Reforming Justice by Travis J. Maciejewski The laws in the United States rely solely on the people and the government to work in unison for everyone to receive equal treatment in the justice systems. To start the process, the government hires and trains police officers and judges to enforce the statutes created within each state. What happens when the laws are not equally enforced from case to case? This creates disparity and allows officers to handle situations on their own terms and implement their own solutions that may not always follow protocol. In last the few years, more and more reports of crooked police officers have been exposed and reported to the media. Then, judges are supposed to dole out fines and prison sentences based on severity, but that is not always the case. Most of the time, the inconsistencies root from improper training and prejudice. The justice system in the United States needs reforming because of police corruption, sentencing discrepancies, and lack of training justice system employees properly. Police receive the authority to enforce the law as soon they are awarded their badge. Their job entails protecting and serving the citizens of the nation. They play a crucial role in keeping the United States under control from crime running rampant through the streets. Although, in any group, abuse of power and corruption always occurs. A prime example of this problem is often portrayed as racial bias towards certain minority groups. Umsted (2014) reported that, “police officers— and prosecutors— can, and frequently do, use their discretionary powers in a racially selective manner. Because the criminal justice system currently provides little institutional protection against discriminatory exercise of police and prosecutorial discretion.” Police possess the discretionary power to decide whether they will use ethics and uphold the law when reporting incidents. Many times, African Americans fall victim to their discretionary power. A plethora of studies were conducted to observe the behavior of law enforcement while they patrolled. Worden and McLean (2017) concluded that police officers displayed less corruption when the citizens comply with their commands. The research explained that officers are more likely to handle a situation less ethically if the citizen is intoxicated or mentally unstable. There were also many correlations of police officers treating African Americans unfairly compared to other races (Worden and McLean, 2017). Racism may be one of the roots that police misconduct stems from. For mistreatment to cease, police departments need to watch their officers carefully for how they handle routine encounters with citizens. Next, a common issue in the court system occurs with sentencing discrepancies between races for committing similar crimes. The laws in the United States seem black and white; consequences are issued if one commits a crime. But as always, grey area between right and wrong appears when the justice system fails to enforce the law equally at every instance. Umsted (2014) revealed “that African Americans were nearly four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than White Americans despite virtually equal marijuana usage between the two races.” In most cases, racial profiling appears to be prominent in drug related crimes. Police recognize the patterns between drug use among the population, but they choose to drastically chastise African Americans more. The court systems are the crucial deciding factor for the final sentencing of criminals. Their job entails examining all the evidence and determining an appropriate consequence for the wrongdoing. Rehavi & Starr (2014) revealed that black male defendants receive up to three and a half more years of prison than a white male defendant for committing the exact same
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