthy.

It can be said that money is power in the United States, and this is brought out in the essay, “Class in America---2012” written by Gregory Mantsios. He says that even though many Americans do not like to discuss class, “it can determine where people live, who their friends are, how well they are educated, and what they do for a living” (Mantsios). Many Americans do not speak about class type, and most find it unacceptable (Mantsios). Unfortunately, we can see that there are laws that are built to help and better the wealthy, while it cripples the rest of us. According to the Economic Policy Institute, “The richest twenty percent of Americans hold nearly ninety percent of the total household wealth in this county” (Institute) Gregory Mantsios without reserve describes the majority of people are at a disadvantage in their social class, while the upper class is compensated.

1) Conflict theory.- stress that the power elite uses the legal system to control worker and to stabilize the social order, all with the goal of keeping itself in power. The poor pose a threat, for if they rebel as a group they can dislodge members of the power elite from their place of privilege. To prevent this, the power elite makes certain that heavy penalties come down on those who’s crimes could upset the social order.

Unfortunately for the 99%, the lower class is at greater risk for incarceration than the financially elite - regardless of the virtually non-existent gap between the socio-economic crime rates. It all comes down to money; the upper-class have more of it and, subsequently, more access to education and legal aid, giving them the tools to evade persecution. Although a life of extreme poverty can place greater emphasis on survival rather than morals, leading to increased crime and incarceration rates, the affluent are just as likely to commit crime, just less likely to be vilified and jailed for it.

The book "The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison" by Jeffrey H. Reiman provides a very interesting account of how the rich are being treated by the criminal justice system in a more favorable than the poorer and nonviolent criminals who are generally mistreated. Reiman started his book by stating that the recently noted decline in crime rate is skewed. This is clear in the 12th page of his book when he stated that After more than 20 years of telling us that crime was growing out of control and proposing more cops and tougher laws and more prisons, crime rates are now coming down and politicians are jumping to claim credit for the reductions" (Reiman ,p. 12).The book is a well written text that effectively examines the various harmful acts that are committed by the rich in our society. These harmful acts include bribery, medical crimes, and embezzlement of public funds, crime against consumers as well as environmental crimes such as unsafe workplaces as well as pollution among many others. Reiman's book, in its thorough analysis of the various harmful acts noted that there is a particular bias against the poor people within the American criminal justice system.He demonstrated that acts like murder, assault and theft that are committed by the poor people are treated by the criminal justice system as very serious crimes while on the other hand, other harmful acts like bribery, medical crimes, embezzlement of public funds, crime against consumers as well as

The divide between the rich and the poor is defined by success. While the wealthy live in a utopian world where everything goes according to their needs, low class individuals live in a dysfunctional society trying to make ends meet. Aside from the obvious differences, society judges you by the size of your wallet. In The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap, by Matt Taibbi, he argues about the large wealth gap that most of individuals are oblivious to and sometimes refuse to see. Taibbi goes after the truth, uncovering how white collar criminals walk freely after committing the biggest of crimes, while the blue collars get criminalized and convicted for simple misdemeanors. The wealth gap between these

They can use their own cars to commit the crime in other cities without getting the local police catch them, while it is not possible for the poor criminals without the car to escape the suspicion of the local community. Thus, it is easier for the rich to indulge in criminal activities and keep out of the reach of police than the poor.

I never realized how money affects the level of justice people receive. As perfectly exemplified through the OJ Simpson, the richer a person is, the better chance they have at getting the verdict they desire. Although not all for hire defense lawyers are better than public defenders, but good defense lawyers are able to charge so much money because they are extremely good at their job and help get their client acquitted. In any other circumstance other than OJ Simpson, a black male accused of double homicide would never have been able to get acquitted. OJ could afford a legal team made up of experts and his legal team costed him $50,000 a day, more than some people make in a whole year. If he wasn’t rich, he would currently be in jail and there for the rest of his life. This is true most cases; money, which gets someone a better lawyer, gives them a better chance at a better sentence. To me, this says that having money and being rich means the law works more in their favor, or is able to argue better in their favor, and that is a fundamental error in our justice system.

In recent years, there have been many cases of the rich “getting away with murder.” One example that I absolutely love is, Ethan Couch.All at the age of 16, Ethan Couch was driving under the influence of stolen beer cases. When he killed 4 people and injured 9 people all together. Couch was then indicted with 4 charges of intoxicated manslaughter, but the judge only gave him 10 years of probation. Since it was argued that he had “affluenza.” Affluenza’s dictionary definition is “a psychological malaise supposedly affecting wealthy young people, symptoms of which include a lack of motivation, feelings of guilt, and a sense of isolation.” This basically gave him a get out jail free card, since his parents were too rich to teach him to be a

Criminals with no money, often minorities, cannot hire the lawyers needed to defend them so they will most likely be found guilty of the crime they committed.

I read an interesting article titled economic and social justice. One thing that stood out to me the most was the comment that Sir Anthony made from his book. He basically talks about the inequality among the rich and poor. According to Sir Anthony he states that “the rich are able to influence government policy in order to protect their wealth”. He also states that “When governments priorities, low inflation over low unemployment, or low taxes over investment infrastructure or education, they are responding to the preferences of the rich”. I absolutely believe this because the government mostly supports technological change and autonomous vehicles. These things eliminates jobs for less skilled workers, according to the article. I find this

Because those who are in power are the rich, they have influence on the political system to approve or disagree with laws