Discrimination in US Judicial system

America judicial system has been accused of discrimination especially when it comes to mandatory sentences. There has been a serious disparity as far as sentences are concerned with some groups seemingly being favored by the law while others have been treated harshly. This state of affair is sad for this country as it seems to divide the country in classes especially on racial basis. The minority groups, the African American, Latinos and women have been seriously affected making human rights groups to agitate for the change of laws to apply equally among all the groups.
These inequalities in the application of the laws seem to be retrogressive as far as our endeavor to make America an all equal country is concerned. The judicial system seems to be applying the law unfairly making some feel less American than others. This does not auger well for the national cohesion as the disadvantaged group may feel that this is an attempt to sideline them on various lines and they may opt to solve the problem in whatever means available to them including violence therefore affecting the America stability.
These disparities not only affect the guilty but also the innocent who are harshly sentenced for the crimes they did not commit. (Kinzie, M 2002) This may be detrimental for the fight against crime. If we continue punishing so harshly and furthermore seem to discriminate, the crime rates will only rise as people especially those who are directly or indirectly affected by this discrimination in justice register their dissatisfaction on the unfair treatment opting to use violence. To fully address the disparities in sentencing in our judicial system, causes of this unfair treatment by our system need to be addressed carefully.

Police Department which is charged with the role of apprehending the law offenders has been identified as on of the areas where the discrimination is so rampant. Many Americans have reported being searched or even arrested for the crimes the have not committed only because they had a different color or spoke with a different accent from that of the arresting officer. I t is the police who arrest and align the suspected law breakers to the court. I f they are biased in terms of race or other aspects the suspects may not feel that they will receive a fair treatment.
The treatment may further be extended to the sentencing itself, therefore making the victims lose confidence on our judicial system. (Jeremy, K. 2004) Human rights groups have reported that there have been more arrests as far as minority groups are concerned. This has created a perception that the minorities commit crime than their white counterparts, this perception has even been extended to our judicial system with our judges being biased when a case involving a person from a minority, instead of looking critically at the facts laid down the issue of race clouds the system making him or her rule a harsh treatment.
We may not entirely blame the police and the judges alone for the unfair treatment of the subject but our law system have failed to address the issues at hand. The laws seem to be biased from the word go and this perhaps is where the problem lies. Judges base their sentences on the law; the law prescribes a certain punishment on a particular crime committed. There are some of the laws that seem to be lenient on some offenders. Althugh this may not be directly proved there exists some disparities as far as sentences prescribed are concerned.
Looking at the punishment through a social perspective one may not fail to notice that there is some form of discrimination of certain groups. A good case at hand is the issue of drugs, cocaine is one of the drugs that is abused by Americans of all walks of lives be they poor, rich, black, white and Latinos. Surprisingly the sentences prescribed differ when it comes to the type of cocaine in question. There are two types of coaine; the powdered form and the crack which is cooked in baking soda. Crack is mainly used by the black and the Latinos populations while the powdered cocaine is mainly consumed by the rich whites.
When the congress was passing this law on drug abuse there was a wrong indication that crack was more addictive than the powdered form and it resulted to more violent among its users therefore heavy punishment for its users as opposed to powder users who got lesser sentences. This law based on this argument, though good to deter the drug users have not addressed the issue at hand as it has been accused of discriminating on the lines of race and social classes. (Wolf, D 2006) American society can also be largely blame for the state of affairs that prevail in our judicial system.
The laws are made by our representatives whom we elect, therefore the law makers represents our views and if we do not agree with them there are channels of addressing the issue. Our society is molded in such a way that segregation in terms of race class and other aspects is embraced therefore our judicial system just reflect who we are as a society. This does not mean that the status quo must prevail,we should embrace a situation where all are treated equally regardless of the race, creed or even the social class one occupies.
This calls for the sensitizing of the masses on the need to look at each other as either brother or sister. This will go along way in creating equality in the society which will eventually been reflected in our laws hence implementation by our judiciary system. ( Hurst, C. 2001) Judicial department has a great role as long as equality in law is concerned, this department is mandated to interpret the law made by our legislators and if they seem to contravene the supreme constitution of our land the department has a responsibility of quashing these laws and advise the lawmakers on the shortcomings of these legislations.
The laws which are discriminative in nature not only cause a great division in this nation but also cause great suffering to the victims as they are subjected to harsh treatment sometimes for the crimes they may have not committed but due to their inability to hire competent lawyers they fail to defend themselves therefore being punished. The judicial department should ensure that the judges who handle cases where discrimination may be cited are competent individual and have no history of racial prejudice.
The department needs to empower the judges with skills that will ensure they handle such type of cases with seriousness they deserve as it is only through this way that our judicial system will be seen to serve all equally regardless of their race, creed or even the social status they hold in the society. Selection of juries is another area that needs to handled with a lot of caution some of them may be compromised to vote on a certain way which promotes the already existing disparity .
The judiciary should make sure that men and women who are selected in the jury are people of high integrity, those who are not biased and show high respect for the all people regardless of diversity. Judges need to set precedent on application of the law equally, precedence that should be authoritative such that the whole system will adopt to ensure all who are brought before them are treated with fairness as required by the natural justice and our constitution as well.
The judicial department needs to ensure that systems are in place for those who feel they have been discriminated to register their complaints and the necessary remedies taken. The appellate court should be fully empowered to address this issue comprehensively and in a manner that all will be satisfied and justice will have prevailed in such systems. (Murray, F 2003) With the responsibility of interpreting the laws being vested on this department by our constitution.
The judicial system should uphold this responsibility and advise the congress to look at all those laws which seem to apply selectively. These laws need to be changed without deviating from their initial course of making them, which was to fight crime. They should be applied equally to all. We should not have some groups being treated leniently yet the magnitude of the crime is the same. The judiciary system can save this nation from the agony of going through another era of discrimination in our society.
If it upholds the responsibility bestowed by the citizens of America through the constitution it can cement the gains we have so far made as far as eliminating segregations in our community is concerned. Criminals need to be treated equally and fairly, no one should receive punishment which is not equivalent to the crime committed neither should be there lesser punishment for a crime committed. It is only fair application of justice that this department will be viewed in the lenses of equalizing all the America as far as law is concerned. The department cannot accept failing as this will be doom for America as a nation.
References
Kinzie, M (2002) Product liability and litigation. Clifton Park, Newyork.
Jeremy, K. (2004) Discrimination in our laws. American perspective. Straus and Graux.Newyork
Wolf, D (2006) Law and the racial politics. Harper Collins, Newyork.
Hurst, C. (2001) Crime and the law: social perspective.W.W.Norta, Newyork.
Murray, F (2003) American judicial system. Sierra club books, Sanfrancisco