Legal Community: Rise and be Counted HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE There are some positions in our society that require at least the illusion of complete impartiality. Judges and police officers who enforce our laws are chief among those. Because we entrust these individuals with the authority to take away a person’s freedom, and in some case even their lives, it is imperative that we have an assurance that these professionals do not make decisions based on any negative feelings about a person’s race or ethnicity. As Dr. Martin Luther King so eloquently stated in his “I Have a Dream” speech, “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Dr. King’s quote applies to all of us, but especially to those who comprise our legal system. With respect to the police, we Americans rely on them to keep us safe and treat us fairly, regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin or religion. However, across this country there exists a deep rooted mistrust of the police and the criminal justice system because so many tragedies are caused by police callousness, folly or ignorance, and the subsequent refusal by grand juries to find criminal culpability. Contrary to popular belief, this mistreatment did not magically happen overnight. Minorities communities have suffered decades of over-criminalization with policies such as “broken windows,” which theorizes that where signs of disorder – such as broken windows or graffiti – proliferate and persist, a general failing of the community takes hold. So, as this theory continues, minor infractions are treated as major crimes, and when more and more behaviors are criminalized there are more occasions for police departments to enforce their monopoly on legitimate violence in the community. Minority communities have experienced the same overcriminalization in our juvenile justice system and school discipline. Conduct by students in school that in the past would have at worst resulted in suspension, now result in minors being arrested and taken to juvenile hall. In many of these cases, students are expelled, which leads to them entering the “school to prison pipeline.” Despite these numerous complaints, the pervasive racism by law enforcement seems to fall on deaf ears, and until a “Trevon Martin,” “Eric Garner,” or “Michael Brown” is killed no one listen to the calls for a fair criminal justice system. Despite the complaints of the existence of racist and biased police officers, not until a "Lt. Shawn Williams," "Deputy Chief David Borst," or "Officer George Hunnewell" does anyone listen to the calls for a fair criminal justice system. Limited But Powerful Statistics Though the U.S. Government does not have a database collecting information about the total number of police involved shootings each year, according to Katie Rucke of MintPress News "it's estimated that between 500 and 1,000 Americans are killed by police officers each year.
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Volume 2.11 January 17, 2016