The Court System and Minorities (Ree, The Supreme Court of the United States) Minorities and the criminal justice system have always had opposition to each other from day one. Today we live a society and world where everyone is supposed to have equal rights. After all, isn’t it in our 14th amendment of the constitution? For some people they don’t see a problem because they are treated fairly, but what about the others that I talk about in this powerpoint, or the numerous stories found online? Ignorance of a problem is no justification for treating others poorly and unfair to the rights that they are entitled to. KAYLA (2013) ("Minorities," Minorities)

Do Inequalities Still Exist ? 1983 Lenell Geter who was African American was convicted for armed robbery despite no physical evidence linking him to crime. Most people today assume that all people who go through the court system are given a fair trial, and think stories such as Geter’s are of the past. But while things may have gotten slightly better, there are still problems with bias in the system. Minority Injustice Article without the right to review all the evidence in his case and after three years of isolation, Syed Fahad Hashmi, held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan, is charged with two counts of providing and conspiring to provide material support to al-Qaida and two counts of making and conspiring to make a contribution of goods or services to al-Qaida. his right to a fair trial in New York been significantly more protected than those of foreign nationals facing U.S. military tribunals Student activist and was also a member of the New York political group Al Muhajiroun. The government has not designated Al Muhajiroun a terrorist organization nor deemed membership in the organization illegal, yet Hashmi's First Amendment protected speech and association with the group is being used against him. (Theoharis, 2013) While doing research for this power point, I was shocked at just how many stories are out there that seem so blatantly obvious when it comes to inequalities affecting those who are considered minorities. The article link above talks about a Muslim man in America who is being treated unfairly, and just because he is Muslim, people seem to automatically link him with the word terrorism, while ignoring all his academic accomplishments.

Why Do Minority Inequalities Exist? Racial Inequality in the Criminal Justice System Varying factors: Drug laws that target minorities Crack VS. Cocaine Marijuana Ways laws are written Mandatory Minimums Political structure of criminal justice systems Officers own bias/prejudices Courts beliefs about young minorities Profiling According to NY Times: "Federal programs… continue to provide incentives for racial profiling, by including arrest numbers in its performance measures when distributing hundreds of millions of dollars to local law enforcement each year.“ (Rand, 2014) Economic inequalities Minorities don’t have money to have good lawyers No money for bail (D'Amico, Racial Inequality in the Criminal Justice System) There are so many factors and variables when it comes down to figuring out where the problem of inequality starts, but that is because there isn’t just one thing that is causing it. It is combined factors such as laws and the way they are written, who the police target, how the criminal justice system is set up, and the economic factors that one has to deal with.

What Can Be Done? Martin Luther King Jr., said we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. A radical approach to the US criminal justice system means we must go to the root of the problem. Not reform. Not better beds in better prisons. We are not called to only trim the leaves or prune the branches, but rip up this unjust system by its roots. This means that police, courts, and others involved in the criminal justice system are the ones responsible and therefore the ones that need to be dealt with first, in order to start a movement towards change. ( Quigley, 2010) Because “offenders” end up court due to the action by police, educating those who have first contact with minorities is the first step. Having them take classes and get educated on how others unlike them live their lives, and help them understand that different cultures and ethnicities have differing lifestyles. EDUCATION EDUCATION EDUCATION! This is the best shot at starting to change how minorities are viewed. The more educated a person is, the more likely they are, to not believe in stereotypes. The criminal justice system is a chain of command with officers being close to the very bottom, so then by constantly pushing updated information their way, can start a domino effect that goes up the chain, eventually reaching the courts and the corrections aspects of the system, which can allow for a slowly but surely new way of viewing others that are different than us. (The Essence of Education in Our Lives)

References: (2012, May 8). Minorities [Print Photo]. Retrieved from http://aspoonfulofsuga.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/minorities.jpg Ree, K. (Photographer). (2007, March 8). The Supreme Court of the United States [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_Supreme_Court.JPG Theoharis, J. (2013). The legal black hole in lower manhattan. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2010/04/the_legal_black_hole_in_lower_manhattan.html D'Amico, D. (Photographer). (2013, January 14). Racial Inequality in the Criminal Justice System [Web Video]. Retrieved from http://www.learnliberty.org/videos/racial-inequality-in-the-criminal-justice-system Rand, P. (2014, June 24). Drug war targets minorities . Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/06/24/rand-paul-marijuana-arrests-column/2452259/ Quigley, B. (2010, July 26). Fourteen examples of racism in criminal justice system. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-quigley/fourteen-examples-of-raci_b_658947.html (2012, March 27). The Essence of Education in Our Lives [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://thoughtsofaindianteenager.wordpress.com/2012/03/27/the-essence-of-education-in-our-lives/