The Importance Of Life Sentences

Improved Essays
If it is inevitable that life sentences could be given to juvenile who has committed serious crimes, then our judges in the juvenile court should be prim, proper and unbiased in decisions such as this. However, there had been cases that cases in which juveniles, while sentenced for their crime, are being subjected to racial prejudice which took account to the sentences of judges of another race apart from the convicted juvenile. According to article, “Jena 6 case highlights injustice: Louisiana investigation found a juvenile justice system in trouble.” Hutchinson, the author, says that according to a survey, Blacks make up forty percent of youths tried in adult courts and nearly sixty percent of those sentenced to state prisons. This questions …show more content…
Mann Dave’s article, “Time of Fear...” tells us about a case where a fourteen-year-old Muslim who was arrested for bringing a “bomb” in his school though it was just a clock that he made to impress his science teachers. It was believed to be a bomb because it was in case and being a Muslim, there were probably several connotations that led to this accusation. This hysteria has probably led this Muslim boy into prison without proper court procedures because of the strong assumptions of him being a terrorist. This article relates to Garinger’s article, “Juveniles Don’t Deserve Life Sentences”, where Garinger talks about the entity of the “Superpredators”, a generation of children who has the highest chances of committing murders and other serious crimes. It had been one of the main reasons why there had been increasing cases of life sentenced juveniles in the beginning of the mid-1990s according to Garinger’s article. Even now the paranoia has not been entirely diminished as for the authorities’ call to action in the case of the Muslim boy. The possibility is high that he had been given life sentence out exaggeration and

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Racism In Monster

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages

    For many judges and jurors, if one were to ask them if they were racist or allowed racial bias to affect their decision in the courtroom, 99% would say no. The main cause of this disparity of treatment in the judicial system is that stereotypes and racial profiles are so deeply embedded in our subconscious; it is difficult to even realize that it is affecting one’s judgment. These stereotypes affect not only adults incarcerated but also, and maybe more so,…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He obtained research from Justice Policy Institute and stated that “Black, Hispanic, and Asian-American youths are far more likely to be transferred to adult courts, convicted in those courts, and incarcerated in youth or adult prison facilities than white youths.” This presents the issue that not only are minority juveniles being incarcerated more than white juveniles, but also being sentence far more as…

    • 902 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Introduction The juvenile justice system has long been a topic of discussion. These discussions consisted of whether or not the system should exist at all and, after it was established, there was debate regarding what rights should and should not be granted to juveniles. The racial disparities that disproportionately affect African American and Latino youth soon became a large part of this discussion. This caused a number of questions to arise regarding the affect race has in juvenile justice decision making.…

    • 1353 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    One of the most powerful yet endangered social institutions is the African American family. From the first introduction through slaves, laws and policies have been placed to discourage a healthy, traditional family that consisted of a husband and wife in the home. The African American family has been revered as the foundation of the African American community. The African American family has been targeted from its very existence with social policies that would have devastating effects on communities of color, particularly African American. The greatest blow has been dealt by those policies in the criminal justice system specifically those known as The War on Crime and The War on Drugs.…

    • 1171 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the United States the juvenile justice system is very harsh and can be unruly on children, even though it claims to rehabilitate and not make children feel like criminals. As young as twelve children are being charged as adults with homicide, murder and other high degrees of crimes. Some would say the system would be a bit of a joke and others find this to be equal justice. This body of written work will go over why juveniles are treated the way they are in the justice system and how race has even taken effect on the outcome of these individuals.…

    • 2175 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    If these same characteristics were applied to a youth with minority background there would be a fifty- four percent chance of a recommendation for formal processing (Bishop and Frazier). Throughout the entirety of Bishop and Frazier’s research they found multiple indications of racial dissimilarities within the processing of juveniles. A white youth has a twelve percent chance of being held within a secure detention facility compared to the sixteen percent of their colored counterparts (Bishop and Frazier). When looking at the inconsistencies between the arrest rates of white and black youths,…

    • 1544 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Juvenile Social Injustice

    • 1344 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Minorities are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system. There is a disparate racial outcomes in all phase of the legal process (Rovner, 2014). Minorities faces more frequent arrests and are placed in secure placement more often than their Caucasian counterpart (Rovner, 2014). These differences in arrest rates and processing can be attributed to institutional racism, socioeconomic factors, subjective enforcement, and biased risk assessment instruments, among other things (Rovner, 2014).…

    • 1344 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the essay Race, Capital Punishment, and the Cost of Murder by M. Cholbi, the author examines the issue of racial discrimination in capital punishment among African Americans; also, how African Americans murderers are more likely to receive the death penalty over white murderers. The Author believes capital punishment and the death penalty are just punishments for the actions of perpetrators, however the author believes the unequal distribution of capital punishment is not a just action (Cholbi 1). The argument of whether capital punishment is immoral has shifted to if its distribution among criminals is tolerable and just (Cholbi 1). Cholbi states,”I believe that the issue of racial disparities in capital sentencing deserves to be reinvigorated…

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Racial Disparities among Prisons Through time, discrimination has always been part of American history. Unfortunately, discrimination still plays an important role in today’s society. Discrimination is most evident in the way minorities are targeted and treated before and after entering the criminal justice system. The way the government has targeted African Americans, the reasons that have led to overrepresentation on minorities in the criminal justice system, the percent of African Americans incarcerated in relation to their population, the way white collar crime is less targeted than drugs, the way Hispanics are treated differently in jails, and last the way California prisons practice unwritten racial practices will be discussed to explained…

    • 1380 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Racial disparity in the criminal system may influence a judge’s discretion on a case where a crime may be morally wrong, yet the decision of a judge may give a less sentence based on race, status, and history. For example, graduate Judge Aaron Persky in the State of California vs. Brock Turner case, gave Brock Turner a 6-month sentence instead of 6 years in a rape case. Many felt that Judge Persky was being too leniency and may have been biased because he and the perpetrator went to Standard. Even though Judge Persky didn’t violate any laws by his ruling, however he may have overused his discretion, where there aren’t any clear instructions on how to make a decision on a case, so one may have to use their discretion. Issues dealing with the…

    • 1059 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Prompt #2 The American criminal justice system is meant to be impartial, fair, and universal regardless of the defendant’s race or socioeconomic standing. As Professor Roy stated in his lectures, the foundational principles that the legal system is built upon are to be consistent and logical (Roy). These ideals should be utilized when implementing a consistent sentencing and conviction process.…

    • 928 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    . “America incarcerates more people than any other country on Earth,” argues Shane Smith. Seventy-five percent of people arrested for nonviolent drug charges are blacks and Hispanics. For minorities the system is broken because the system is biased to them. The justice system is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, but for Latinos and blacks the system is guilty until proven innocent.…

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Criminal Justice System Is Racist In 2010 the U.S. Sentencing Commission reported that African-Americans received 10% longer sentences than whites through the federal system for the same crimes (11 Facts About Racial Discrimination). The criminal justice system has created and perpetuated a racial hierarchy in the United States. Some Americans are unaware of mass incarceration numbers and racism that occurs in the criminal justice system. Also, African-Americans are criminalized and targeted because of their skin color. It is easy to see that the Criminal Justice System is racist and biased because of high minority incarceration rates, several instances of racial discrimination, and a lack of juries that include minority "peers."…

    • 1811 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Death penalty is actually punishment by death. It is also called execution or capital punishment. Crimes which results in death penalty are referred as capital crimes or capital offences. The word capital comes from a Latin word “Capitalis”. It means ‘Regarding the Head’.…

    • 789 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Terrorism is an extremely prevalent problem in the world today. Every month there is news of a bombing in some city, or a shooting in some neighborhood, and Western media has made Islam the face of terrorism. While Jihadists only make up a fraction of the proponents of terrorism, the media has caused “terrorism” to be synonymous with “Muslim.” Even understandable acts of rebellion, like the liberation movement of Palestine against Israel, are seen as Islamic radicalism because misguided individuals perpetrate acts of terrorism. The movie Paradise Now, by director Hany Abu-Assad, shows the ordeals of two friends, Khaled and Said, who enlist in a Palestinian resistance group to coordinate suicide attacks on Tel Aviv, Israel.…

    • 1409 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays