One of the most daunting tasks a young adult faces in their life is getting into college. Some have worked hard in high school for four long years to get into the college of their dreams. Others had to do to so much more than that. Ben Kaufman and Wyatt Smitherman put it simply, “A child of a Mexican immigrant with a 3.5 GPA who had to work two jobs through high school is offered admission over an incredibly comfortable kid with a 3.9” (8-9). Bringing differences in background and upbringing of prospective students is crucial to make admissions processes fair. Merriam-Webster defines “affirmative action” as “the practice of improving the educational and job opporutnities of…groups that have not been treated fairly in the past.” Affirmative action is an excellent way to go about evening out the playing field for those with compromised economic standings and general hardships they faced in …show more content…
A charged Baltimore rioter following the Freddie Grey incident, Dominick Torrence, who had only a history of drug dealing and zero violence charges, was slapped with a $250,000 bail (Dewan 1). This outrageous bail is a result of a system that puts lower class defendants at a disadvantage, keeping them in jail longer than if they had been given their punishments immediately (Dewan 4). In a perfect world, bail was meant to keep accused people of fleeing in return for being able to be free before their trials (Dewan 9). Yet, it has only created an the unfair socioeconomic ability of those with the means to pay their bail and go free, with no regard to their potential danger to society (Dewan 9). Not being able to post bail, jail can tear the families of defendants apart because they often struggle with money, can lose their jobs, be forced to give up custody, and have to accept deals that will leave them with permanent records (Dewan 10). The American Bar Association even says outright that, “money bail should only be used as a last resort.” During Torrence’s time spent in jail, his girlfriend was forced to quit her job just to care for her two sons properly and drop out of school, losing $18,000 (Dewan 15). The American system of justice needs to step up and realize that giving a speedy, fair trial without waving around dollar signs is the only way to create true