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The Criminal Justice Systen

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The Criminal Justice Systen
The Criminal Justice System: Unfair to Minorities and the Less Social Elite The criminal justice system of the United States is said to be a fair system. The system is not supposed to discriminate against different races, religious groups or social classes, everyone is supposed to get the same equal treatment. Unfortunately that’s not the case. Many different types of people including African American’s, Hispanics and the poor are getting unfair treatment in the criminal justice system. The criminal justice system discriminates against certain races and social classes. One of the most famous cases of racial injustice of the criminal justice system is the case of Rodney King. Rodney King was a black taxi driver who was violently arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department in March of 1991. California Highway patrol spotted Rodney King driving at excessive speeds and when they pulled him over, he did not obey their commands to step out of his vehicle. He was then beaten repeatedly by PR24 baton ( also known as a police stick) and was later struck twice with a taser gun. Following the Rodney King incident , The Report of the Los Angeles Police Department (1991) found that “there was excessive use of force by Los Angeles Police officers and that this was compounded by racism and bias.” One quarter of the 960 Los Angeles Police officers that were surveyed agreed that officers were racial toward minorities. Witnesses who testified said that the Los Angeles Police Department as a whole “tolerated discriminatory treatment .“ They also said that they detained African American and Latino men who fit generalized descriptions of subjects. In the New York State Judicial Commission on Minorities report (1991), a panel of judges, attorney’s and law professors found that “there are two justice systems in the courts of New York State; one for white’s and a very different one for minorities and the poor” (p.1). They also found “inequality, disparate treatment,


Cited: Beilke, Dustin. (1999). No Equal Justice: Race and Class in the American Criminal Justice System. Retrieved on March, 16, 2007 from Thompson Gale database. Author Unknown. Clarence Earl Gideon. Retrieved on March 16, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Earl_Gideon Author Unknown Author Unknown. (2004) Racial Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System. (P. 57-66). Retrieved on March 20, 2007 from http://www.sagepub.co.uk/upm-data/5143_Banks_II_Proof_Chapter_3.pdf Hilden, Julie Famous, Wealthy Criminal Defendants Can Hire High-Priced Lawyers, But Do They Also Face Disadvantages? Retrieved on March 20, 2007 from http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hilden/20040827.html School of Law, Kings College London Author Unknown. (August, 2004). Racial Discrimination in the Administration of Justice. Retrieved on March 20, 2007 from http://www.soros.org/resources/articles_publications/publications/racialjustice_20040802 Author Unknown Federal Bureau of Prisons, Statistical Report, 1986.

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