The Role Of Racism In The Criminal Justice System

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

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

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