Injustice in the Judicial System
Dear Next President, Are you aware of the current condition of our current Judicial System and the state of our prisons? I firmly believe that they are both corrupt. Today, it seems likely that a minority would receive a harsher punishment for a crime, than if the same crime was committed by a caucasian. Is that not a sign that we need a reform in our system? Strong evidence leads me to the fact that biased caucasian judges are a part of the reason. A report by the Huffington Post states that minorities make up 10% of the 12,000 judges in our State/Federal courts. This means that minorities are left with White judges who can’t relate with them in any way, which leads to biased decision making along with a lack of empathy for the individual. According to the NAACP, “African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites”. The odds the statistics being a coincidence are low. Minorities in society are ultimately the majority in US prisons’. In an Interview from PBS, Judge Cordell speaks of an idea to reform the way criminals are sentenced. She says that the individuals sent to trial should be placed with a judge with a similar ethnicity and/or background. This would prevent the judge from making biased decisions in their sentencing. It does sound like a hard task, but I believe that it would solve many problems regarding minorities receiving harsher punishments. Based off of statistics, African Americans are treated the worse. The NAACP states that, although there are 5 times more reported White drug users than African Americans, African Americans are imprisoned 10 times the rate of Whites; Furthermore, the length of their sentences for drug offenses are equivalent to the violent sentences of Whites. Does that sound like justice to you? Many of these prisoners (around ⅔), commit more crimes and land right back where they were. They adapt to the prison lifestyle and can no longer function in society. It was my understanding that prison is supposed to reform criminals. I thought that prison is supposed to make you change, so you don’t return there ever again. No way can it be justifiable to send someone who has made the wrong choice with non-violent crimes to the same place murders, rapists, etc go, for the same amount of time. I hope that you took time to read my letter to come to a realization that our entire Judicial System needs to reformed. Many aspects of it are corrupt and destroy many minorities’ lives. Our judges need to be more diverse, to prevent biased sentencing. Also, our judges need to sentence everyone for their crime in a reasonable manner, regardless of race and background.
