Exp 105 Letter To Reader

The American Criminal Justice System are sets of agencies and process made by the government to control crime and to penalize those who commit it. The justice system is different based one’s jurisdiction, meaning city, state, federal or tribal government or military installation. The Criminal System is divided into two main parts, the state and the federal. The state portion handles crimes within its state boundaries. The federal portion handles crime committed on Federal property or in two or more states (“Criminal Justice” 1). The American Criminal Justice System needs reform because of its emphasizes on incarceration punishment rather than Rehabilitation. Our justice system especially enforces punishment on blacks and Latinos resulting of overpopulation of prisons like Rikers Island for petty crimes. Also, another reform needed the juvenile cases. For example, juveniles who commit petty crimes shouldn’t be sent to adult prison and shouldn’t be near more dangerous and serious inmates.

In the past years we have seen many riots and debates over the racism and inequalities in our criminal justice system. We have heard story after story, and watched video after video of police brutality and racism in America. We saw the unfair outcome of the Zimmerman and Treyvon Martin case. When George Zimmerman followed Treyvon Martin, a seventeen year old African American boy who was walking around the neighborhood, just because he looked suspicious to him. Even after notifying the police, Zimmerman followed Martin and ended up shooting him, after Zimmerman had hung up with the dispatcher who told him they did not need him

The criminal justice system in America is a system designed to work in three distinct steps. The first being to fairly identify those breaking the law, second, create a process through which to both punish and rehabilitate criminals, and lastly integrate them back into society. The current system typically goes unquestioned, as those in the system seem to be deserving of what ever happens while they are in it, even once they have served their prison sentence. It is only upon deeper inspection that we begin to realize the discrimination and unfair tactics used to introduce certain groups of society into the criminal justice system and proceed to trap them there. This is the issue addressed in Alexander’s The New Jim Crow, and it is through arrests, sentencing and further upon release from jail that this oppressive system is created and maintained.

When we think about prisons, jails, and courthouses, our minds are meant to draw a connection to cold, hard, justice and fair punishments for guilty and deserving parties. Yet, in our judicial and prison systems around the world, this idea is nowhere close to reality. From inhumane punishments, to mass incarceration, and “trapping” people in the system based on race or financial status, justice is far from being served.

Many people think they know and understand the criminal justice system based on what they see on tv on shows like criminal minds for example. However that is the version the media wants you to see. The version where the police officer becomes a hero by capturing the bad guy and thrown him off to jail. According to the author these tv shows are the modern form of the old films given back then portraying free and content slaves creating false hope and protection (Alexander 59). However those who are familiar with the criminal justice system know that the system is nothing compared to what is displayed on tv. Alexander states that we have a very harsh system, many trails never make it to court, innocent people declare themselves guilty in order to obtain a plea bargain and escape impending sentences, and children as young as fourteen in some instances being trailed as adults (Alexander 54).

The justice system was designed to put away criminals, while maintaining the security and wellbeing of society. A process is followed by trained and well educated people, yet this doesn’t go without mishaps and wrong doings. The justice system is looked upon as part of societies safety net, yet can be demonized when it falters. The case of the West Memphis 3 is a case of injustice, while showing how easily the justice system can fail us, yet how important it is to our society to get it right. Between the detectives, the prosecution, and the public, three teenagers, Michael Wayne (Damien) Echols, Charles Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Loyd Misskelley Jr., were wrongly convicted and as of today the real killers are still out there. Twenty-three years

One would be hard pressed to argue that the criminal justice system in America is perfect. Everyday, countless headlines can be seen nationwide about some perceived injustice within the courts. Our criminal justice system is no different than our society wherein special people get special consideration, men and women are held to different standards, and so forth and so on. As an American, I have accepted these facts of life. I am a father of two boys, a varsity baseball coach and a police veteran of 17 years. In my experience as a father, coach and police veteran, I have seen and heard it all.

There is a very evident problem with racism in the United States Criminal Justice System. Society chooses to ignore this problem because many do not think they are a part of it. What they do not understand is they are a part of society, therefore a part of the problem. Even if a particular person is not doing anything to cause this problem directly, they are not helping the situation either. Society has to become aware of this issue and stop pretending as though it is something that will go away on its own. Others need to become aware of this issue so they can not only make others aware, but so they can find out the exact source of the problem and how to fix it before it is too late. The United States is supposed to be a free country where people feel safe, yet there are issues still happening today that people like Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and others fought and risked their lives to change. Society likes to look back on history and say that things are different and the country has come so far and that everyone is equal. However, today’s news and statistics show that is not the case at all. If we do not take action now, we will be right back where we started. Many races are not treated fairly by citizens of this county and even the United States Criminal Justice System, especially African Americans. Nationwide, African Americans are stopped, searched, arrested, and incarcerated at rates much higher than people of other races.

To say that our justice system in America is perfect, is far from the truth. Dating back to slavery and Jim Crow, race has been an extremely heated issue. The only way to inform people about the racial problems is to actually discuss it. Arguments can be made that our criminal justice system is fair and just. However, you cannot take away from the fact that black Americans are receiving injustice from the corrupt legal system we have today. Statistics show that black Americans are more likely to have their cars searched, more likely to be arrested for drug use, and more likely to receive longer sentences for the same crime that a white American committed.

The justice system has a lot of holes that need to be patched but no one is willing to identify that there is a problem our police departments should have a new way of training and work on how they approach people because they have the same rights as them they just have a badge and a uniform to make them feel different or that they have higher power. And lastly people have to recognized they are people to because when they go home and take that uniform off they are in the same predicament as

In order to understand the state of our criminal justice system, I believe we must understand the criminal justice in the past and how similar it is when compared. For example, slavery which was once considered illegal after the civil war, was used as punishment in the criminal justice system (13th). This undoubtedly served the powerful people in power, which was still whites and they used it to their advantage. “Blacks were convicted for minor offenses and forced back into slavery to repair the south after the Civil War” (13th). Furthermore, the same reasoning can be applied to today’s Criminal Justice system, most people of color are incarcerated for petty offenses and becoming felons. Although, this may not seem as harmful as the effects of slavery, however, one can argue it is an advanced version of slavery. “Those who are felons have no voting rights, limited employment, provide free

The purpose of this paper has several different agendas. Firstly, I will describe a firsthand experience of the justice system through the eyes of a friend of mine, whom I recently had the fortunate opportunity to sit down and interview him for his full story. Secondly, I briefly will examine the current justice system, using my friends experience. And finally, I will expound on some of my opinions of the current justice system after listening to my friends story, and discuss some of the new insight I received while doing this paper along with the readings provided in my class, 'Intro to Criminal Justice '. My friends name is Marshall Ward, he was a former inmate for less than a year as a result of him finding himself in the 'wrong place at the wrong time '. I also want to add that perhaps him being with the wrong crowd did not help his case at all. Marshall is a former co-worker of mine and we have managed to stay in touch over the years since my husband and I have moved out of state. I interviewed him via Skype last week, asking him not only for his side of the story alone, but to also listen to his views about the current justice system. I asked him if he felt it was an effective system, and what things could be changed for the better. I also took note on what he felt needed to be changed.

The American justice system is flawed in various ways and does not set an example for countries around the world. The laws are set to create equality but the way they are carried out creates a divide. The American justice system has created even more tension between races because different races, religions, and ethnicities get different sentences for similar crimes. There is too much prejudice and favoring. Those with money or power have an advantage in the system and have the upper hand when it comes to prison sentences and dealing with the judicial system. Corruption along with various other elements is taking the United States Judicial System down a path that will turn fantasy into

The Criminal Justice system is very flawed here in the United States and could use so much work. The one thing that is a serious issue in today’s Criminal Justice system would have to be Police misconduct/Police brutality. Some police officers tend to believe that because they are a part of law enforcement they feel like they are above the law. This isn’t a good mentality to have while you are supposed to serve and protect. When a police officer does something he/she isn’t supposed to do it’s like they know they won’t get into trouble because let’s be honest, a police officer’s word vs a regular person in the community’s word. Most of the time that police officer will get away with whatever it is and that is just the sad truth. When most people think about the police these days they are scared. Not because they should be because no one should be afraid of the police, after all they are here to serve and protect. This is how things should be when it comes to the police and people in the community. People should be able to trust police officers and feel comfortable instead of afraid when they are around, but the recent string of events that has been going on with police officers has everyone on edge when they are around police officers. This isn’t how things should be. All of law enforcement shouldn’t take the blame for just a few other police officer’s mishaps

In modern time the United States is home to 2,193,798 incarcerated inmates. That is 645,300 people more than the second leading nation with mass incarceration. But the issue isn't about a person being caught for minor crimes or crimes in general, the problem is that police officers are mainly targeting minorities and throwing them in jail for minor crimes such as loitering. Some people see this mass incarceration of minorities as a threat to not only minorities but to a country full of injustice. And every president who has so-called try to help decline mass incarceration across the nation or to make our country great again have in fact made the situation worse than it was before. African Americans, Latinos, and Hispanics have always been targeted by police officers and only because of their skin color for looking “suspicious of having a weapon” but we can change that. We can have our police officers open their eyes and actually see who they're targeting and who really is the bad guy in this whole dilemma.