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The Role Of Racism In The Criminal Justice System

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What is race? Race is the classification of people based off genetics or social relations. There are many classifications of race such as African Americans, Mexicans, Hispanics, Latinos and many more. Racism has always been an issue in America. It still is a major problem in the world today. Many people try to convince themselves that racism no longer exists but it does. Each race is different, but being different doesn 't make you better. No one is born a racist it is learned behavior. Racism occurs everywhere, it happens in schools, the streets, at jobs, homes, and within police departments. The biggest wrongdoing in the criminal justice system is that it’s a racially biased institution targeting African Americans and punishing them more aggressively …show more content…

Trayvon Martin, a 17 year old from Miami Gardens, Florida was shot and killed by local neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida. His case feared and opened the eyes of mothers raising young men. Just like many other cases of racial profiling it caused a lot of controversy. It lightened the issue of many African Americans families dealing with racial profiling. Ausha Jackson, is a single mother of a young man named Sam Jackson. Ausha states, "I try to teach him about how to conduct yourself in public." Sam Jackson states, "She also tells me I need take my hood off my head and have my hands out of my pockets." During the incident Trayvon Martin had a hood over his head and his hands in his pockets. The issue is that many black people feel like they can 't walk around with their hoods over their head because they would be depicted as a thug or someone up to no good. George Zimmerman depicted Trayvon as a "suspicious person". Trayvon 's case touched the hearts of many people including President Barack Obama. Barack Obama sent a message to his parents saying, "If I had a son, he 'd looked like …show more content…

Police brutality is the intentional use of excessive deadly force by police officers. It’s a major violation of human’s rights in the United States. The job of police officers is to protect and serve not hurt and kill. This use of deadly force takes place within the local and state police, in the sheriff’s departments and federal agencies. The police engage in brutal beatings and unjustified shootings. Overall in situations the police use unnecessarily rough treatment. Police brutality was brought to head in 1991 with the beating of Rodney King. Rodney King was a victim of police brutality. The LAPD used deadly force against Rodney King beating him with a baton and kicking him frequently. The beating took place after a high-speed chase not knowing they were being recorded the whole time. Once the video got out it shocked the world showing police brutality and race relations becoming one of the biggest brutality cases in history. His beating led to many riots around the world. Rev. Al Sharpton made a statement, "It was his beating that made America focus on the presence of profiling and police misconduct." "History will record that it was Rodney King 's beating and his actions that made America deal with the excessive misconduct of law enforcement." Rev. Al Sharpton also stated that, "before his case they were speaking on police brutality, but no one

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3216 Words | 13 Pages

In February of 2012, Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old, was shot and killed by George Zimmerman in an act of self-defense. Martin, who was in Sanford, Florida visiting his father, was coming home from a 7-Eleven carrying a can of iced tea and a bag of skittles. 28-year-old Zimmerman was a neighborhood watch coordinator in the housing community in which Martin’s father lived (Abuznaid 1143). Zimmerman noticed Martin, who was wearing a gray-hooded sweatshirt, walking through the community and grew suspicious. Zimmerman called the police but was told to wait and not engage.

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The human mind is incredible. The mind is extraordinary as it acts as a control panel of the person itself. As wonderful as it sounds, the mind can also be very deadly. A single bad thought could manipulate the whole mind and cause destruction and tragedy to the person themself and to innocent people. Trayvon Martin, Christopher Wallace and Tom Robinson are some of the few innocent that tragically lost their lives due to a manipulated mind.

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There is no evidence that shows Martin at any point committing any crime to the point that it resulted in such violence. He was innocently walking back home with the hood of his sweater over his head when he was confronted by a white Hispanic who considered Martin to be part of the stereotypes that has been placed on blacks of them being criminals. When reading about the case, it was very hard for me to understand what Zimmerman used to base his accusations of Martin looking suspicious. I mean are all black people with a hoody suspicious? It simply makes no sense, then everyone who is walking on the streets at night with their hoody on is a criminal.

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Police brutality is an ongoing dilemma in the United States and the current issue relating to it was Freddie Gray’s death in police custody. This was a very important incident that months later would lead to violent riots in

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He was pulled out of his car and beaten by four officers. He was hit over 50 times with a baton, suffering 11 fractures and other injuries. Rodney King’s beating on March 3rd, 1991, would be the event to change not just the LAPD, or the whole of Los Angeles. It would change the country. (“The Beating that Changed America: What Happened To Rodney King 25 Years Ago.”)

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According to the Declaration of Independence signed on July 4,1776 “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The Declaration of Independence says that all men are equal; all men are equal means that every man’s life has the same value. Police brutality has been an ongoing problem since the beginning of time. The conflict of the police versus the people has become a mass media problem as well as a personal problem. Back 1992, Rodney Glen King was the first African American to go viral for being the first victim of police brutality.

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This shooting of Oscar Grant suggests that america has not gotten past post racial. Two innocent black men were shot by police, one on a crowded subway platform, the other just outside his parents' suburban home. One died, the other lived. Just three weeks earlier, a seventeen-year-old black high school athlete had mysteriously died during a traffic stop in Lucedale, Mississippi.(1 Delores Jones-Brown). Three black people got shot, this also violated civil rights.

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A Look Into Racial Profiling The shooting of Trayvon Martin, a black teen, brutally shot by a neighborhood watchmen, George Zimmerman, brought up the discussion in America about a cruel, disgustingly common practice, racial profiling. Trayvon Benjamin Martin was a street smart boy living in Miami Gardens, Florida. He was home, visiting his father after a drug-related suspension from school. When Martin was calling his girlfriend, he was seen by the watchman, Zimmerman.

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King. America learned at this time that there is a problem with excessive force being used in American policing (“5 Ways the Rodney King Beating and LA Riots Changed America”). After America saw the police drag Rodney out of his vehicle, put him on the ground face first, and beat on him excessively, many Americans felt that the police were using their power in wrong ways. Because of this, changes in the way police are hired and a focus on police relationships with the communities they serve happened. It also brought on many discussions of how juries are made up and where trials take place.

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WH Conflict In this essay, I will be writing about a major conflict that occurred between two groups in our world history. The conflict I will be writing about is the Rodney King case. I had chosen this conflict because similar events to the Rodney King case, are recurring in our world today.

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One example was a young man by the name of Trayvon Benjamin Martin was an African American from Miami Gardens Florida, who, at 17 years old was fatally shot by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch

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Police brutality remains a common yet controversial topic around the world. Police brutality is “the use of excessive and/or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians” (thelawdictionary.org). It’s a topic that segregates communities and makes each other their enemy. Specifically, a white officer has been the enemy of the black community. Unfortunately, the tension between police and blacks grew over the past few decades.

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Racism is an evil act that can destroy a society. The U.S is a nation of immigrants and, as such, it is a diverse society where racism has no place. In the past few years police officers in America have been discriminating against the black community. Police officers are meant to protect the public, not cause further damage and stress. They use over excessive force towards black people, target minorities and abuse their power.

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For years now there has been a lot of controversy involving the looming question: Is the criminal justice system racist? Racism is prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one 's own race is superior. Ever since the Trayvon Martin case of 2012, the justice system has been in a complete downfall including all of the police brutality cases since then also. According to sources, 1 of every 4 African American males born this decade are expected to go to prison in their lifetime. Census Bureau reports that the U.S. is 13 percent percent black, 61 percent white, and 17 percent latino.

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1992 Words | 8 Pages

Racism is an ever growing issue in the world, and something we can’t hide behind. According to dictionary.com the defintion of racism is: “the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.” Race was created socially by how people perceive ideas and faces people are not used to yet. It is the “hatred” of one person to another individual, solely based on that person's belief that the person is inferior because of their language, birthplace and skin colour. Racism is an issue that has lasted throughout history, providing justification for a group’s dominance over another.

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