Corrupt Justice System

             In the article No Equal Justice: The Color of Punishment David Cole tells a story about a women who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for mailing a package for someone else that contained crack cocaine. She was not aware that the package contained illegal drugs so how exactly is this fair punishment? Apparently the justice system feels that this is a reasonable punishment because she will be among thousands of other black inmates in prison for cocaine charges. According to Cole “about 90 percent of federal crack cocaine defendants are black” which seems strange considering the majority of the users of crack cocaine are indeed white (211). Blacks are continuously being unfairly punished by serving more severe sentences than that of whites charged on the basis of cocaine due to blacks generally being of a lower socioeconomic status. Even though research shows the majority of the population of cocaine users is white, the number of blacks compared to whites being convicted and imprisoned is overwhelming yet the courts do not see these striking findings as an issue. This unequal punishment of blacks and whites is blatantly obvious to the researchers of various studies but the justice system is denying the fact that any race is being treated unfairly compared to the rest. In the article

The New Jim Crow Michelle Alexander states that “the dirty little secret of policing is that the Supreme Court has actually granted the police license to discriminate” (221). Why would the Supreme Court ever be okay with further promoting discrimination among human beings? It is absurd that our justice system would allow for police to arrest individuals on the basis of discrimination. No wonder the majority of prisons are comprised of most blacks who have been unfairly taken advantage of because of their skin color or “looking suspicious.” It is incredible how most people continue to claim that we live in a “colorblind” society while all around the world the higher ups are promoting discrimination and unequal treatment towards minorities.

The first article I found online addresses the issue of more blacks being imprisoned on drug charges even though research shows that more whites are involved in drugs than blacks. According to the article California is trying to change these disturbing facts and lower the number of people in general who are being sent to jail. Jails are becoming increasingly more overcrowded and yet we keep spending millions of dollars to continue putting people behind bars. I think that it is very smart of the California lawmakers to start sending those facing drug charges to Rehabilitation centers to get help instead of locking them up. I honestly believe that this is the best strategy to lower prison population, put less money towards prison funds and to get individuals the help they need to become active members of society. The second article I found online reports evidence of police officers being far more likely to search minorities particularly black than white individuals. Research findings suggest that blacks are the target suspects of random searches but there is no valid evidence to support why this is occurring. Even with all of the supporting evidence the police still seem to deny that any specific race is being targeted without proper reasoning. I think it is quite obvious that black people regularly face getting randomly stopped and searched far more than white people. I know of numerous black people who have reported being stopped for simply walking down the street but I do not know of a single white person who has ever been stopped for any reason. This discrimination should be taken more seriously and serious action should be made to stop this race war.

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/drug-law/more-black-people-jail-drug-charges-white-people-despite-whites-using-drugs-more#

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/jun/12/police-stop-and-search-black-people