Domestic Policy: Criminal Justice System; Racial Injustice
One of the most horrific actions that could deprive a person of his rights and freedom is the wrongful arrest or conviction. Throughout American history, people of color have always found themselves in a vulnerable state, being unreasonably maltreated through the criminal justice system. Racial injustices within the American criminal justice system are based on police brutality, racial profiling, selective enforcement, sentencing, imprisonment, as well as the death penalties. The federal policies on arrest, sentencing, and incarceration have greatly contributed to a mass arrest of people of color especially the African-American males, as well as increased police brutality. This essay highlights why racial injustice has become a serious problem within the criminal justice system. The essay also draws attention to several attempts that have been put in place to deal with the issue previously and why they have failed including circumstantial evidence for several cases where the criminal justice system has unethically profiled the people of color. The paper concludes by highlighting what should be done, on policy implementation, to address racial injustice.
Every person of color walking in the streets of the United States, driving, travelling or walking in the streets has been a victim of racial profiling (Weatherspoon, 2014). From the evidence, people of color are the most targeted by law enforcers in the United States. Laws that influence arrest and conviction usually bring about injustices in the justice system. Technically, our justice system is meant to protect and preserve all American’s basic constitutional rights—American citizens trust the justice system to protect their rights and enhance freedom for all regardless of race, gender, age, or religion. However, the extent to which the American citizens perceive their protection receives a different perception from the criminal justice system. People of color often feel that their rights as American citizens have been marginalized and violated by the same system that is supposed to protect them. For the most part, the justice system has allowed and to some extent permitted the idea of racism as a motivating factor in public law enforcement (Weatherspoon, 2014). Such actions committed by individuals trusted with law enforcement and people’s safety corrupts the idea of Americans as having undeniable rights.
The rise in protests across the streets of the United States has been stimulated by a need to come up with policy platforms that will ensure that public laws are rightfully enforced, people’s constitutional rights are protected, and that racial profiling is no longer a motivating factor in public law enforcement. In other words, in their zeal to dispute the wrong approaches to law enforcement, protesters are seeking to end the issue of police brutality, arrest, and conviction of people of color. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement is one of such protests and is well known as a history that has and is still being written on advocating for the right treatment of people of color. The advocates of the movement argue that identity plays a significant role in the fight for freedom. According to King (2018), the BLM movement has so far influenced U.S. politics. Currently, in the United States, the BLM movement has taken over all that is going on including the Covid-19 pandemic which is hard to believe. The killing of George Floyd has sparked outrage across all fifty states and brought people together to fight against the governments across all domains for the end of systematic oppression against people of color.
Similar cases of racial profiling have in the past showed up in the popular media. Such cases cover the likes George Junius Stinney, Jr., a rather small child who was brought to death by an electric chair is one of the stories that are distressing to read about—the fate that a fourteen-year-old was subjected to in the face of an already established criminal justice system. Stinney Jr. was convicted of the murder of two teenage girls of white origin seven decades ago. His conviction, however, took a different turn in 2014 where it was affirmed that the boy did not have a fair trial (Toussaint, 2020). The case documentary expounds on the criminal justice system and the federal policies’ failures. The death penalty law that is lawful in thirty-one states of America, with people of color covering around 40% of all individuals on execution row (Criminal Justice Project, 2017), disproportionately affects people of color. This occurs regardless of the fact that people of color account for around 13% of the United States residents.
The United States institutional systems have more people of color who have been arrested and involuntarily placed to serve in jails for extended periods or for a lifetime (Weatherspoon, 2006). In addition, these people have been denied their rights to vote, obtain an education, and are harshly punished for crimes they have not even committed. Looking back, it feels like the Justice Department; police, prosecutors, and defense lawyers have for long failed to do their job. The killing of Trayvon Martin (2013) and Michael Brown (2014) inspired a deeper look at institutional systems and forces, mainly the law enforcement and criminal justice systems that are involved in the shaping of the lives and deaths of people of color. The Justice Department eventually took part in the investigations detailing how police forces had strategically targeted people of color for arrest and fines to add-on millions of dollars into the pockets of city coffers (Chaney, 2015).
Other reforms have been put in place to vindicate racial justice and ensure justice for all. The reforms aim at upholding the constitutional rights of individuals regardless of their backgrounds (Varghese et al., 2019). The goals are consistent with emphasizing social justice and cultural competence. Most reforms have acknowledged the inequities found within the criminal justice system and have come up with ways to dismantle racism within society and focus on the prejudice that is inherent within the criminal justice system. They seek to comprehend and approach the national justice system, based on the heightened cases of racial disagreements within the criminal justice system (Varghese et al., 2019). However, plans to promote justice within the present criminal justice system have in most cases ended into street protests.
Formerly, the BLM movement has been avoiding attempts to engage with the law enforcers and electoral politics (King, 2018). However, current trends have shown that the BLM movement does not end in the street protests, but it is now beginning to issue its demands through political systems and policymaking systems (Greenblatt, 2016). Black activists have made bids for states leadership, for instance, activist DeRay Mckesson ran for Baltimor’s mayor seat in 2016. The BLM movement has also been greatly involved in state elections—by simply participating in unseating prosecutors in Cleveland and Chicago who have been identified as being incompetent in the quest for justice ensuing police brutality and accountability (Camp and Heatherton, 2016).
Street protests have always signaled a new era of advocating for civil rights. As the BLM movement fights to have government officials accountable for the injustices, some Black elected officials are also focused on advocating for change in criminal justice policies and law enforcement (Greenblatt, 2016). Elected government officials have joined in the reforms by hosting forums on topics of criminal justice policies and law enforcement. They also push while pushing Congress to work on legislation. The BLM movement has so far helped mobilize individuals and brands. The BLM movement has turned into more than just a hashtag and it now includes over fifty other racial justice establishments (King, 2018).
However, translating anger over police brutality and accountability, and the economic effect of mass imprisonment into the new policies requires individuals who are ready to take a relentless approach. So far, we have seen a lot of street marches and protests, but the aspect of policy and strategy has not been fully identified. A number of things need to be done to ensure that the policies and strategies that have been set up to ensure racial justice within the criminal justice system reflect on the national policy system. The changes are to be made on both the law enforcement and prosecution practices to correct the identified violation of civil rights. To ensure justifiable and workable reforms, these measures will be required to part of the prosecution process which includes all community stakeholders as well as single individuals.
First, there is a need for a strong system of state policing. The government needs to shift its policymaking to partnering with American citizens. Developing such relationships requires sacrificing a great amount of time and considerable effort (Greenblatt, 2016). Law enforcement officers also need to have frequent interactions with citizens. These interactions should occur outside the enforcement context, especially to groups that for the past express high levels of distrust for police officers, especially the people of color.
The criminal justice system also needs to change its approach to stops and searches, and arrests and convictions (Chaney, 2015). Police officers too, need to abide by the law. Police officers are supposed to take action on crimes in a way that upholds public safety and not just acting because they hold the legal powers. The police officers should also have a documented supervisory approval before issuing charges on suspects, and arresting suspects on issues of resisting arrest, failure to comply, misconduct, or obstructing government operations (Chaney, 2015). The law enforcement system should also discontinue the use of forceful stops and forbid police officers from directing stops and searches, and arresting individuals on the basis of commands that have been given by other agencies.
There exist a notable difference in the approach taken by elected government officials and the protest movements. The elected officials’ approach includes top police officers and establishments to part of the advocacy process. That, especially, might not be welcomed with the activist domain. However, American citizens need to understand that if the law enforcement officers are part of the problem, then they need to take part in coming up with a solution for the same. Elected officials have long fought for racial justice and intended to make the criminal justice system and policing a top priority in presidential campaigns. Therefore, to ensure that meaningful legislation has been put in place by the time we are having the next presidential elections, elected members should be given a chance to represent the movements at a political level.
Already, elected government officials that form the 20/20 Club are pushing on issues that concern racial injustices. Lately, they have hosted a debate on criminal justice issues that have drawn presidential candidates from both parties. Ted James of Louisiana, a member of the club argues that their aim is to incorporate similar policies that touch on people of color to silent the demands of the BLM movement (Toussaint, 2020). That does not mean that the elected officials are trying to quiet such movements and the movement’s concerns or dismiss them in any way. The rise in distrust and unrest between the people of color and the police officers have led to a need to try to come up with a common ground where such pressing issues that touch on a minority group can be addressed, on a cross-party basis, where possible. The BLM movement should, therefore, be ready to approve such reforms in order to reduce cases of racial injustices within the criminal justice system.
High-profile forums, whether in form of televised speeches or debates, go a long way in drawing attention to any pressing issue. The government, therefore, should be concerned with using more of such channels especially now that they can no longer hold public gatherings, to talk on the question of racial injustices and the heightened street protests. The best approach that can lead to a policy change is very different from the ongoing protests which do not fully identify aspects of policy and strategy. The approach does not also have to be done in opposition to the movements and the activists. We all play a different and important role. Therefore, there is a need for activists, elected leaders, and law enforcers to join hands and address racial injustice within the criminal justice system.
References
Toussaint, J. (2020). Jurisprejudice: Acknowledging the Factor of Race in The Legal System, A Discussion on Wrongful Conviction. FAU Undergraduate Law Journal, 1(1), 56-56.
Witherspoon, F. D. (2006). The mass incarceration of African-American males: A return to institutionalized slavery, oppression, and disenfranchisement of constitutional rights. Tex. Wesleyan L. Rev., 13, 599.
Varghese, F. P., Israel, T., Seymour, G., Becker Herbst, R., Suarez, L. G., & Hargons, C. (2019). Injustice in the Justice System: Reforming Inequities for True “Justice for All”. The Counseling Psychologist, 47(5), 682-740.
Weatherspoon, F. (2014). Racial injustice in the criminal justice system. In African-American Males and the US Justice System of Marginalization: A National Tragedy (pp. 17-74). Palgrave Pivot, New York.
Criminal Justice Project. (2017). Death Row U.S.A. Retrieved from http://www.naacpldf.org/files/about-us/DRUSASpring2017.pdf
King, J. (2018). How Black Lives Matter Has Changed US Politics. New internationalist.
Chaney, C. (2015). Institutional Racism: Perspectives on the Department of Justice’s Investigation of the Ferguson Police Department. Western Journal of Black Studies, 39(4).
Greenblatt, A. (2016). Turning Black Lives Matter Protests into Policy. Governing: The States and Localities, May. https://www.governing.com/topics/politics/gov-black-lives-matter-protests.html
Camp, J. T., & Heatherton, C. (Eds.). (2016). Policing the planet: Why the policing crisis led to Black Lives Matter. Verso Books.