Problems within the Criminal Justice System

Problems within the Criminal Justice System
By Elden Mabini
Final Paper

When you think of the criminal justice system, you think of justice being served to those who wish to threaten it. The criminal justice system is a very powerful system that protects our society but like society, it is not perfect. The justice system runs off of discrimination against race and gender. It is believed that African Americans are the criminals, Caucasians are the victims, and women are too weak to even be in the system. Are these information accurate? I believe that crime should not be totally focused on minorities, although the media seems to portray it that way. There have been a lot of crime where a Caucasian was the mastermind and its workers who are African American get punished for those crimes. Society notices more on minorities because they are indeed the inferior group in society. When it comes to females in the criminal justice system, society believes that they are too weak to carry out and force law into its citizens. Also when females commit crimes, they are seen as more of a criminal than men. Society has build up these images of races and genders of what they are supposed to be.
Crime is defined as an act committed or omitted in violation of a law forbidding or commanding it and for which punishment is imposed upon conviction. The criminal justice system was made to protect society against criminals, crimes committed and serve justice to those who act against the justice system. Society has categorized people and stereotyped them with certain actions mostly found in that race. For example, Caucasian are found to this type of actions, blacks do another type of action and so forth. The criminal justice system also believes that actions are based on race and gender. Our society has grown to be a better environment that what it was before. Slavery was abolished, women's movement for women's rights to be considered politically, and a culturally diverse country. Many ethnicities come to the Unites States in search of a better economic life and a justified criminal justice system. However, society still has some issues with certain races, which result in a mass stereotyping of races. When you think of crime suspects, you think male, black, dirty, and a danger to society. Society has believed this more so because of the way how media portrays these criminals. Crime is not only committed by African Americans, but it seems like mostly all crimes are committed by them. In my studies, I have learned that every race commits crime, but the minorities in society are punished more severely.
A police officer's duty is to keep crime off the street and put criminals behind bars. Society needs protection from criminals so that life can go by smoothly. In the past, African Americans as well as other minorities were not accepted in society and were looked as inferior to the dominant group, the Caucasians. According to statistics and observations, African Americans and Hispanics have the highest crime rate in the Unites States(Walker, Spohn, and Delone, 2007). If your family came from a poverty background, you were more likely to engage in crime. In my opinion, this is because growing up in poverty, you do not have the education and resources to be taught about crime and social norms in society. Minorities engage in crime and get punished for it. What about when people who rank high in society commit crimes? It is more likely that those who rank high in society in an economic way commit more sever crimes than minorities. Minorities commit more of property, domestic, and drug abuse crimes. Usually those who have money are the mastermind of major crimes because they have the resource, money, and connections to do so (Walker, Spohn, and Delone, 2007). The downfall to this is that criminals who have a lot of money can hire the best lawyers that can get them out of their alleged crime or lessen the amount of sentencing. Criminals with no money, often minorities, cannot hire the lawyers needed to defend them so they will most likely be found guilty of the crime allegedly committed.
(http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lapd/kingchronology.html) - summary
The Los Angeles Riots of 1991 was a good example of police and society discriminating against African Americans. Rodney King, an African American from Los Angeles, was found speeding on the freeway. Police pulled him over and surrounded him with guns. King gets out of the vehicle and then surrounded by LAPD. LAPD was about to arrest King until Sgt. Stacey Koon and three other LAPD officers joined the scene. These four officers beat Rodney King with metal batons of fifty times before arresting him. King was beaten badly and then sent to the nearby hospital. Fortunately for King's defense, the whole situation was caught on tape and was leaked out to the local media. Soon enough the FBI got a hold of the video and the case became a federal matter. According to Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates, the officers who committed the beating of Rodney King would be prosecuted and the officers who were at the scene would be suspended until further notice. Society seen this video and 92% said that the beating was unnecessary and brutal. The case went to court and the officers who participated in the beating of Rodney King was acquitted and had no charge of unnecessary beating. Because of this, riots broke out in Los Angeles, leaving 53 people dead, 7,000 people arrested, and 1 million dollars worth of property damage. This event is a major example of discrimination of the criminal justice system against African Americans. All evidence shown in court was supposed to be proof of Rodney King's beating, yet the jury found the officers not guilty.
Police officers operate by racial profiling. Racial profiling is defined as the action of pulling over a person based on their race(Walker, Spohn, and Delone, 2007). For example, African Americans are viewed by society as criminals if found in an area where Caucasians are the dominant population. An officer would pull over or stop an African American just because he or she looks suspicious in a "white neighborhood". This is discriminative against African Americans because it is stereotyping them with always committing crimes and being deviants in society.
Statistics have been made to show what races are linked to certain types of crime. The Uniform Crime Report has been made to show these types of information. However, these reports only show information about offenders that the crime was resulted in an arrest. This presents many issues because there are a lot of crimes committed that were not reported. Also, the UCR only shows crime reports linked to only four racial groups, Caucasian, African American, Native American, and Asian(Walker, Spohn, and Delone, 2007). It leaves out crime committed by other racial groups. In my opinion, the UCR is not accurate because it does not show enough information about crime and its relation to racial groups. However, the UCR is used many times as a source of statistics for crime.
The NCVS was also formed to show crimes associated by race. According to it statistics, African Americans are more likely to report property and domestic crimes more than white people(Walker, Spohn, and Delone, 2007). It also states that Hispanics hardly ever call the police. Studies also show that rape and property crime victims were more susceptible to report their victimization to the police if the offender was an African American. By this information alone, the NCVS is a inaccurate source to show crime according to race. If African American are more likely to report a crime than whites and Hispanics, then how will society know about the other crimes committed by other races.
Graph on crime based on race.
There is also discrimination in the police force. According to Women and the Criminal Justice System, women are discriminated against when seeking a job in the police force (Wormer and Bartollas, 2007). Society and men who are already on the police force believes that women are too weak to carry out law and unable to capture criminals. This is an example of men being the dominant group over women. In society, women are known to be soft-hearted, loving, emotional and supportive. These characteristics make women look weak as a police officer. Women could only be in office work if joined the force. However, studies have shown that women are just as effective police officers as men police officers (Walker, Spohn, and Delone, 2007). In fact, women officers are said to be more understanding with criminals, do not excerpt much force, draw their weapon more less, and able to negotiate better with the criminals(Walker, Spohn, and Delone, 2007). Society did not want women as police officers because it was said to be a man's job. Studies and observations have proved otherwise.
In a conflict perspective, the criminal justice system is very much needed in society. Crime and criminals need to be active in order for justice to be served and the need of police officers. Conflict runs society in this aspect. However, discrimination should not be in the criminal justice system. Race, gender, and socioeconomic status should not be a factor when looking for criminals and establishing sentencing and consequences to criminals. I believe that every person has the ability to commit a crime. The justice system should provide equal rights to offenders by sentencing and punishing them by the level of their crime and not the color of their skin. Women should also not be discriminated against in the police force. They provide aspects and abilities than men are usually not capable of doing. For example, male police officers are more trigger happy than females. They believe in assertive force first. Women believe in connecting with the criminal to make the situation less dangerous.

Resources.
Wormer, K, & Bartollas, c. (Ed.). (2007). Women and the criminal justice system. Boston: Pearson Education
Walker, S, Spohn, C, & Delone, M. (Ed.). (2007). The Color of justice. Belmont, CA: Thomsons Higher Education
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lapd/kingchronology.html