Criminal Injustice

Dear candidates,

“The Earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it” (Chief Joseph). In America however, that hasn’t happened yet. It seems like every month there is a cop shooting an unarmed black man. Or there is a black man going to jail longer than a white man for the same crime.

Black and other colored people are being convicted way harsher than white people. This means judges are still prejudice and the justice system is corrupt. I think this matter is important because a black man could do something little like sell marijuana and can get more time than that of a white man who rapes someone. According to the U.S. Commission between 2007 and 2011, sentences for black men were 19.5 percent longer than white men.

Police are wrongly stopping and arresting people of color. Officers are targeting colored people to pull them over. This is big because some black people may be serving jail time or paying tickets for being black. An example is that in New York people of color make up half of the population, but 85 percent of the NYPD stops were of colored people. Plus, when white people are stopped only 8 percent are frisked, but when black people are stopped 80 percent are frisked.

I believe it is time that you change the ways of America and bring people together. Black people are being wrongly treated in the criminal injustice system. Black people for one are getting shot for nothing with their hands up. Black people are also unfairly treated in the court.

Sincerely, Lawrence