Criminal Justice System Injustice

The Injustice in What Is Known as Justice As William Landay once said: “The human element in any system is always prone to error. Why should the courts be any different? They are not. Our blind trust in the system is the product of ignorance…” While several claim that racism in the United States ended with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, African Americans are still robbed of civil liberties and dignity by the white supremacy that lurks beneath the façade of our alleged democracy today. The United States’ justice system has not escaped the influences of racism, but instead promotes it. The criminal justice system creates circumstances where African American men have a one in four chance of going to prison compared to the one …show more content…
Wilson pulled the trigger twelve times in his encounter with Brown, six hit Brown, and two grazed him according the autopsy report, Wilson can be quoted stating: “I don't know how many I shot, I just know I shot it” (“Ferguson Documents: How the Grand Jury Reached a Decision”). Firing a gun twelve times illuminates the hatred inside of Wilson toward Brown. In the eyes of Wilson, Brown was not a human being with rights, he was just another black man. Brown did not have any chance of survival, considering the numerous amount of bullets fired. The multitude of times Wilson pulled the trigger shows that he wanted to be certain that Brown would die. If Brown was shot once or twice, many would be able to accept the Grand Jury’s decision. But Brown’s death was no accident, rather it was a hate crime. In addition, there are many similarities between the situation in Ferguson, Missouri, and the situation in fictional Maycomb, Alabama. In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, an innocent African American man was gruesomely killed by law enforcement in a similar way that Brown was: “Tom Robinson… was shot seventeen times” (Lee). To Kill A Mockingbird is a fictional story, but the deaths of Robinson and Brown are parallel. Had Robinson or Brown been white they would definitely have not been so brutally treated. Both Brown and Robinson committed no crimes deserving of their …show more content…
A witness of the struggle can be quoted saying: “He was running for his life and just got shot and turned around and didn't try to reach for anything. He put his hands in the air being compliant and he still got shot down like a dog” (“What Happened Michael Brown met Officer Darren Wilson”). Wilson had an abundance of hatred in his heart toward people like Brown. Brown shoplifted from a convenience store, and in return he was punished with a degrading death that left him on the same level as a wild beast. Brown died an undeserving death, he was left powerless and petrified. The racism brewing inside of Wilson created a demon whose purpose was to punish Brown. The fact of the matter is that 2014 was not the Wild West, and it was not up to Wilson to punish Brown. Brown complied with Wilson, putting his hands up, but Wilson still forsook him on the same level as a wild brute. In addition, the witnesses of the crime could see the hatred inside of Wilson. Before the struggle between Wilson and Brown commenced, Wilson already knew what the outcome would be: “He made up his mind he was going to kill him” (“Ferguson Documents: What the Witnesses Saw”). Even a witness could see the racism in Wilson’s eyes. Wilson can deny it as much as he desires, but in actuality, he knew what outcome he would create. Brown had no chance, he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Wilson