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Jasmine Hatter

Carrie Hatfield

English 1302

1 April 2020

How can we end racial inequality in the american justice system?

The racial divide in mass incarceration has always been a problem as a sign of

systematic racism. It is evident that people of color are more susceptible to be

incarcerated than white people. This crisis has been going on for a long time and has hit

its peak as soon as the “War on Drugs” started. Although Americans have things like

criminal justice reform, even the little things that they do seem to not help against the

fight to lower the incarceration rates. A black man and a white man can be arrested for

the same offense, but oftentimes, the black man will receive a more severe and unjust

punishment than the white man. This is based on systematic racism due to the fact that

most judges have a say on how long anyone is incarcerated and how severe their

punishment can be. Some judges tend to have no structure and deal the sentence

however they would like. Although people can not change racism, they can change the

manner in which judges are permitted to sentence. The government should enforce

stricter laws on the way judges are allowed to make legal rulings, change the way police

learn how to be police officers, and give prosecutors better evidence so they can do their

job correctly.

Judges have the power to interpret and apply existing laws, so judges are allowed

to decide any defendant’s guilt or innocence. Most people expected for judges to be

impartial and to interpret the meaning of laws to the best of their ability. When it comes

to constitutional documents and legislation, judges are allowed to use judicial

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interpretation. Judicial interpretation is the way judges are allowed to judge the laws.

Judges interpret the laws based on their state or the county in many different ways. The

judicial interpretation gives judges the freedom to interpret laws that cannot be

sustained by the meaning of the law, or they can interpret laws the way they were

written to be interpreted. Following the lines of judicial interpretation, there are two

sides of it, which are judicial activism and judicial restraint. Judicial activism is more

commonly used to interpret the law in a way that the judges would like to and tend to

lean towards their idea or desired outcome, regardless of how the law was written.

Judicial restraint is when a judge does not include their own personal thoughts when

having legal proceedings or rulings. The majority of judges should practice judicial

restraint due to the fact that it is unfair for people to be judged just by meets the eye.

According to the Washington post, “black men are sentenced to harsher punishments

than white people although committing the same crime” (Ingraham,2017). According to

the United States Sentencing Commission, “black men who commit the same crime as

white men receive a federal sentence on average nearly 20% longer”(Schmitt,2018). If

judges were told to only rule in the judicial restraint manner, it lowers the amount of

unfair rulings leading to substantially fewer racially based hearings. There was also a

study done by the United States Sentencing Commission, where they reported “black

male offenders on average have been sentenced to jail longer by 20% in similar cases

than white male offenders” (Schmitt,2018). To come to a conclusion, they divided them

into groups from a range of how bad or severe the crime was. The Sentencing

Commission’s study also suggested that the “judge’s decision to reduce the sentences

was on their own and that they didn’t need a request from the

prosecutor”(Schmitt,2018). The report showed that “black men were about 22% less
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likely to receive a reduced sentence from the judge without a request from the

prosecutor than a white man”(Schmitt,2018). Judges should not be allowed to make

these decisions on their own and that they should have at least one other person with

contrasting views than the original judge to authorize their decision.

Police officers also play a major role in the increase of racial inequality in mass

incarceration. Every other day, people see on the news something about a person of

color being arrested based on the description of skin color, but oftentimes the person

who was arrested had nothing to do with the actual crime. In police academies, police

officers are taught that racial profiling is okay even though to them, it’s not called that.

Instead, they claim that they are just doing their job and trying to find people who look

suspicious, although anyone can be suspicious. It does not need to be based on the

shade of their skin. According to the Washington Post, many retired police officers say

“when it comes to racial profiling: it never happens... and it works” (Balko,2018)

meaning they’re not supposed to do it but when they do it always works. People who are

supposed to be protecting the american people, seem to be stopping people based on

their darker complexion. Police should be taught about the aneurysms that make people

suspicious, not skin color. For example, Texas made it legal to racially profile people,

giving jail time for anyone who resists increasing the number of immigrants in Texas

jails. Police should be taught about the movements and actions of criminals rather than

the skin color of people who may commit those crimes. According to the Barbara

O’Brien from the Michigan State College of law, “black prisoners who have been

convicted of murder are 50% more likely to be innocent than any other murderers of any

other race”(O’Brien,2016). Barbara also mentions that “many wrongful convictions are

never discovered”(O’Brien,2016), and she blames police officers, prosecutors, and

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judges because they never seem to recognize a problem. Many police officers continue to

racially profile and wrongfully convict innocent people every day. Police officers are not

to be blamed for doing their job, but the way they are taught to do their job is wrong.

Reforming the way police officers are allowed to arrest and detain people could lower

the rates of racial disparities in mass incarceration. Police officers have a record for

arresting people just on skin color only. After two black men were Arrested at a

Philadelphia Starbucks for wanting to use the restroom, Starbucks had to implement a

training to teach “people not to be racist”. According to TIME News, “scientists and

researchers state that one time education program isn’t enough to combat racism”

(Calfas,2018). It is important that police officers start early with their unbiased training

for better ways to stop people from doing something malicious.

Prosecutors have sent countless innocent people to jail over something they have

never been affiliated with. According to the National Registry of Exonerations, “African-

Americans are more likely than white people to be wrongfully convicted of

murder”(Winerip,2016). Most Americans seen or heard about “The Central Park Five”

case and how they were wrongfully accused of assault, sexual harassment, and

attempted murder. Five young boys were persuaded by police to incriminate themselves

by saying they had something to do with the crime in order to protect themselves,

friends, and family. The police officers involved deprived the kids of food, water, and

sleep for more than 24 hours in order to get a response that was suitable for them. Even

though the boys did not test positive in any of the DNA test, they still found a way to

charge them with attempted murder, rape, assault, and riot. Police officers as well as the

prosecutors stripped these black men of a bright future and stole the rest of their

childhood. Linda Fairstein, the prosecutor of the trial was said to do anything to catch
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the criminals who have beaten, raped, and left the woman for dead. Prosecutors should

not rush cases, especially when they do not have all the evidence. Prosecutors should

take into consideration that people's lives and futures are at stake. A prosecutor should

have at least two credible and unchangeable evidence before convicting someone of a

crime.

Judges, police officers, and prosecutors are giving too much freedom to change

someone’s life based on their complexion. The way people are chosen should take more

thought and consideration before acting on that action, because a lot of people are being

hurt and torn apart from their families due to short processing elements. Most

Americans believe that rules are set in place for people to follow them so that when you

break the law, you should go to jail. Laws are put in place to be followed and criminals

should go to jail if these laws are broken but our justice system should be fair, and since

the justice system seems to be broken, how can anyone know who should really be in

jail. However, most Americans believe that people shouldn’t be punished based on how

they look. The law should be fair and unbiased, but with the freedom and training given

to judges and police officers, they have the freedom to change someone's life for the

worst forever. If people are going to be biased to one race they should have that same

judgement towards everyone. America founded on what is right for all american people

so it should still be based on what is fair and right for all american citizens. Once judges,

police officers, and prosecutors start understanding that the job should be handled in a

more appropriate way, maybe once this happens America can end the racial disparities

that are ruining the american experience for the people living in the country.
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Work Cited

Balko, Radley. “Opinion | There's Overwhelming Evidence That the Criminal-

Justice System Is Racist. Here's the Proof.” The Washington Post, WP Company,

18 Sept. 2018,

www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2018/09/18/theres-

overwhelming-evidence-that-the-criminal-justice-system-is-racist-heres-the-

proof/.

Burkhardt, Brett C. “Criminal Punishment, Labor Market Outcomes, and

Economic Inequality: Devah Pager’s Marked: Race, Crime, and Finding Work in

an Era of Mass Incarceration.” Law & Social Inquiry, vol. 34, no. 4, Fall 2009,

pp. 1039–1060. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/j.1747-4469.2009.01172.x.

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Calfas, Jennifer. “Inside Starbucks' Racial Bias Training, According to Employees.”

Time, Time, 30 May 2018, time.com/5294343/starbucks-employees-racial-bias-

training/.

Ingraham, Christopher. “Black Men Sentenced to More Time for Committing the

Exact Same Crime as a White Person, Study Finds.” The Washington Post, WP

Company, 16 Nov. 2017,

www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/11/16/black-men-sentenced-to-

more-time-for-committing-the-exact-same-crime-as-a-white-person-study-

finds/.

Gerstmann, Evan. “Where Is Equal Protection? Applying Strict Scrutiny to Use of

Race by Law Enforcement.” Harvard Journal on Racial & Ethnic Justice, vol. 29,

Spring 2013, pp. 1–31. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=a9h&AN=92007992&site=ehost-live.

O’Brien, Barbra. “African-Americans More Likely to Be Wrongfully Convicted.”

Research at Michigan State University, research.msu.edu/innocent-african-

americans-more-likely-to-be-wrongfully-convicted/.

Philogene, Meikhel M. “Why the Black Man Is Really Gray.” National Lawyers

Guild Review, vol. 75, no. 3, Spring 2019, pp. 1–20. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=a9h&AN=138875041&site=ehost-live.

Schmitt, Glenn R.“Demographic Differences in Sentencing.” United States

Sentencing Commission, 24 Jan. 2018, www.ussc.gov/research/research-

reports/demographic-differences-sentencing.
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Winerip, Michael, et al. “For Blacks Facing Parole in New York State, Signs of a

Broken System.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 Dec. 2016,

www.nytimes.com/2016/12/04/nyregion/new-york-prisons-inmates-parole-

race.html.