CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Criminal Justice System function

Criminal Justice System function

Introduction

There is something terribly wrong with our criminal justice system and it has nothing to do with how liberal or conservative our judges are. Granted you the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals would let Jack the ripper off with a slap on the wrist but it's the system that's broken, not the judiciary.

Don't buy into the argument that the justice system is entirely racially motivated merely because the number of black prisoners versus the number of white prisoners is disproportionate to the population at large. There are more blacks than whites in prison because blacks commit more crimes and whites get away with more crimes. There are also more blacks in prison for another reason. Although we have made major strides in erasing embedded revision in America, a good case might be made that a lot of white jurors look at a black defendant with the goal of delivering punishment rather than justice.(Roebuck,1981)

Discussion

The Bill of Rights requires that accused people be judged by a jury of their peers. Now that phrase is open to a lot of interpretations. The dictionary defines peer as "one who is equal to another in rank, or merit or quality". Using that definition literally, what comes to mind is the potential makeup of a jury for a Fortune 500 CEO and that of your neighborhood dope dealer. Should the CEO have a jury composed of business leaders and chambers of commerce types while the dope dealer have twelve people from the hood sitting on his or her jury? Basically, the Founding Fathers had in mind a jury of common people, without rank or privilege - the man or woman on the street, so to speak. What they did not have in mind is a high-priced "jury ...