Criminal Justice System: When It's All About Money

There are many things defective with the criminal justice system. The court systems tend to wrongfully convict, as well as use racism as a motivator to give the death penalty. Also, the fact that police officers and lawyers rarely get punished for wrong doings and, quite frankly, unfair. I do not particularly like the criminal justice system; it has too many flaws and nowadays it is all about money, “The Ol’ Mighty Dollar”. The way I feel about it is, it should be about the people; what is best and what is right.

One reason I do not like the criminal justice is because of the way they go about charging and convicting drug addicts. Drug addicts should not only be convicted for drug abuse because they are not going to stop abusing them. It will be a reoccurring process of them transferring in and out of prison for drug abuse. “One-half of State and Federal prisoners abuse or are addicted to drugs, but relatively few receive treatment while incarcerated.” (“National Institute on Drug Abuse: The Science of Drug Abuse” 1) I personally think rehabilitation centers should be placed into prisons. I say that because while the drug abusers are incarcerated they can be treated for their addictions. “Various studies have shown that combining prison-and community-based treatment for addicted offenders reduces the risk of both recidivism to drug-related criminal behavior and relapse to drug use-which, in turn, nets huge savings in societal costs.” (“National Institute on Drug Abuse: The Science of Drug Abuse” 1) Along with rehabilitation centers being placed into the prisons, there should be all around security and monitoring of all prisoners, while they are there and in their prison cells, to insure that they are getting the help they need. “Treatment and criminal justice personnel work together on treatment planning- including implementation of screening, placement testing, monitoring, and supervision- as well as on the systemic use of sanctions and rewards. Treatment for incarcerated drug abusers should include continuing car, monitoring and supervision after incarceration and during parole.” (“National Institute on Drug Abuse: The Science of Drug Abuse” 2)

I do not necessarily agree with the death penalty. By sentencing a criminal to the death penalty, it seems that the prisoner is receiving the easy way out of the situation, instead of having to spend the rest of their life rotting in a prison cell. Although, the majority of people on death row, as many call the death penalty, have murdered someone, and in my opinion it is unjust to take someone’s life, no matter what they have done. There is also the possibility of giving an innocent person the death penalty. In addition to that, just about everyone on death row or who have been killed on death row are of a minority group. “The U.S. Department of Justice’s own figures reveal that between 2001 and 2006, 48 percent of defendants, in federal cases, in which the death penalty was sought were African American…the biggest argument against the death penalty is that, is it handed out in biased, racially disparate manner.” (“Death Penalty” 3)

As I got older, I realized that the minorities were and still are always treated differently than whites. Whenever you see reported crimes on the news, it is almost always a person of a minority. “Despite that fact that whites engage in drug offences at a higher rate than African Americans, African Americans are incarcerated for drug offences at a rate that is 10 times greater than that’s of whites.” (“Race and the Criminal Justice System” 1) All around the United States, racial profiling had been a very big issue. Stop and frisk policies have mainly been used against people of different minority groups. There was a case in 2006 called Morrow vs. Tenaha; it was about racial profiling. “Under guise of looking for criminal activity, the police in Tenaha, Texas stopped, searched, and often seized properly from Blacks and Latinos traveling through town with no suspicion of criminal activity.” ((“Race and the Criminal Justice System” 3) Most police officers kill people for no reason. The say they have a reason, but it turns out they really lied and had no reason at all. “In the early hours of Jan. 1, 2009, Oscar Grant III, unarmed and lying face down on a subway platform in Oakland, Calif., was shot in the back by a white Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer.” (“The New York Times”)

Police officers often take advantage of the authority that they have. On the various occasions that law enforcement participants in illegal activity, they easily get away with it by simply lying. “Mehserle, who claimed that he meant to reach for his taser and not his gun, was eventually convicted of involuntary manslaughter…The officer was sentenced to two years minus time already served, less than the maximum possible sentence.” (“How Accurate is Fruitvale Station” 4) Another example is police officers being able to pull citizens over and give them tickets just so they can meet their quotas. On several accounts, officers stir p unnecessary confrontations by over-using their “power”.

Though there are many flaws throughout our criminal justice system, there are tactics that can be used to repair it. For example, separating violent and nonviolent prisoners’ right from the start, would lessen the amount of people who act out violently. “Most nonviolent offenders do in fact learn a lesson: how to be violent. We could designate certain facilities as zero-violence areas and allow inmates to live there as long as they do not commit-or even threaten to commit- a single violent act.” (“Seven Ways to Fix the Criminal Justice System” 3) In order for an inmate to learn their lesson, we have to forgive and forget, so that they can learn to do better in the future situations. “I am certainly not advocating that we open the prison doors and let everybody out. In fact, I feel that there are many types of behavior that can cause a person to yield his/her right to stay in free society. But we need to work intensively with people who break the law.” (“Seven Ways to Fix the Criminal Justice System” 4) I believe everyone must step up and change their actions because we are all contributors to the problems of the criminal justice system. “We have to realize that we are a part of this problem. If you vote, if you pay taxes, if you are afraid to walk alone at night, you are already involved and so we all must make real changes- not just political ones, but also in our personal attitudes and lifestyles.” (“Seven Ways to Fix the Criminal Justice System” 5)