Robert Couch's Trial And Sentencing

Improved Essays
From the perspective of a Sociological Theorist, Couch’s sentence teaches us a great deal about our society’s culture and values. Unfortunately, today, an individuals value is designated by their race and how wealthy they are. After examining Couch’s trial and sentencing, it is also clear that both race and wealth played a large factor in the leniency he experienced. Because he is not only white, but also wealthy, Couch, and other individuals, become exempt to many of the injustices that other minorities experience. Had Couch been another race or less affluent, his sentencing would have been extremely different.
Although many individuals have trouble acknowledging it, a racial double standard dominates our justice system. More times than not,

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In the case of Ethan Couch, he comes from a wealthy family with parents who never set limits for him. Four people lost their lives because of Couch, who was a drunk teenager who caused the crash. On his behalf his defense said that being a youth he is a victim of “affluenza” and his parents should share some of the blame because they never set boundaries for him and always made sure he got whatever he wanted. Couch’s family believes being wealthy gives them the privilege. There was no justice done for the families who lost loved ones because Couch only received ten years’ probation.…

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Scottsboro boys Racism and bias run through our so called justice system, how can we say we practice fair punishment until everyone is treated equal in the court room? At a time when racial tension was high, 9 boys were wrongly arrested and held to an unfair trial that would have brought them to their death if it wasn’t for the international attention that the boys gained due to its demonstration of blatant racial discrimination, as well as the lawyers association with a U.S communist party Who were the Scottsboro boys? The name not only implies their youth but, due to the time and place, their racial inferiority. The nine boys, aged 13 to 21 were all illiterate, one of them was nearly blind and another disabled (Scottsboro Case, SIRS Discoverer.)…

    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Over the past century, significant efforts have been made to understand the effects of race on criminal justice processing and sentencing. As a result of this research, sentencing policies have undergone numerous periods of reform. Yet, racial disparities in sentencing outcomes and incarceration rates continue to give rise to serious questions about how and through what processes race continues to affect sentencing outcomes. In this essay, we will review the scholarly research on race and sentencing, and discuss a number of important sentencing reforms that have taken place in the U.S. over the past three decades in response to evidence of disparate racial treatment and to pressure from advocates for reform.…

    • 745 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    INTRO: James Baldwin, an African American novelist, poet, and more importantly a social critic. Most famously critisises, “[the] racist justice system.” (Baldwin) His words are targeting the white officials at the time, for discriminating against the African American citizens in a court of law.…

    • 1135 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    One of the other significant issues facing the African-American, and our community as a whole, and is brought up in the New Jim Crow is: the myth of color-blindness of our Criminal Justice system. Michelle Alexander reiterates, that despite the popular belief, our Criminal Justice system is not color-blind after all. She proves this argument by illustrating case after cases where our criminal justice system has treated exactly the same scenarios differently. The only noticeable difference in such similar situations has been the color and race of the defendants.…

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I am very aware of the popular belief out there that, we live in a time of sharply decreasing faith in the criminal justice system. The historic mistreatment of African-Americans at the hands of the criminal justice system is widely acknowledged, and no one would agree that the vestiges of those tragic practices have all been removed. But no doubt in my mind that progress has been recorded. Americans have tried to address these problems over the years by requiring objective, race-neutral justifications for government actions within the criminal justice system. We have, for example, required that the jury representation be composed of a fair cross-section of the community.…

    • 377 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Institutional Disparities Data Report On the off chance that we consider back the historical backdrop of the United States, we appear to have made some amazing progress in the battle against racial disparity; we even have our first African American president in office. No doubt we are near accomplishing the equity we have been exercising as a country, if we have not as of now accomplished it. In any case, despite what advancements we have made, the racial disparity is still a critical issue in today 's public, and it is clear when we investigate our criminal equity framework. The United States detains a larger number of individuals than any other nation on the planet, however that is just the start of our issue.…

    • 1297 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Historically, America has been predisposed towards racism against African-Americans. However, Americans, for the past century, have effectively ignored the issues with race that the American society still faces in the criminal justice system. In his TED Talk entitled “We need to talk about an injustice,” Bryan Stevenson addresses the issues with the American criminal justice system by detailing the problems and showing the important role the citizens of American can play. Although the topic is a serious one, Stevenson discusses the issues with elegance and carefulness and is able to effectively persuade his audience. Before delving into the information that Stevenson provides in his speech, it is essential to evaluate the setting that Stevenson…

    • 940 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Racial Disparities in the U.S. Criminal Justice System African American men are facing hard factors when it comes to law enforcement. Police officers and black male relationships have reached their peak of who is more afraid of the other. Racial disparities have been found in the criminal justice system and to this day are still widespread in pretrial incarceration, stop and frisk, charging, jury selection, arrests, court processing, probation, and incarceration in prison and jails.…

    • 1575 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Throughout America’s history we have achieved great accomplishments and have participated in conflicting moral events. As a country we have evolved greatly since the formation of our nation and unfortunately when someone wins someone else has to lose. One of our biggest internal problems the country faces today is the inequality in the criminal justice system and the differences between ethnicity/race and how they are treated once entering the system. I believe our problem stems from over 200 years ago when we had slavery in full effect in our country. People openly believed that the African American race was inferior and belonged in a position of servitude.…

    • 1442 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Misjudging, and applying harsh judgments to people just because of their race/ethnicity is a type of racial disparities. Racial disparities is a major problem across the state. When people of any race commit a crime of any kind, most of the time black and Latino receive harsh judgments more than white people. ACLU report “Racial Disparities in Sentencing” states that “There are significant racial disparities in sentencing decisions in the United States. Sentences imposed on Black males in the federal system are nearly 20 percent longer than those imposed on white males convicted of similar crimes.…

    • 1268 Words
    • 5 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
  • Superior Essays

    Racial Disparity In Criminal Justice Essay

    • 1737 Words
    • 7 Pages
    • 5 Works Cited

    These are acknowledgement of the cumulative nature of racial disparities, encouragement of communication across the key players in all steps of the system, knowing what works at one step of the system may not always work in another, and working together towards a systemic change. The issue of racial disparity builds at each stage of the criminal justice system from arrest through prosecution and sentencing rather than the actions of one particular level of the system. In order to tackle the unwarranted disparity there are strategies that are needed in order to tackle the problem at each individual level of the system and this will need to be done in a coordinated and strategic way. Without a systemic approach to the problem gains in one level may be offset by reversals of another level. Each decision point and area of the system requires their own unique strategies depending upon the degrees of disparity and the specific population in which is affected by the actions of that level.…

    • 1737 Words
    • 7 Pages
    • 5 Works Cited
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For example, President Obama states “1 in 17 white men and 1 in 3 black men will end up in prison. It results in an unfair system; every study has shown that our institutions are biased.” For minorities the justice system today is not innocent until proven guilty, it’s guilty until proven innocent. Many color children suffer biases in comparison to their white peers. For example, President Obama states “An African American youth is more likely to be suspended from school, than a white youth engaging in the same activity.”…

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although three perspectives of equality exist, each perspective provides a unique definition of the true meaning of equality in society. The first perspective, equality under the law, is essentially a fundamental concept in the Untied States. This perspective stresses the importance of the law in this country treating every individual equally. While there is the argument that the law does treat people like criminals and children differently, this argument is invalid in relation this theory due to the belief that such factors involve one’s motivation or capability of committing a crime (Cochran, 2015). Generally, however, the law is not allowed to discriminate against individual based solely on irrelevant factors that play no role in the likelihood of displaying certain behaviors, such as race or gender.…

    • 440 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays