Injustice of the Justice System Pertaining to African-Americans.

Essay by bball84uHigh School, 11th gradeA+, October 2005

download word file, 4 pages 3.0

We live in a time in which ubiquitous intolerance exists; however, speaking about racism, racists, and any talk of inequality is just not kosher. Specifically, the Justice System has developed into a branch of our government that provides justice for only a certain sect of the population; Caucasians. Minorities, especially African-Americans, have been the victim of transcending bigotry because of the way they look. A glance at the facts reveals that of the more than three thousand five hundred prisoners on death row, about 42.5 percent are African American, 8.4 percent are Hispanic, and 46.5 percent are white. Blacks, who comprise scarcely thirteen percent of the U.S. population, are obviously quite over represented among those awaiting execution. One of the likely reasons for this discrepancy is that almost all the prosecutors, nearly ninety-eight percent, making the key decision about whether death will be sought are white. (www. Death Penalty and Race: Who lives and who dies)

The Justice System in America was established to separate criminals from the victims, and the innocent from the guilty.

However, the omnipresent prejudice that exists has left the branch of our government that can rob the innocent of their free will in controlled chaos and corrupt. The American Justice System has proven time and time again to be unjust to minorities through punishment and sentences, selective enforcement of laws, and Mandatory Minimums.

We currently live in a time when the government says that racism is illegal and non-existent, but all-white juries consistently hand out death sentences to innocent young black males. Just the statistics show that two-thirds of the two million Americans in jail/prison are African-American or Hispanic, and an Illinois study found juries were three times more likely to sentence a person to death if the victim was white rather than black. This...