Dear Madame/Mr. President:

The criminal justice system is an important thing to focus on. I think that the criminal justice system is important to focus on because it helps reinforce laws to make our country a safe environment and to make us citizens feel secure. However, the criminal justice system has become unfair. We are starting to judge people based on their race, religion, and gender, and sometimes even age. Rather than focusing on making us citizens feel protected and content, they are scaring people from committing a crime. But does this really help? Is being more strict on crime leading to worse circumstances?

We need to notice that all people are equal. We need to not assume someone is bad because of how they present themselves, or by their skin color. We need to make sure that we actually know the people before making assumptions. We need to understand that fear causes more of a conflict than peace. Such as how the news is constantly showing all the horrible things terrorists do, they focus on the Muslims that aren't good which makes us biased against that whole religion, thinking everyone is bad. More people are going to respond negatively if he/she feels threatened, or in fear of something. When the cops in Baltimore were using violence towards people, others were starting to get annoyed after the death of Freddie Gray, who was arrested for holding a switchblade. When trying to cover up his death as an accident, citizens started protesting, that lead to violence. It isn’t right for us to judge people by how they look, and then hurt them because we feel they’re a threat. For example, when my cousin was with his group of friends. When walking past a house, a man saw them and somehow thought they were going to break into his house when knocking on his door for directions. Because of this, my cousin was shot and killed. The guy was never arrested for this, because he described my cousin as being a troubled child.

In order to stop these things from happening, there needs to be more control in the criminal justice system, and not to let violent cops be hired. Rather than fear, show citizens that they don't need to be afraid, and are going to start protecting people from real threats, and not innocent people. Also, to not judge people on their appearance and race, that we all have a story, we all are equal, and skin color doesn’t make a difference.

Sincerely,

Destiny