Black America Essay Example for Free

Black America Essay I. Introduction A. One significant problem faced among the judicial system is the injustice involving African Americans with sentencing and racial profiling. Not only will the individual and society response be discussed but the expert’s theories and alternative solutions will be included. II. African Americans facing injustice within the judicial system. A. Sentencing for crimes committed compared to other races. 1. Marissa Alexander, a black mother, was sentenced to 20 years in prison after shooting a warning shot to scare her abusive husband. No one was injured in her choice to shoot the warning shoot but Amber Cummings, a 32 year old mother, did not face any jail time for killing her husband who was said to be a white supremacists. 2. Judge Jean Boyd sentenced a young white male, Ethan Couch, after killing 4 individuals while driving drunk, to 10 years of probation and sentence a 14 year old black male to 10 years of prison after punching and killing a man. Ethan Couch prior to the incidents, stole from a store and alcohol level was three times the limit. Neither young men where mentally ill or had justification on the crimes they committed but sentencing was harsher for the young black male. 3. John McNeil, a black father of two, was sentenced to seven years in prison and 13 years of probation in 2005 for murdering a white male that threaten to stab his sons after trespassing on their property while Joe Horn, an elderly white male shot and killed two men that was breaking and entering into his neighbor’s home one night. Horn took it upon himself, even after the 911 operator repeatedly informed him not to interfere in the situation because the cops were on the way, to murder the two men. 2 B. Racial Profiling of African American individuals. 1 Trayvon Martin was a young black teen walking through a neighborhood with a black hoodie and was murdered by George Zimmerman because he believe the young teen was going to commit a crime. George Zimmerman did not serve any jail-time for the murder. 4. African Americans have a higher chance of being stop by police officers when driving and frisking than a White American. Research has found that â€Å"in investigatory stops, a black man age twenty-five or younger has a 28 percent chance of being stopped for an investigatory reason over the course of an year; a similar young white man has 12. 5 percent chance and a similar young white woman has only a 7 percent chance†. (Epp & Maynard, 2014, p. 15) 5. African Americans also has a higher chance of being stalked or watched closely in department stores. For example: Barneys, a high-in department store is now under fire for its practices when facing minorities. Two young African Americans have come forward with their issues faced when shopping in Barneys. One young man, Trayon Christian was put in handcuffs after an employee of Barneys called the police to report a fraudulent credit card used by the African American male and later found out the credit card was real. Kayla Philips purchased a 2300. 00 pursed and was later stop by the police upon leaving the store. (Harris, 2013, p. 1) III. Expert’s Opinion on the problem. A. Both David Harris and Randall Kennedy have research and exam research on the topic of racial profiling. 1 David Harris is a law professor at University of Pittsburg School of Law and has found that in 2003, many of the traffic vehicle stops resulted in illegal substances and goods being found by police officers. When Harris calculated the traffic vehicle stops he came across that White Black America vs. the Criminal Justice SystemPage 2 of 8 3 Americans contributed to most of the stops and that â€Å"that racial profiling is a counterproductive law enforcement strategy as well as a controversial one. † (Collica, 2012, chp. 4. 3). 2 Randall Kennedy wrote an article in 2011 title, â€Å"†Race and the Administration of Criminal Justice in the United States†. In 2006 he research racial profiling in New York City and found that â€Å"55% of African Americans were stopped by the police and that number is twice the representation of Blacks in the local population. † (Collica, 2012, chp. 4. 3) IV. Society response on the problem. A. Citizens are coming together to form rallies for Justice. 1. Ferguson, Missouri citizens have rallied and protest since the death of Michael Brown, a young African American male who was gunned down by a police officer. 2. Many cities, states and countries rallied after the disappointing verdict of the Trayvon Martin case. V. The public policies in place to rectify the problem. A. In May of 2013, Congress put into play the End Racial Profiling Act. 1. This act was set in place to end racial profiling among law enforcement agencies by: Black America vs. the Criminal Justice SystemPage 3 of 8 4 a. â€Å"Grants the United States or an individual injured by racial profiling the right to obtain declaratory or injunctive relief. † (â€Å"End of Racial Profiling,† 2013). b. â€Å"Requires federal law enforcement agencies to maintain adequate policies and procedures to eliminate racial profiling and to cease existing practices that permit racial profiling. † (â€Å"End of Racial Profiling,† 2013) VI. Alternative solutions that can assist with the issue. A. Every police office should have a camera inside of their vehicles or a camera on their bodies at all times. If the rules cannot be followed then the police officer should face disciplinary actions. 1. If the police force use the camera in the car and on themselves at all times this will help minimize police brutality. Police Officers will make sure to use proper force in every situation and will not overuse their power as authority figures. B. If a citizen decides to use deadly force against an individual and that individual is killed, that citizen should face jail time, unless that individual posed a threat to their life or others. 1. Citizens find that they can shoot anyone for anything. Unless this person is trying to cause physical harm to them, citizens should not have the authority to use deadly force against anyone. 2. If someone is in a domestic violence situation and the police is called the individual causing harm should automatically be arrested and charges should be placed on that individual. No more allowing the victim the ability to agree or disagree to these charges. Not only will this allow the abuse to get out of the situation, this will also help with future violence†¦including murder. Black America vs. the Criminal Justice SystemPage 4 of 8 5 C. Police Officers should always use a stun gun or pepper spray whenever they come across an irate individual. 1. Police officers should always use their pepper spray or stun guns when taking down or taking in an unarm individual. Especially if there is more than one officer at the scene of the crime. If someone is resisting arrest use the stun gun or pepper spray to subdue the individual. Let’s stop violence with using more force than necessary. VII. Conclusion A. It has slightly change throughout the years with African American men and women having the right to vote and sit peacefully in a restaurant without being bothered or called names but in all fairness, African American people will always have it hard. Yes, we have an African American president but that does not stop the high numbers of frisking or being stop by the police after purchasing a high dollar amount item because someone believes you could possibly be a thief. Yes, the statistics throughout the years to come might dwindled down but the Black race will be looked down upon and will called criminals because of a few bad apples. The Black race will still continue to be murdered in the streets, unarmed or surrendering with no proper justice because, like the saying, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Black America vs. the Criminal Justice SystemPage 5 of 8 6 References Collica, K. & Furst, G. (2012). Crime and Society. San Diego CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. It explains criminology and how society responds to crime. It breaks down crime through age, gender, race, education and living conditions. It shows statistics of crime and types of crime and explains how the statistics are measured. Epp, C. , & Maynard-Moody, S. (2014). Driving While Black. Washington Monthly, 46(1/2), 14- 16.