criminal
... at these two cases and say well maybe there were certain circumstances that were involved, that charged the black man and not the white man. Well, there is another case that happened on 03/29/01; Charles White (case # GC01006249-00) of Alexandria, Virginia was also charged for the Possession of Marijuana. He was also a white male who got all charges dropped and wasn’t charged any fines for the crime. There are many other cases like this, where people of the white race were favored over black males. It is said, “Black people were four times more likely to get arrested than white or other minority groups”. (Home Office pg.1) In Cases where there were people committing a different crime, we have the same results as in the previous cases in which there was favoritism to the whites. On the day of 04/19/96 a Black male by the name of Henry D’Jabatey (case # CR96001274-00) of Arlington, Virginia was charged with Grand Larceny, which in the Commonwealth of Virginia is a felony. He was charged for the crime and received a sentence in the penitentiary for 6 years, received three years of probation and was charged a total of $1,458 in fines. Three years earlier, on 03/17/93 a black male by the name of Bruce Gaddy (case # CR93000757-00) was charged for the same offence. He was also from Arlington and he was charged with 10 years in the penitentiary, received three years of probation and was charged $3,757.50 in fines. Does this sound like a fair decision? Well, some people might say yes, but when you see cases of the same crime committed by white males, you may not think so. In Clifton, Virginia on 02/10/01 a white male by the name of Jason Smith (case # GC01002456-00) was charged for Grand Larceny. He was dismissed from all charges without any jail time, without any probation and without any fines. Then on 01/19/99 a white women by the name of Dorothy Lynn (case # CR99000608-00) of Washington D.C. was charged for Grand Larceny. After almost a year of being in and out of courts she too was dismissed of all the charges and only paid a simple fine of $766. How is this possible, that these two white individuals had their cases dismissed and had either no fines or half of the fines that black males had to pay? How is it fair that black males with the same criminal background get 10 to 6 years in jail while others walk away from the crime? This is because of the racism that takes place in the place were we all live. We see this happen everyday and the records are available to anyone who chooses to look at them and no one sees that our criminal justice system isn’t fair to minorities? This may have to due with the lawyer that individuals have in their representation. If you think about it, a court-appointed lawyer will usually provide poorer representation than one that an individual hires. Perhaps young black males don’t have the money for a lawyer and they get a court appointment lawyer that represents them poorly. All this says is that money buys justice in our court system. Some people do have a different point on the fact and say that lawyers that are court appointed are very fair to their defendants and represent them good. The fact is that the lawyers that are appointed to the defendant are appointed by the judge that is handling the case. In an article from the Houston Chronicle a lawyer by the name of Mandy Welch says, “There is nothing like being controlled by the judge that appoints you”(Houston Chronicle pg.1). She also talks about how lawyers that are court appointed have to be careful about how they bring about the cases and make sure that they do not anger the judge. Mandy says,” They have to please the judge or they wont be appointed again. You can’t be the kind of advocate you need to be” (Houston Chronicle pg.1). This is saying that court appointed lawyers can not do whatever is in their power to defend their client for the simple reason that if they make the judge upset that they simply won’t get any more jobs. This is why we see individuals of different race get charged harsher for their crimes. If you don’t have any money for a lawyer because of the social class you come from, this might mean that you will have higher risks of being charged for a criminal offense. So money does buy freedom and social class has a lot to do with the outcome of cases. When looking at the factual information from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service website, the information makes the conclusion that social factors have a lot to do with the way people are even caught. Think about it if you lived in a poor neighborhood with a lot of crime, you would be more likely to get caught for say drug possession than a higher classed white person living in an area with low crime rates. If you were a white male walking in your neighborhood, that doesn’t have a high crime rate, wouldn’t you feel safe? This safety that is felt is the reason that police officers wouldn’t patrol your neighborhood as much as say a poorer neighborhood. If say you were walking down the street smoking an illegal marijuana cigarette you have a very low chance of getting caught by a police officers. If you lived the other way around, you might be faced with a different kind of atmosphere. Think about living in an area with high crime rates and police officers are always going through your neighborhood. If you were smoking a marijuana cigarette like a person for a higher-class area, you would have higher risk of being caught. This is because of the simple fact that higher crime areas are patrolled more by police officers and more officers will equal more arrest in the minority areas. These policemen usually are the first step in the unfair treatment of minorities, by having a negative outlook on a person’s class and/or race. In Accountability in Urban Justice System by Elizabeth Stawicki, she talks about how colored people have a greater chance of being charged for a crime because people believe that black people are dangerous. The reason that we see more colored people in the court system comes mainly from the police practice of racial profiling on the greater American society. The negative views that are thought to be prevalent in the court system are the reasons that minorities don’t get a break as often as you will see in a case involving a Caucasian. Even though it is the police officers that are the ...