1.

With the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, it was believed that African
Americans' quest for complete emancipation will soon be accomplished. Evaluate the
extent to which this dream has been achieved in one of the following areas: Criminal
Justice System

Race and the U.S Criminal Justice System

After the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the criminal justice system has been

the issue that has determined the effect of the African American life. Back in the 19th

century, the police use to be the slave patrol in which they captured run away slaves at

whatever cost. The progress since the Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been somewhat positive

up until 1980s when the war on drugs was initiated and these drugs infested these minority

communities which then has led the imprisonment of many African Americans for small

possessions of weed, cocaine or any type of other narcotic.

This dream I believe does not exist for African Americans due to the criminal justice

system has not been reformed. African Americans went from being hosed downed, having

dogs on them and nearly beaten to death. Now in the 21st century the only progress is they

are no longer getting hosed. Rodney King, Trayvon Martin, Eric Gardner and many more

have not been helped by the criminal justice system. The last African American to gain from

the criminal justice system was O.J Simpson due to his celebrity status and monetary gain he

had. For many of these minorities they come from poor communities in which they are

selling crack, cocaine and weed in the streets. The politicians put pressure on the criminal

justice system to lock them all up and throw away the key instead of rehabilitating the

offender. According to the power point in week 11 content “5 grams of crack cocaine = 5-yr

sentence, 250 grams of powder cocaine = 5-yr sentence” (2020). If we take a look at the

Brock Turner case, he was only sentenced to 6 months in prison and got out in 3 months after

raping an unconscious woman. The criminal justice judges rape lightly compared to a
possession of illegal narcotics. This is far from the dream; I believe because African

Americans are not getting a fair chance as other races do in a court of law.

African Americans everyday are being racially profiled by the police for minor

offenses or no offenses at all. I believe very little progress has been made for African

Americans and are nowhere near of being a free man in America. The little positives to take

away from this is more police chiefs are looking at the criminal justice system progressively.

For instance, in Arizona and many other states are making weed legal for individuals over the

age of 21. This means no longer minorities will be criminally charged for smoking a blunt or

having the possession of weed on them. Police forces are being more diverse and are

implementing policies on how to handle situations differently with the people.

In conclusion, there has been some wins for African Americans and the criminal justice

system but, the system is still against them at the end of the day. Also, many people can

never forget of the protests and riots because of the death of George Floyd. At some point

when people who have been pushed, they will push back and with force. Many of these

organizations are trying their best to work on improving the criminal justice system.

Word Count:541

References:

Political Participation and Public Policy -Domestic Policy ppt

African Americans and Current Political Climate ppt