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Quinn Nadeau
Donna Greer
Krista Plummer-Halog
Devin Barnes
Matt Angi
February 18, 2015
English 3 P.3
Ms. Larson
Discrimination in the U.S. Justice Administration
Injustices against minorities have resulted in large scale community uproar. Surely the
injustices that occurred magnifies an underlying problem with the U.S. justice system, but not
everyone agrees on what the problem is, or even if there truly is one. The main concern people
have is if the U.S. justice system needs to be changed. Of course, with every concern or question
such as this there are those who are in support and those who are in opposition, and with them,
their arguments of why or why not it should be changed.
Over the course of the years, racial profiling is one of the biggest controversies in
American history. Simmering distrust that exists between too many communities(New York
Times) said Mark Landler, shows that discrimination against blacks has escalated to the point
that everyone is losing trust in Police Departments, including whites. Charles M. Blow stated
that White Americans overestimate the proportion of crime committed by people of color, and
associate people of color with criminality(New York Times), he suggests that because caucasian
americans are white, if they see anyone who is not white doing something, which could be
completely innocent, they just have to do something about it, as if it is a really big issue that a

black or latino person is out in public. These impulsive actions are cause for instigation between
the races.
Racial profiling has even been used by normal average white americans. It turns out that
theyoverestimate the proportion of crime committed by people of color, and associate people of
color with criminality...by 20-30 percent(New York Times). This shows that there is a huge
problem with the community having a racial bias against hispanic and african americans. A poll
from The Times/CBS has found 45 percent of african americans compared to just 7 percent of
whites believe they have experienced a specific instance of discrimination by the police because
of their color(New York Times). Clearly, it is wrong to get polling results where both groups
have experienced these instances of discrimination, and this evidence shows that this is an actual
problem that needs to be addressed. Laws and legislation need to be enforced so there is a change
in views and in reality so that less hate and profiling is within the communities.
A clear reason why the U.S. Justice system needs to be reformed is that someone
shouldnt be accused of a crime for having a particular skin color, religious belief, or last name.
This reasoning has also been reinforced by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.s statement: I
have made clear that profiling by law enforcement is not only wrong it is misguided and
ineffective (Washington Post). When a man of such stature talks about the problem it should
help lead to further decisions in limiting how law enforcement and other government entities
take race, religion, or skin color into account. When it comes down to it, there should be a plan
instituted to enforce laws to stop racial profiling.

On the other hand, an example of why there is little to no need for further legislation in
the courts is that there are already plenty of measures taken to stop discriminations in the
courtroom. In San Francisco, a federal court became the first in the U.S. to rule that jurors may

not be excluded based on their sexual orientation. This gives those who are gay and lesbian the
chance to articulate their values and put forward their opinions while on a jury. Another positive
impact of the ruling is, as said by Jon W. Davidson, Its likely to have a significant impact on
other cases(Los Angeles Times). This ruling proves invaluable for people of different sexual
orientation not only in the court system, but in the advocacy of gay rights for it makes it harder to
rule against cases involving same sex marriage. In general, this ruling shows that measures have
been taken already to rid discrimination out of a court setting.
The Herald wrote an article explaining how reform is unnecessary even for hate crimes
such as those enacted against Joshua Esskew. The Herald stated we are confident that existing
state laws provide law enforcement agencies the latitude to arrest and prosecute those who beat
up Joshua Esskew [who is openly gay](McClatchy - Tribune Business News). It is wrong to
commit a violent crime against someone for the reason of their sexual orientation, ethnicity,
religion, or sex, but it does not make the crime any better if it were done for no reason at all. The
people who had committed this crime against Esskew will already be punished for what they
have done, there is no point to adding extra charges of hate crime.
While in the United States, racial profiling has grown rapidly over the past century,
despite this, many Americans have pushed for a difference, some in open protest, and some in the
courtroom. In the course of this controversy, millions of americans have been left with distrust in
the police and other law enforcement while others still believe there is no problem and it just
plainly needs to be left alone. The question still remains: does the government need to change the
way it makes its decisions?

Works Cited
Blow, Charles M. Crime and Punishment. New York Times [New York] 1 Dec. 2014: n.
pag. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.
Dolan, Maura. Court Upholds Rights of Gay Jurors. Los Angeles Times [Los Angeles]
22 Jan. 2014: n. pag. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.
The Herald. Hate Crime Law Unnecessary. McClatchy - Tribune Business News
[Milwaukee] 29 Apr. 2011: n. pag. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.
Heath, Brad. Blacks Arrested up to Ten Times More. USA Today: n. pag. SIRS Issues
Researcher. Web. 28 Jan. 2015.
Horwitz, Sari. Profiling Restrictions Expand. Washington Post [Washington] 9 Dec.
2014: n. pag. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.
Natarajan, Ranjama. Racial Profiling Has Destroyed Public Trust in Police.
Washington Post [Washington] 15 Dec. 2014: n. pag. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 29
Jan. 2015.