Inequality in the Legal System
Inequality in the United States' Legal System In the United States, true equality has never existed. From theDeclaration of Independence to modern times, the US legal system has failed atany attempt at equality. '...all men are created equal...' may be what theDeclaration says, but 'some men are more equal than others' is how the legalsystem interprets that phrase. The actual reality of the Declaration ofIndependence is that all free, white, landowning men are created equal. Therefore, inequality has always existed in the united States' legal systemand continues to exist today; however, the inequality presently in the systemis not as blatant as what it once was. Slavery continued in the United Statesfor nearly ninety years after the Declaration, and African Americans stillfeel the sting of inequality today. If the US legal system is blind and justas it is supposed to be, why, then, is a minority, such as the African One of the most controversial issues today is the act of racialprofiling. The most common form is direct, meaning victims are directlyprofiled, usually by the police. In this form, individual officers act on
According to a June 1999study done by the American Civil Liberties Union, many states have denied thatracial profiling occurs despite overwhelming evidence supporting it. Most prison policies promote key principles togovern the treatment of prisoners including to be entitled to equality, to beentitled to justice, and to be entitled to respect. As a direct result of racial profiling, African Americans have almostnever been thought of highly in this country's legal system. It revealed howtelevision viewers were so accustomed to seeing African American crimesuspects on the local news that even when the race of the suspect was notspecified , viewers tended to remember seeing an African American suspect. The American BarAssociation urged lawmakers to enact legislation to end racial profiling. Eight of those included DNA testing to prove the defendant innocent. Prisoners who are seen to conformto the 'norms' of the institution and who obey the rules quickly and quietlyare offered rewards such as early parole, permission to be absent during theirprison term and may receive other privileges while in jail. Gilen also pointed out how 'apparently well-meaning, raciallyliberal news professionals generate images of the social world thatconsistently misrepresent both African Americans and poor people indestructive ways' ('Media Blackface'). The most likely drug users and abusers are actually educatedCaucasians. Public opinion polls indicated the overwhelming majority of Americanshad 'relatively little firsthand experience with the extent of the problemsassociated with drug use. As of December 7, 2000, there have been a total of 682 executions inthe US since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. In 1985 only around threepercent of the United States population of prisoners were African American,but had risen to nearly seven percent by 1997 according to the Bureau ofJustice statistics (Cose 42). reotypes against racial minorities, especially African Americans. AfricanAmericans made up 43 percent of the death row inmates, which was more thanthree times the 13 percent share of the US population (Klein 39). The studyfound that while African Americans make up 29 percent of the nation's poor,they constitute 62 percent of the images of the poor in leading news magazinesand 65 percent of the images of the poor on leading network television newsprograms ('Media Blackface').
Common topics in this essay:
African Americans,
African American,
Bars Revisited',
Drug Policy,
Department Justice,
United States',
Declaration Independence,
Revisited' Prisoners,
Millions Americans,
Washington DC,
african american,
african americans,
'media blackface',
racial profiling,
legal system,
death row,
'racism bars revisited',
'racism bars,
bars revisited',
public opinion,
civil rights,
states' legal system,
african american inmates,
united states' legal,
african american prisoners,
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