Oheneba Boateng

Honors English 10B, Ms. Marcy Fine

March 8​th​, 2016

The End to Discriminatory Practices Begins with the Justice System

“America, the land of the free, has the world's largest prison population (2.3 million) and

highest incarceration rate. Prisons are overcrowded and disproportionately filled with Blacks and

Hispanics, causing many urban communities to lose trust in a system they consider biased and

racist” (Dutta). The exceedingly high incarceration rate of the United States is not a surprise to

the public. The number represents the amount of profitable and possibly innocent people that

have been locked up and separated from society. Although it is believed that the Justice system

has made progress towards reform, there is still a need of reconstruction in order to combat

discriminatory practices. This can be brought about by eradication of unjust laws, reexamination

of convictions, and extermination of problems that hinder the system from reformation.

Laws such as the Three-Strikes Law passed in 1993 must be eradicated and weighed

unconstitutional in order to combat discriminatory practices. The law declared that a person

being tried for their third crime will be sentenced to twenty-five years to life in prison. It was

shunned by many and known to be unfair in terms of rulings and was eventually declared

unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. "Generally, California law treats petty theft offenses as

misdemeanors, punishable by up to six months in county jail and up to a $1,000 fine… they were

then enhanced again under the three-strikes law, which mandates that an offender convicted of

two serious or violent felonies faces a 25-years-to-life sentence if convicted of a third felony of

any kind" (Weinstein). The Three-Strikes Law imposed incarceration on offenses that required a
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simple fine. Sentences based on the third conviction lead to lifetime imprisonment. The broad

interpretation and unfair justice of the law caught the attention of many professionals. Mr. Mark

Mauer, an expert in sentencing and the study's co-author spoke out about the Three-Strike law

and claimed, "Your second or third strike can be any one of 500 felonies in California. So a

larceny, a car theft, anything else can qualify" (Analysis).​ ​Laws similar to this inflict unnecessary

sentences that do nothing but raise the incarceration rate and remove beneficial people from

society. Larceny and car theft are some of the most prevalent crimes in our communities today

and according to the Three-Strikes Law, someone could have been detained for a lifetime if one

of these crimes were to be committed as a third crime. The law was absurd in certain cases. "In

one highly publicized case, a man was sentenced to 25 years to life for stealing pizza in Redondo

Beach. A judge later reduced the term to six years" (Weinstein). If the judge had not reduce the

sentence for a harmless crime, then that man could have served twenty-five years in prison​.

There are laws comparable to that of the Three-Strikes Law but have not been declared

unconstitutional. To achieve reform, laws that limit the potential of change must be ruled out.

In certain cases, minorities have been discriminated against in terms of convictions.

"Eighty-five percent of offenders sentenced under the 1984 crack cocaine sentencing law are

African-American and 5 percent are white (The African-American population of the US is about

13 percent)" (Jonsson). Data reveals that the ruling may have been unfair in terms of who was

convicted. The ratio of black offenders to white offenders in this instance was 17-to-1 indicating

that many rulings similar to this have been made on a prejudicial basis and should be reexamined

to execute proper justice. Similar to larger ratios, longer prison sentences are usually bestowed

upon minorities. "Prison sentences of black men were nearly 20% longer than those of white
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men for similar crimes in recent years, an analysis by the U.S. Sentencing Commission found"

(Palazzolo). Though blacks commit similar crimes, they continue to receive longer sentences.

This shows that reexamination of judgements are to be considered because the convictions made

by the system favor one race more than the other.

There must be an extermination of problems within the system that hinder it from

reformation. The question of whether a judgement is rightfully passed starts from the mentality

and views of the people involved in the decision process. “Research has long shown that female

judges vote differently from men on issues of sex discrimination, harassment and sentencing,

while black judges vote differently from whites on issues involving civil rights and affirmative

action" (Sen). In certain situations, a judge has the power to decide if one must pay a fine,

undergo probation, or even be imprisoned for a period of time. What happens when the faith of a

man convicted of female harassment is in the hands of a female judge? There is a possibility that

the decision may be made on the platform that supports the protection of females. Problems such

as this must be resolved in a way that all persons, disregarding race, receive fair trials and

sentences. This can be done by having the lawyers choose the proper judge that may be able to

pass an unbiased sentence. Supremacy within the structure is excessive and commonly negates

imperatives they have put in place. "The US Department of Justice is suing the city of Ferguson,

MO., over the City Council's resistance to absorb the costs associated with federally structured

reforms of the city's justice system … On Tuesday, [February 9th, 2016], the Ferguson City

Council had agreed to the DOJ's proposed reforms, but with seven amendments designed to

lower the costs of implementation. The amendments were deemed unacceptable by the Justice

Department" (Fedde). Amendments protect the rights of citizens and states from higher powers
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taking advantage of them. For the Justice system to take away the rights of whom they are

against is extremely controversial. Problems of similar topics impede reform and for the structure

to combat prejudicial practices.

Though the courts need reform to combat discrimination, it is evident that the Justice

system has made progress towards change. The Three-Strikes Law proves to be unjust in

sentencing but has decreased crimes rates over the years. Bill Jones, California's Secretary of

State, said, “We’ve had a 41 percent reduction in crime over the last seven years, while the rest

of the country have reduced by only 19 percent. What that equates to is a million and a half

fewer victims. And less victims is what we all ought to be about" (Analysis). Declines in the

incarceration of minorities were also found over the past decades. "The decline in incarceration

rates was most striking for black women, dropping 30.7 percent over the ten-year period. In

2000, black women were imprisoned at six times the rate of white women; by 2009, they were

2.8 times more likely to be in prison. For black men, the rate of imprisonment decreased by 9.8

percent; in 2000 they were incarcerated at 7.7 times the rate of white men, a rate that fell to 6.4

times that of white men by 2009" (Goode). Rates of imprisonment have decreased and prove to

be signs towards reform in the Justice system.

The United States Judicial system has made progress towards reform but not sufficient to

eliminate the complications that still persist. The Supreme Court’s supremacy in some occasions

opposes constitutional mentions.​ ​"The 8 to 1 ruling in Hurst v. Florida struck down a system in

which juries did not have the final say in the outcome of sentencing, only issuing an advisory

sentence before a judge's independent findings would decide a convict's final fate" (What). As

mentioned before, judges having all the power in a trial can lead to a biased decision. Although
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incarceration rates are gradually decreasing overtime, there is slight diversity in the statistics. In

2007, "Out of the nation's 2.2 million prisoners, 900,000 are black. The study [by The

Sentencing Project] concluded that if current trends continue, one in every three black men and

one in six Hispanic men can expect to spend time in prison" (Blacks). Considering this trend,

minorities will never receive justice through the current system.

Justice in the United States is a complicated and perplexing concept. Reform for the

system is possible in the near future if the system considers revision of the old system and the

forging of a stronger, new Justice system. For this to occur, laws identical to the Three-Strikes

law must be removed, current ways of convictions should be reviewed, and complications

within the system need to be resolved.

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Works Cited

“Analysis: California’s `three strikes’ law under scrutiny.” ​All Things Considered​ 23 Aug. 2001.

Opposing Viewpoints in Context​. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.

“Blacks, Hispanics imprisoned in larger numbers than whites, report says.” ​New Haven Register

[New Haven, CT] 19 July 2007. ​Opposing Viewpoints in Context​. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.

Dutta, Sunil. “How to Fix America’s Broken Criminal Justice System.” ​Christian Science

Monitor​. 30 Dec. 2010: n.p. ​SIRS Issues Researcher.​ Web. 02 Mar. 2016.

Fedde, Corey. “US Justice Department loses patience with Ferguson City Council.” ​Christian

Science Monitor​ 11 Feb. 2016. ​Opposing Viewpoints in Context​. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.

Goode, Erica. “Incarceration Rates for Blacks Have Fallen Sharply, Report Shows.” ​New York

Times​ 28 Feb. 2013: A12(L). ​Opposing Viewpoints in Context​. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.

Jonsson, Patrik. “US Prisoners Sentenced Under Strict Crack Cocaine Laws Get Relief.”

Christian Science Monitor​. 30 Jun. 2011: n.p. ​SIRS Issues Researcher.​ Web. 23 Feb.

2016.

Palazzolo, Joe. “Racial Gap in Men’s Sentencing.” ​Wall Street Journal Online​. 14 Feb. 2013:

n.p. ​SIRS Issues Researcher.​ Web. 28 Feb. 2016.

Sen, Maya. “How not to pick judges.” ​New York Times​ 4 May 2014: 12(L). ​Opposing

Viewpoints in Context​. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.

Weinstein, Henry. “3-Strikes Sentence Is Ruled Cruel.” ​Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA)​.

Nov. 3 2001: n.p. ​SIRS Issues Researcher.​ Web. 27 Feb. 2016.

“What Supreme Court’s ruling on death penalty sentencing means for Florida.” ​Christian

Science Monitor​ 13 Jan. 2016. ​Opposing Viewpoints in Context​. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.