Thursday, July 23, 2009
Henry Gates Jr.
I am not sure if people were aware of the incident that occurred in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A prominent black Harvard professor (Henry Gates Jr.) was arrested by a police officer for breaking into his own home. The disorderly conduct charges were dropped, but it starts to make me think that racial profiling may go beyond just traffic tickets and citations. In class every day we address the bias of Supreme Court justices and what not, but what about the judgments of our law enforcement. There is a load of bias within those judgments they make every day. Ultimately, these decisions put our public within the criminal justice system, which can affect the rest of their lives. I understand the notion of bias when focusing on the Supreme Court because they set the merit for the rest of our court systems. However, I believe this problem contains the same magnitude. If police officers use their discretion for the means of personal bias or prejudices, it will set a precedent for partiality in standard arrests. It is a growing problem that does not seem to have a cover over it. Judges do not link themselves to bias whatsoever. They try their best to avoid the act as well as the mindset. Police officers on the other hand make public of their bias. Videos have been documented regarding profiling and bias. Numbers and statistics also display a strong presence of these actions. The question I like to pose…Is law enforcement bias an increasing predicament that we need to focus more on? It is a form of judgment isn’t it?
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I completely agree with Mike, solely becuase i have been a victim of police bias numerous times throughout my high school and college career. The police take judgment into their own hands and can write a numerous of comments on a citation that usually aren't true. For example if you were to get a a noise violation on your own property the police will usually write something like "defendant created a hazardous condition to the public realm....to wit loud music" even thought the sound system you were using was your bathroom Ipod dock that can't even wake your baby sister up. This problem resonates around young police officers trying to make a name for themselves by putting other citizens at risk of judicial punishment. The judge isn't there during the time of the "incident" so the judge has to take the cops word for it, and most people know that police officers' aren't that trustworthy; they have their own career goals at mind rather than the public good.
ReplyDeleteI feel that any bias we find in our legal system needs to be dealt with and eliminated. As you said we spoke in class about prejudices amoungst judges and whether or not it's a bad thing, which I feel it is. My personal belief is that the purpose of our laws and legal system is to protect us from both outside pressures and more importantly ourselves. These prejudices are now affecting the safety of our citizens, thus turning the law into a crime itself.
ReplyDeleteI second Mike and Amar’s sentiments regarding law enforcement and bias. My crime, law and justice background has opened up a lot of knowledge about racial profiling and police bias. Although, I have never been a victim myself of this injustice I do know many people that have been affected. The problem lies within the fact that police are given too much discretion in some areas of the law. They should not just be able to find a concern with a particular individual and their actions from a personal standpoint. Basically, I feel that police will stereotype a person and find that their action is deviant. A judge needs to question the police on how they used their discretion and make their determination off of that.
ReplyDeleteI agree that in some ways there are different biases in the criminal justice system when we look at the system as a whole. For example when it comes to judges there is no room for them being biased because it is their responsibility to ensure that the judicial process is being properly followed and that an individual is given a proper and fair trial. When it comes to the discretion and police officers this topic can be rather controversial. For example, there have been many instances where individuals have been pulled over by police when that have done nothing wrong and they have been the victims of racial profiling. However, on the other hand, there have been instances where police have had probable cause to search a vehicle and the search turned of things such as weapons that could have posed a threat not only to the officer, but to other innocent bystanders themselves
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