This paper will cover my individual perception on a variety of topics over criminal law. The questions being answered in this paper will be what are the purpose of laws, how does society impact this process, how are the laws constructed, how are the laws that are constructed defined, how does race, gender, and an individual’s socioeconomic status impact if a law gets passed and/or enforced and last, the paper will discuss if the factors just listed have changed or remained the same over time. When discussing the purpose of laws, the main focus will be on protection of individuals and crime prevention.
The main purpose of laws, since the beginning of time, has always differed. This paragraph will be talking about the purpose of laws and how …show more content…
Also, does someone’s race, gender, or socioeconomic status affect what laws get passed? Individuals in this society tend to think that people who are not rich or who are part of the minority group tend to get harsher punishment for their crimes. Not only does punishment of individuals have to deal with someone’s race or socioeconomic status but also by their gender. People with power are the ones who are able to get laws passed. Typically, the people who have power have money. An example of this can be seen in Michael P. Roth’s book titled, “Crime and Punishment: The History of the Criminal Justice System” when the black codes were established. Black codes came after the civil war and what “white legislators” were trying to do with these codes is to establish everything how it use to be before the civil war. These codes denied blacks/former slaves to marry whites, they also had to be employed by whites, and they were also denied the freedom to carry a weapon. These codes denied blacks the chance to prosper in the community. It denied them a chance of trying to create their own community. Black codes are the very example of people enacting laws to stay in power. The only people who could enact laws at this time were wealthy white …show more content…
A lot of the cases mentioned in this paper were from different time periods. The rich are still acquitted for crimes that the average working class person wouldn’t be. For example, David Becker was charged with two counts of rape of unconscious women and he will be serving no jail time (Johnson, 2016). This can be seen in history when husbands couldn’t under the law be charged for rapping their wives. The excuse heard for these people getting away with crimes are usually like, “Boys will be boys.” Or, “Jail time will not do him any good.” A lot of things have changed for women. Gaining the right to vote, gaining the right to property, and also gaining the right to sell are some of the things that have changed for women since the 1800s (Friedman, 2002). As mentioned before, minorities get punished harder for the same crimes that non minorities also commit. This can also be seen in history but the difference now is that minorities aren’t getting killed. Black individuals in history had their own separate set of laws known as black codes, which they had to abide by. These laws were very strict in what they could and couldn’t do. A lot of these laws, if they weren’t followed, required a fine to be paid or they put blacks to work in plantation fields without pay. These laws basically made it impossible for black to prosper. They enforced the very thing they had just got freed of, which is slavery. The
The main purpose of laws, since the beginning of time, has always differed. This paragraph will be talking about the purpose of laws and how …show more content…
Also, does someone’s race, gender, or socioeconomic status affect what laws get passed? Individuals in this society tend to think that people who are not rich or who are part of the minority group tend to get harsher punishment for their crimes. Not only does punishment of individuals have to deal with someone’s race or socioeconomic status but also by their gender. People with power are the ones who are able to get laws passed. Typically, the people who have power have money. An example of this can be seen in Michael P. Roth’s book titled, “Crime and Punishment: The History of the Criminal Justice System” when the black codes were established. Black codes came after the civil war and what “white legislators” were trying to do with these codes is to establish everything how it use to be before the civil war. These codes denied blacks/former slaves to marry whites, they also had to be employed by whites, and they were also denied the freedom to carry a weapon. These codes denied blacks the chance to prosper in the community. It denied them a chance of trying to create their own community. Black codes are the very example of people enacting laws to stay in power. The only people who could enact laws at this time were wealthy white …show more content…
A lot of the cases mentioned in this paper were from different time periods. The rich are still acquitted for crimes that the average working class person wouldn’t be. For example, David Becker was charged with two counts of rape of unconscious women and he will be serving no jail time (Johnson, 2016). This can be seen in history when husbands couldn’t under the law be charged for rapping their wives. The excuse heard for these people getting away with crimes are usually like, “Boys will be boys.” Or, “Jail time will not do him any good.” A lot of things have changed for women. Gaining the right to vote, gaining the right to property, and also gaining the right to sell are some of the things that have changed for women since the 1800s (Friedman, 2002). As mentioned before, minorities get punished harder for the same crimes that non minorities also commit. This can also be seen in history but the difference now is that minorities aren’t getting killed. Black individuals in history had their own separate set of laws known as black codes, which they had to abide by. These laws were very strict in what they could and couldn’t do. A lot of these laws, if they weren’t followed, required a fine to be paid or they put blacks to work in plantation fields without pay. These laws basically made it impossible for black to prosper. They enforced the very thing they had just got freed of, which is slavery. The