Ian Haney Lopez, a Professor at Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley primarily works in the areas of racial justice and American law. Lopez is also the author of White by Law, The Legal Construction of Race, which presents a critical look at how race has been recognized by law and it’s legal actors such as judges and policy makers throughout history. The author mainly focuses on analyzing prerequisite cases that in affect, have changed the way that race is perceived today. The book particularly focuses on the legal and social construction of whiteness.…
Officer Nighthorse acted in this case just as any officer should have. When he received the call to the Qwiki Mart, he rushed over and received descriptions of the burglar from both the victim and the clerk. After finding Jesse Caufield, a teen who matched the description of the robber, he also discovered the victim’s wallet and a wet Blazers hat in Jesse’s possession. These two pieces of evidence further suggested Jesse Caufield as the thief. The officer did his job by handcuffing the teen.…
Black and White mock jurors read a transcript of the trial that stated the defendant 's race and celebrity status. Results confirmed a “Black racism” hypothesis, since Black jurors favored Black over White defendants by voting not guilty more often, basically saying they would be more lenient sentences and judging them more positively. In contrast, White jurors did not differentiate between Black and White defendants. The defendant 's celebrity status did not affect verdicts or sentencing but did influence other judgments. These results state that race rather than status more likely influenced with the Simpson…
Democratic societies like Canada and the United States follow the unwritten and underlying principle of “rule of law”. The rule of law ensure that a certain level of procedural justice are achieved in trials, as they provide the court with a basic grid of evaluation. However, such procedural processes were not respected in the Bryant-Milam trial, as the the two social categories of race and social class tarnished the processes of the trial, fostering impartial judicial proceedings and ultimately disallowing justice. The trials ability in achieving justice was deterred as occupational status and race contaminated and fostered impartiality amongst the jury, the witnesses and the provided evidence; three of the fundamental components of a judicial proceedings.…
I was shocked to hear of these behaviors that occur in courtrooms. I have never had to go to court but I would be appalled to see judges and attorneys acting in those manners. Although this is not everything discussed in chapter one, it is the main ideas and the ones that truly shocked me and stood out to me. The second chapter, Gonzalez Van Cleve leads off with discussing that although criminal courts claim to be “color blind,” they still treat the defendants as lower class individuals who deserve nothing than the worst punishment. In cases where crimes were committed in self-defense, this is particularly harmful because the defendants are still treated as heartless criminals even though they were simply trying to escape a dangerous situation.…
3 Favorite Books If I had to list three books that inspired my way of thinking, it would the Autobiographies of an Ex-Colored Man by James Weldon Johnson, The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander Parker, and The Cosmopolitan Canopy by Elijah Anderson. These books exposed me to the realities of the world we live in. The Autobiographies of an Ex-Colored man displayed the constant struggle of a biracial child navigating through a world of privilege, racism, and oppression while simultaneously, searching for his identity. Although both of my parents are African Americans, the constant confliction of seeking acceptance in places where a person may not belong is a lesson that resonated with me through James Weldon Johnson’s story. According to the Myers-Briggs personality test, I am extroverted, intuitive, thinking, and judgmental(ENTJ).…
Here it is evident that the Supreme Court completely ignores its responsibility to protect minorities as prosecutors are granted the ability to use their preemptive strikes in racially- motived ways so long as they do not explicitly state their racism. The Court ruled in Batson v. Kentucky that prosecutors are prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race when selecting juries (Alexander, 116). However, prosecutors have found a way to work around this ruling, which has been deemed completely legal by the Supreme Court decision in Purkett v.…
Historically, America has been predisposed towards racism against African-Americans. However, Americans, for the past century, have effectively ignored the issues with race that the American society still faces in the criminal justice system. In his TED Talk entitled “We need to talk about an injustice,” Bryan Stevenson addresses the issues with the American criminal justice system by detailing the problems and showing the important role the citizens of American can play. Although the topic is a serious one, Stevenson discusses the issues with elegance and carefulness and is able to effectively persuade his audience. Before delving into the information that Stevenson provides in his speech, it is essential to evaluate the setting that Stevenson…
Discrimination in the Justice System August 9th began as any other day for young Michael Brown of Ferguson, Missouri. Little did he know that walking down the street would end his life in just a blink of an eye. Officer Darren Wilson, who ruined the Brown family and took an innocent life by mistake, will not suffer nor be punished. It is moments like these when society must come to realize the obvious discrimination in the justice system. African Americans, especially, but minorities of all color and ethnicity, have been victim to endless amounts of prejudice.…
This paper is going to explore the complex issues involving law enforcement’s often unfair treatment of African Americans and the effects it has. My intention is to explore the unfair application of laws, arrest and incarcerations rates, and sentencing disparities between races. Racial disparities have recently been thrust into the spotlight in the United States after a series of controversial instances where the African American community felt that justice was not served and that the justice system itself was biased against them. Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown chief among these cases.…
Introduction The article Racially Based Jury Nullification: Black Power in the Criminal Justice system was written in December, 1995 in a Yale Law Journal by Paul Butler, and than later republished in 2015 in Introduction to Legal Studies. This article was published in North America, for academics in law stream, or anyone with an interest in law. The author poses different views on the racism in todays court rooms faced by African American, particularly by the men. In this essay, I will be analyzing this case from the perspective of white girl so I really can’t say shit on the subject.…
Racial bias or racial tendencies become apart of society when the only image of a criminal is African American. A fundamental component of racial profiling is the targeted application of law enforcement resources to communities of color when whites engage in similar behaviors but do not receive similar scrutiny (Glover, 2009, p.93). Unconscious bias is active even when law enforcement tries not to discriminate because of their racial…
The concept of racial injustice has been debated throughout American history; it has been especially evident in America’s legal system. No matter the decade, African-Americans have continually been wrongfully convicted for crimes they never committed. From Brown versus Mississippi (1934) to the case of Brian Banks (2002), one stands out amongst the others: the Scottsboro Trial. This case can be considered the epitome of injustice as the role of racism in the trial was extremely evident in the fact many of the boys’ rights were taken away and crucial evidence was ignored by jurors.…
Daniel discusses how racism is visible within our countries laws and procedures. He also states that racism is built into customs, however in this sense it might not be as visible as it is within laws and procedures. It is noted by Akers and Sellers that this might be the case as use of excessive force, citizen harassment, stop and search, etcetera, lean toward racial and class biases. This brings to light the existence of stereotypes and their workings within the criminal justice system, centering on police actions and behavior.…
Fraudulent actions are allowed by judges in courtrooms all the time. Often African Americans are discriminated against in the courtroom, which is a fact proven by the proportion of the African American serving time in the criminal justice system. This occurs because of “implicit bias,” which can be, and was measured by the Implicit Association Test (Rachinsky). Rachinksy’s research into the Implicit Association Test (IAT) shows that white people, more than any other race associate white people with positive thoughts and other races with the opposite. What race are most judges?…