Racial Disparity In Justice

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 …show more content…
Turner was found guilty in March of three felony charges: assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated/unconscious person PC220 (a)(1), penetration of an intoxicated person PC289 (e), and penetration of an unconscious person penal codes PC289 (d) (Court Motions/Orders Instructions/Minutes Chronolocial Order, 2015). None of the codes that he was charged did not include the intent “rape,” which may have led to the lower sentence then the max. So, Turner was sentenced to 6 months in jail instead of the max. The district attorney felt the punishment does not fit the crime (Fantz, 2016). Instead of Turner spending at least six months in jail, he only spent three months in state jail for having good …show more content…
There is a remedy for Judge Persky’s misguided sentence: the prosecutor should appeal (Cleary, 2016). A California Court of Appeal can overturn a sentence if it finds that it was an “abuse of discretion (Free Dictionary ).” A sentence of six months in prison for rape is an abuse of discretion. But the answer is not to remove a judge from the bench because we dislike the sentence. We all need judges to decide cases without fear that an unpopular decision will cost them their