Essay Example on Criminal Justice System

đź“ŚCategory: Crime, Criminal Justice
đź“ŚWords: 511
đź“ŚPages: 2
đź“ŚPublished: 20 April 2022

The first structural mechanism that I would like to focus on is the stop and frisk policy. The stop and frisk policy allows police officers to question and search civilians and/or suspects for contraband if they believe that there is reasonable suspicion of a reason to search them. In the book written by Barak, Leighton, and Cotton (2018), the authors discuss how race is used by the police as a factor that may determine whom to follow, search, detain, or arrest. By using race as a possible determining factor, social inequalities arise.

The next structural mechanism that I am choosing to focus on is the right to counsel. There was a Supreme Court case that led to the ruling that anyone who is too poor to afford a lawyer will have one that is provided by the state. Although being provided a lawyer is an important right that everyone should have and it seems beneficial, some inequalities arise once we dig deeper into the criminal justice system. 

Due to the stop and frisk policy, there are unequal outcomes that arise that influence both race and class. Because one of the main factors that police officers use to determine whom to stop and search is race, there is a disproportionate amount of people of color who are stopped. Barak et al. (2018) further discusses in their book how once a person of color is stopped while driving or walking, there is also a higher chance of force being used and further consequences. The authors also make it a point to mention the fact that there are often times when Caucasians are able to get away with the very same things that others are stopped for. The entire stop and frisk policy creates unequal outcomes because not only are people of color being stopped and searched more based on race, the punishment is also more severe. 

The right to counsel also elicits unequal outcomes by mainly race and class. Leonard (2015) discusses that the people who often have to use these services are people of color. Another issue that arises when looking at this is that there is underfunding for the public defenders who work on these cases. Leonard (2015) goes on to discuss how these lawyers have less contact with their clients; often go for a plea deal and don’t make it to court; and when they do make it to court there are often higher rates of conviction because the lawyers do not have the time or the resources to fully help their client. Higher economic status leads to better availability of lawyers that have enough resources and an overall trial with more justice. 

After learning more and going into detail, feelings of anger arise because they say that the criminal justice system is equal and tries to have fair trials, but this is not the case. It’s also frustrating how the criminal justice system is in a way blatantly racialized, but it is said that it’s not in the time of colorblind racism. 

Works Cited

Barak, Gregg and Paul Leighton and Allison Cotton. 2018. “Law Enforcement and Criminal Prosecution.” Pp. 207-233 in Class, Race, Gender & Crime: The Social Realities of Justice in America. Lanham, Maryland: Rowan & Littlefield. 

Leonard, Eileen B. 2015. “Punishing Crime.” Pp. 253-300 in Crime, Inequality, and Power. New York: Routledge.

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