Effects Of Juror Prejudice Within The United States Court System

It has been brought up that certain race and ethic affects a person’s sentencing. Many studies have addressed the question are African Americans treated more severely than similarly situated whites? (Mitchell, 2005). Observers had indeed noted that black defendants get more severe sentencing than white defendants do (Spohn, 1981). For many years’ social scientist has examined this theory and came up with three explanations, racial discrimination, Wealth discrimination, and legal factors (Sellin, 1928). These three explanations all direct back to blacks because blacks are more likely to be poor, so they are wealth discriminated. Also, legal factors point to blacks because black defendants are more likely to have a serious charge or criminal record than whites do. Some researchers examine whether race has an impact on juveniles being convicted in the adult system (Howell, 2012) as well.

When looking at illegal actions and activities, also known as crimes, people of all color commit them. Whether people commit lesser or more excessive crimes, the action will be committed by a multitude of races. People of all colors are able to achieve the standards that have been set by society. When looking at the statistics, the evidence shows that people of color, especially African Americans tend to get harder and more solemn charges for the crimes that they have committed. What people might not notice is that there is a racial bias in the judicial system. That bias is changing the outcome of indictments. With all of the change going on in the United States of America, one untouched subject is the racial bias in the judicial system. If a change does not occur now, then when will there ever be a change? There is a racial bias in the judicial system, and a change needs to occur now.

Although saying the criminal justice system is racist is a controversial statement, there is evidence and statistics that prove it to be true. Research and evidence validate the issue of racism to be undeniable. Equality and justice are out of reach with the racism that takes place in our criminal justice system and our country. Racial discrimination is prevalent amongst the African American culture in issues regarding drug use, and incarceration which creates unfair inequality for this race. I will use peer reviewed articles to verify the racial disparity in the criminal justice system.

The existence of racial disparity and structural inequality within the criminal justice system renders the concept of true justice for all unobtainable. The statistics of convictions and prison sentences by race definitely support the concept that discrimination is a problem in the justice system as well as the insignificantly number of minority judges and lawyers. There are a multitude of circumstances that influence these statistics according to the “Central Eight” criminogenic risk factors. The need for programs and methods to effectively deter those at risk individuals has never been greater and the lack of such programs is costing society in countless ways.

Few in this country would argue with the fact that the United States criminal justice system possesses discrepancies which adversely affect Blacks in this country. Numerous studies and articles have been composed on the many facets in which discrimination, or at least disparity, is obvious. Even whites are forced to admit that statistics indicate that the Black community is disproportionately affected by the American legal system. Controversy arises when the issue of possible causes of, and also solutions to, these variations are discussed. It’s not just black versus white, it is white versus white, and white versus oriental, whatever the case may be, and it is not justice. If we see patterns then the judges should have the authority to say something. Jury nullifications cannot be overturned regardless of the cause. Exclusionary rule, according to CULS (2010) – Prevents the government from using most evidence gathered in violation of U.S. Constitution; like unreasonable search and seizure (Fourth Amendment).

At the prosecution stage, African Americans are subject to racially biased charges and plea agreements (TLC, 2011). African Americans are less likely to have their charges dismissed or reduced or to receive any kind of alternate sentencing than their white counterparts (TLC, 2011). In the last stage, the finding of guilt and sentencing, the decisions of jurors may be affected by race (Toth et al, 2008) African Americans receive racially discriminatory sentences from judges (TLC, 2011). A New York study from 1990 to 1992 revealed one-third of minorities would have receive a lesser sentence if they were treated the same as white and there would have been a 5 percent decrease in African Americans sent to prison during that time period if they had received the same probation privileges (TLC, 2011). African Americans receive death sentences more than whites who have committed similar crimes (Toth et al, 2008). Because of the unfair treatment from the beginning to the end of the justice system there is an over represented amount of African Americans in prison (Toth et al, 2008). Some of the problems faced by African Americans in prison are gangs, racial preferences given to whites, and unfair treatment by prison guards (Toth et al, 2008).

Similarly, there is need to examine whether race plays a role in determining if one is convicted or released. This is because an all-white bench convicted Hunt, who is of African American descent, of a crime he did not commit. Whether racial prejudice plays any role in our criminal and justice system needs critical examine since the law should be fair and equal before all. A non-discriminative judicial system will enhance public trust and eliminate cases of wrongful conviction.

The criminal trial process is an interesting process that takes place in Courtrooms all across the United States and throughout the globe. This study intends to set out the various steps in the criminal trial process in the American justice system. A trial is described as a "legal forum for resolving individual disputes, and in the case of a criminal charge, it is a means for establishing whether an accused person is legally guilty of an offense. The trial process varies with respect to whether the matter at issue is civil in nature or criminal. In either case, a jury acts as a fact-finding body for the court in assessing information and evidence that is presented by the respective parties in a case. A judge presides over the court and addresses all the legal issues that arise during the trial. A judge also instructs the jury how to apply the facts to the laws that will govern in a given case." (3rd Judicial District, 2012)

Schemas are powerful frameworks that influence how people notice, interpret, and remember information. Although they could serve as efficient shortcuts in problem solving under most daily circumstances, unconscious activation of schemas could introduce persist biases in the context of jury decision-making. Like any other people interpreting a set of complex or unfamiliar facts, jurors cannot help but be influenced by schemas when evaluating evidence and applying the law during a trial. Although they may not be correct in their assumptions about the law, jurors do not come to trials as blank slates. They typically bring with them existing schemas that shape the way they view the law, the evidence and the defendant, and these schemas

‘Juror Bias’ exists, primarily with whites ruling that blacks are automatically guilty of the crimes they are accused of. In the particular source that I used for this point, it studied how a person's personality might cause them to view a person's guilt (or lack thereof). Specifically, the Southern white university students who participated in the study who scored high for 'authoritarianism' tended to believe the victim if their race was the opposite of the defendants (white or of color), versus if the defendant shared the same race as their accuser. Apparently, there was not a remarkable enough interaction between the races of the victim and the defendant in the results of the 'egalitarian' students for the results to be noted in this study.

In my research, I have found that there have been many recent cases where people have been accused of something they did not do due to their race. I have found that on PBS it states, “The system is not fair. Institutional racism is alive and well in the juvenile justice system, as it is in the criminal justice system. It's easier to identify with people that are more like yourself, so if you have judges that are predominantly from that same community, they can identify. . . . The same thing happens with people who have money versus people who don't have money--if they can demonstrate a support system that can act as a safety net or think they can act as a safety net for them on the outside, judges are more prone to buy into that.” I have also looked at some other sources that give proof that criminal justice biases still exist such as an article titled “Is the Criminal-Justice System Racist,” which states, “At a presidential primary debate in 2008, Barack Obama charged that blacks and whites “are arrested at very different rates, are convicted at very different rates, [and] receive very different sentences ... for the same crime.” My final source comes from an article titled “Justice News,” from the Attorney General Holder which states that, “A recent study reported that half of African-American men have been arrested at least once by age

The Downside of the Jury System In the popular play Twelve Angry Men, by Reginald Rose, twelve men partake in a very tense jury case. She chooses to write about a murder trial where a boy was accused of stabbing and killing his father. This is the most consequential case a jury can be assigned, meaning that those twelve people have the ability to sentence someone to death. Rose shows excellent examples of how bias and inexperienced these selected people can be and how that affects the outcome of the case.

People are debating on if the American jury system still works in courtrooms. The jury system has its moments. Most of the time they put the bad guy in prison, but other times an innocent person get put in prison and being blamed for something they didn’t do. In the past , juries where a good way to come to a decision because the towns were smaller, and people knew each other. Today however, there are so many people living in an area it’s difficult to know every person, which can affect how the people on the jury see the defendant.

In an ideal world, a jury would be made up of unbiased and unprejudiced people, intelligent enough to comprehend the evidence and with the necessary verbal and social skills to contribute to discussion. In the real world however, research has shown that jury verdicts are influenced by irrelevant aspects of the defendant such as their physical attractiveness, gender, race and even their accent.