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Trevor Paul

Mrs. Wines

CCP Composition II

15 May 2020

A Flawed System in the United States

In the United States, there is a flawed system that can affect everyone on a personal level

if you have ever had an encounter with it. Around the world and especially in the Current United

States there have been issues arising in the justice and law enforcement branches of the United

States government. These issues affect everyone and everything that gets in their way. They can

affect every little thing about an American’s life. A flawed justice and law enforcement can and

will affect every person in the United States as it allows for issues to arise and be left unsolved.

Those unsolved issues then create more and more until the United States falls into an

authoritarian state. Justice in the United States is a tricky topic with lots of different angles,

views, and opinions that need to be counted. It is for this reason that it is to be believed that the

justice system as a whole is flawed in many different ways across the United States. It

discriminates against minorities and people of lower economic classes, allows for corruption in

law enforcement, and it allows those of the highest class to get off without consequences in

many cases. This shows that the United States Justice System is flawed in many ways and should

be changed in accordance.

In many cases it is those of the upper class in the United States that are treated favorably

by the United States law Enforcement and Justice department. In America, there does seem to be

a trend of celebrities or high-profile persons getting off very easily whenever they are confronted
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by police or are indicted for a crime. This isn’t always true of course, but a trend has appeared of

higher up persons getting off easy. Even going back to the 1990s with O.J. Simpson, which was

one of the first modern, highly-publicized cases of possible bias. O.J. Simpson is one of the

earlier and most significant of these cases. He was a high profile athlete who was suspected of

murdering his ex wife and her lover. He went to trial where a jury acquitted him, even with

evidence strongly in favor of his accused crimes (Linderd). There was significant evidence

against him that, were it any other person, would have led to a conviction and prison time. This

was not the case for O.J. Simpson. Despite the mounting evidence and even a police chase, he

was acquitted by the jury and faced no charges at the time for that specific crime. It is clear that

there was a significant bias from the jurors, more than likely because of his fame and prowess as

an athlete. This situation as a whole is very important as this is one of the major cases that have

happened in the past and it shows clear bias against someone of a high socioeconomic status that

those of the jury. This situation is one that is very hard to resolve as bias on a personal level with

the jury is difficult to change every single person in America's mind, but, it is possible to change

how they are treated by everyone else in the court system, more to be treated like every other

person that comes through those courts. It is possible that there was also bias against him as he

was also a person of color during these trying times of Los Angeles in the early 1990s. This bias,

however, would have most certainly gotten him a conviction if his fame was not involved,

further evidencing clear bias in the United States Justice System.

Corruption has been a large subject of debate from those both inside and out of the

United States criminal justice and court system. It is often described as using money or other

forms of bribery to affect many aspects of the system as well as determine what is in the future
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for the area that it is affecting. Those of the higher standings in police departments and other law

enforcement agencies, especially in metropolitan areas like Los Angeles and Chicago, have been

seen in the past and as recently as just a few months ago taking money and other forms of

payment for their own personal gain and in return following the policies of those who gave them

the money. It is more often than not that it is seen in the news and media around the United

States. There has been a major case of this recently in Chicago. Recently, many convictions

against police officers caught taking money and bribes as well as misusing their powers, have

been overturned even with insurmountable evidence (Mitchell). This further shows corruption

and how it is happening in the modern day as this was just earlier this year in February. This

evidence shows corruption in action as it allowed these people to go free even after they had

been convicted and sentenced for crimes they have committed. Corruption on this level cannot

be left unchecked in a just system. If this continues, there could be disastrous effects in the

coming times as more and more of our society is pulled into less and less freedoms. Many people

today may complain about our society and how they are against certain policies leaders may

have adopted. But, as it still stands, they can say those things freely and express their opinions

without reproduction. If corruption on this level continues, one might not be able to say the same

things in coming times.

Finally, today’s justice system allows for facial discrimination of the lower class and

minorities in the United States. Discrimination of people that may require help the most cannot

be happening in the tough world that is out there today. It is too prevalent in today’s society and

is an overarching issue that can and should be fixed in the coming years. Evidence of these

phenomena is everywhere in today's media as well as in the scholarly ranks. Multiple articles
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that have been published in recent years have stated this and have explained it well and stated

necessary facts that most people should know about. Racial discrimination is still present in

United States Jurys for criminal cases (Cole 142). Beyond this many other articles and books

state similar facts about policing and minorities. In ​Equal Justice and the Death Penalty ​by

David Baldus, he states that discrimination is still a large topic in todays society and that if

proven, there would be very large amounts of purposeful discriniation which is a violation of the

Eighth Amendment according to him (Baldus 308).

Ever since the L.A. riots broke out in the early 1990s the United States justice department

and police force has been steadily working on moving forward and getting past discrimination of

those who are in a lower socio-economic class, such as minimum wage works or the homeless. It

is good that they have been working to right their wrong but it is still necessary to continue to put

on the pressure for them to get it done as soon as possible as there are still issues arising that

have not been solved and don’t about to be in the works of fixing. There have been big steps in

the past and the Justice Department is looking to make more of those steps, many of them came

around the civil rights movement in the 1960s and the L.A. riots in the 1990s (“Addressing

Police Misconduct Laws Enforced By The Department Of Justice”). This is an important step to

take and is in the right direction but immediate action is needed or else an authoritarian state is

imminent. With a system like our law enforcement divisions, immediate action is necessary or

we may just pay the price in upcoming years if a downward spiral were to occur as they tend to

with bad habits.

Some do not view this situation in the same light as what may be beneficial to them. It is

often seen by many that there are no issues with our criminal justice and police system. Often,
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many do not see anything wrong with it as it does not affect them or they are simply ignorant of

the fact that it is going on in the world around them as we speak. Around the world, this tends to

be the case from those who have had no primary experiences with the justice system in their

area. In a recent survey conducted, it was shown that about 84% of participants had no issue with

the justice system in their area and around them (Paul). This is, of course, a very surprising

number given everything that is going on in the system and often around many of those

surveyed. Many use this number or ones very similar to it in order to justify a point solely based

on this number, however, they often fail to look to the other side of the story, in the same survey

it stated that only 16% of those who participated in the survey said that they felt adequately

educated on the justice system and more specifically justice in the areas around them, often the

ones most important to many of us as they are most impactful on our lives (Paul). It is for this

reason that a number as high as 84% cannot be taken seriously. If it is, and those on the other

side push this argument forward, there could be disastrous effects in the near future that could

change the world as we know it today. With many recent events that have been unfolding before

us, it may be easier than ever to fall into a police state, a state which must be prevented at all

costs in order to protect our freedom in the United States.

Justice is a prevailing topic in the world around us. It is seen almost everywhere and

often not respected or not cared about for many reasons. Often they come down to corruption,

favoritism of the upper class, and discrimination against the lower class and many minorities that

fall somewhere in between. Justice and the police system is a topic that as many might try,

cannot be ignored by the majority. If it is, major consequences may be on the horizon. If it isn’t

ignored, then in front of most may be the best time of their lives. It may lead to prosperity that
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may have never been imagined before as many issues could be solved as a domino effect. It is up

for American citizens to decide their fate and what might come out of the whole ordeal in the

future. It really is all about what happens in the now and is not put on hold or waited for in the

future.

Sources Cited

“Addressing Police Misconduct Laws Enforced By The Department Of Justice.” The United

States Department of Justice, 13 Dec. 2019,

www.justice.gov/crt/addressing-police-misconduct-laws-enforced-department-justice.

Baldus, David C., George Woodworth, and Charles A. Pulaski. Equal justice and the death

penalty: A legal and empirical analysis. Upne, 1990.

Cole, David. No equal justice. ReadHowYouWant. com, 2010.

Linderd. “The Trial of O. J. Simpson: The Incriminating Evidence.” The O. J. Simpson Trial:

The Incriminating Evidence,

law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/Simpson/Evidence.html.

Mitchell, Chip. “13 More Convictions Tied To Corrupt Chicago Cops Overturned.” WBEZ

Chicago, WBEZ Chicago, 26 Mar. 2020,

www.wbez.org/stories/13-more-convictions-tied-to-corrupt-chicago-officers-overturned/

4dc42be8-0ebb-40a5-abfa-d475bfa73b9f.

Paul, Trevor M. Justice and Capital Punishment in the United States (Responces). 2020. Canton

South High School, Ohio. Unpublished Survey.

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