...America’s Justice System: Justice for All? ENG122 English Composition II Instructor: August 26, 2013 America’s Judicial System: Justice for All? Law enforcement can be an admirable job for anyone who takes this position seriously. It is a job that has its rewards. Conflict comes to light when the differences of opinions regarding the disparities in the judicial system on all levels of law enforcement. Even though there are many whites that do not agree with the facts, the statistics show that African Americans and Hispanics are incarcerated at a much higher rate than whites. The judicial system in the United States has shown favoritism and bias towards white defendants, especially the wealthier white defendants for hundreds of years. There are racial disparities that burden our judicial system with the appearance and often the reality of unfairness. Visit any criminal trial in America today and you will see that the judge, the prosecutor, the court stenographer, the clerk, the bailiff, other various court personnel, the defense attorneys, and more often, the jurors are all white. One excellent example of these disparities would be in the recent “George Zimmerman” trial in Sanford, Florida a town who has allegedly had a history of racial violence and judicial disparities in and out of the court room (Maur, 2010). There are questions often asked, is there justice for “all” in our criminal courts and judicial system, and what is racial disparity? Some...
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...Lindsey Silva J. Clark English 101-8 September 15, 2014 And Justice for All Punishment stems from our parents, our mom or dad or maybe even both, and their learnings stem from their parents. They would lecture, about the rights and wrongs. So when a child grows up, maybe steals a pack of gum at age five, something petty, they get away with it, get a thrill because they were never caught. That small, minor theft turns into something a little larger over time, each time as they grow. That frivolous pack of gum has grown into a larger larceny, maybe grand theft, or robbing a bank, eventually leading to murder, this is known as ‘the progressive effect’. Most of us have a moral compass, so what should happen if that compass breaks? What is the purpose of punishment? The fundamental principal of justice is that the punishment should fit the crime. When one plans and brutally rapes or murders another, doesn’t it make sense that the punishment for the culprit be equal to their crime? I believe in capital punishment, it is beneficial for society as a whole. Capital punishment provides a strong deterrence against future crimes. Capital punishment protects the rights of victims and saves costs of tax payers. The death penalty is a legal appropriate measure in the U.S. legal system. In a perfect world, there would be no serious predatory crime, none enough to have heated debates concerning capital punishment anyway. But this world is not perfect, and unfortunately...
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...* Liberty and Justice for All GEN/195 August 28, 2012 * I seem to use my reasoning skills (rationality) to determine what processes and systems should be put into place to assure fairness and justice for all the community (equality). Using reasoning skills and justice thoroughly explains why my personal preferred lens is the relationship lens. I seek to have relationships with others, especially the underprivileged. Great relationships are built while helping others who sometimes do not have the ability or resources to help themselves. * * My blind spot is overconfidence in a process. There is truth in this because I do overly trust in the “process”; the process of fairness. I do not like seeing or hearing of anyone being treated unfairly and it bothers me to find out that not everyone has what I consider to be valuable morals. Also, to find out that someone less fortunate or inadequate according to America’s standards (i.e.-financially, physically, or a minority) isn’t being treated fairly literally makes me angry on the inside. This ultimately causes me to fight harder for the process’s sake-fairness and equality for all; especially the underprivileged. * * It is comforting to know that my strength is justice. Seeking justice in the overall community is very important to me because it ensures that if everyone is all right in the community, they too will be more willing to reach out a helping hand as well. When the question is asked, “Am...
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...Self Assessment: A group is most effective when its members promote ideas which are beneficial to the group as a whole. Members should be willing to make decisions which support the well being of the group, even if these decisions do not benefit them personally. That being said, members should still have the right to protect their own interests. If a certain group decision is grossly unfair to part of the group, these members should not have an obligation to support such a decision. Teams have a duty to promote decisions which enhance the well being of the group, but only if these decisions support a positive end and do not discriminate against certain members of the group. Furthermore, the majority opinion of a group does not necessarily equate to the right opinion. For instance, work groups are set up to enhance the productivity of a business. Thus, members should only support decisions which do enhance the productivity of the business. If a group’s decision does not support this end, individual members should not feel obligated to support the group’s decision. While I work well in groups and am willing to make sacrifices for the group’s well being, I do prefer to work alone, or in very small groups as opposed to moderate or large groups. I tend to depend on myself and my own work rather than the work of others. In my experience, larger groups lead to slacking by certain group members. Working individually or in small groups creates more personal responsibility...
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...What is justice to you? Do all heroes receive justice? My interpretation for justice is the act of fairness and getting what you deserve. In this story, there are three heroes that stick out to me and they all receive justice and injustice for their heroic actions performed. The heroes in The Help were Skeeter Pheelane, Aibilene Clark, and Minny Jackson. They are all heroes for the courage and bravery they displayed throughout the story. In The Help, not all heroes receive justice they deserve; however, instead they receive injustice at times. One way injustice and justice is showed in The Help through the heroic efforts of the character Skeeter Pheelane. A way that Skeeter expressed heroic actions and righteousness was from writing her book, The Help. After doing so, she received justice by receiving her own job offer for writing and also by gaining a stronger relationship between she and her mother. Along with receiving justice, she also received injustice. Skeeter did not get a fair treatment after writing The Help, her friends abandoned her and did not treat her well. This shows how the heroes do not always receive what they deserve....
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...The three sources do suggest that Wolsey did genuinely try to achieve justice in his time as Lord Chancellor. However, they do not conclusively say it was ‘for all’. The first source suggests that high on Wolsey’s list of priorities was serving ‘just and equality’. However he would not be negative regarding the matter but it is also important to note that in such an important piece of text Wolsey would not be able to make strong claims which he could not back up. Source 2 could be interpreted two ways. On one hand the fact that bakers are asking for Wolsey’s support implying that they believed him to be fair and grant them their ‘remedy’ for the wrongdoing they have fallen victim of. Another way of looking at it is that Wolsey favoured the poor and that is why they asked for his help. Confirming the fact that he favoured the poor is source 3. He apparently ‘punished the rich’. This does come from an upper class perspective however and Wolsey giving the poor any kind of privilege would be frowned upon by the rich. One factor that all three sources agree on is that Wolsey would go against law and tradition if it meant being more just. The second source shows this by showing that when the law is acting unjustly, ‘the mayor sent them to Newgate gaol for 11 days’, Wolsey is the man that people would expect to help them. This contrasts with the traditional approach because men such as the Mayor and Alderman should have their way without interference if it meant exploiting the poor...
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...Justice for All: Civil Protest and Civil Rights The civil rights movement came about in the mid-19th century. The movement began as subtle and peaceful demonstration pleading for equal rights for all citizens under the constitution. One of the first victories of the Civil Rights Movement was Brown V. Board of Education which overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, stating that segregation in schools was unconstitutional. Soon after events such as the Birmingham bus boycott, and other protest would fuel the notion that equal rights and liberties were in fact a reality for black Americans. A young charismatic leader would emerge from the movement by the name of Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. would catapult the movement further and increase...
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...Same-Sex Marriage: For Liberty and Justice for All? Carly Baxter The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is a U.S. law that defines marriage as the union between a man and a woman. Last year, President Obama's told the Justice Department to stop defending DOMA. There were worries that it violated the equal protection element of the Fifth Amendment (Montopoli). Later in 2011, the Obama administration confirmed that it would back a bill to get rid of DOMA (Nakamura). Same-sex marriage is now legal in seven states (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York) and also the District of Columbia. Maryland, Washington, and New Jersey will eventually allow same-sex couples to marry, but the bills haven’t taken effect yet. There are several other states that respect out-of-state marriages, and recognize domestic partnerships or civil unions (“States”). Denmark has accepted same-sex marriage for over twenty years and for several years now in Canada. No societies in these two countries have collapsed nor are divorce rates rising, which are common accusations (Eskridge). If Denmark has had a successful twenty years of same-sex marriage without the fall of their civilization, I doubt the societies in the United States will breakdown if same-sex couples get married. However, that doesn't stop the arguments from being made. So, the only thing someone has to do to cancel out a logical argument is to introduce fear. Nearly forty-six percent of people in the U.S....
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...------------------------------------------------- Compensatory Discrimination in Light of Theories Of Justice INTRODUCTION In a civilized social system, law plays not only the role of guarantor of justice equality and liberty, but also as a tool for attaining the ends of justice. In this respect the modern democratic state has to adopt objective standards to protect the human rights of its citizens. Equality is one among those cardinal human rights by which the State is mandated to treat the equals equally and unequal unequally when it distributes its own benefits to the people. But who are equals and who are unequal is a thorny issue, for the limited resources are much valuable and required by the various group of people and they have to be distributed justly and fairly. In the Indian constitutional scheme, it had been envisaged by the framers that there should be equality of opportunity is for all citizens in public employments and such equality of opportunity a fundamental right of the citizens’.At the same time, the need for some beneficial treatment to the weaker sections of the society was also enshrined with that right. What is the basis of distribution of societal resources to certain sections? The thrust of this Chapter goes with the following enquiry. Is there any jurisprudential foundation for protective discrimination? If so what is it? This aspect is assessed from the angle of different theories of justice viz., social justice, distributive justice, equality and equal opportunity and social engineering...
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...almighty God for giving me all the blessings for my life, all for His kind presence in all my activities. I would like to thank Rev. Dr. Johnson Neelanirappel for his valuable guidance and for generously sharing his time, knowledge, love and energy to guide me in the right path for the completion of this thesis. I would also like to acknowledge and express my gratitude to the following people for their glorious support and contributions to my journey and the completion of this thesis. I pay homage to the librarian of Santhom library Rev. Dr. Sebastian Chalackal and all other librarians for helping me in the collection of data for the completion of this work. Fro generously sharing their wisdom, love and time I pay gratitude to my entire batch mates of Dazzlers. Conveying my sincere thanks to all the members of Sevana social group I wind up. general introduction Human is a rational and social being. Society is an unavoidable factor for human being. There are a lot of things to keep as a social being to human. To maintain a good relationship with others, there are certain written and unwritten rules. The person who keeps this rules called ‘just man’. There are different faces to the concept ‘justice’. A brief study about the concept ‘justice’ is an important today. Many philosophers have tried to explain the concept ‘justice’ and its features. We can find a lot of features in personal justice. The meaning of justice may change according...
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...Justice is the corner stone of any human civilization, across all nations, all languages, all historical development, all cultural background, and all social groups. Even though human exercises of justice always involve subjective judgment, most people believe that there would be ultimate objective justice in this world. In fact, in any human society, people always ascribe the absoluteness of justice which is free of subjective relativity to divine authority, even if the society is dominated by atheist materialist culture. This is because mankind could only acquire absolute authority from supernatural or divine power superior to all human power. As a result, divine justice has been the foundation of all human justice in this world. Besides the divine justice, there are another two general categories of justice: natural justice and social justice. By natural justice I am referring to the application of natural logic or knowledge when exercising justice. For example, we all know that forcing people to work under dangerous environment or poor conditions could be harmful to them, or cutting a person with knife could kill him. This kind of common knowledge could be accepted among people without any modern scientific education when making judgment about justice. The last major category of justice is the social justice, i.e. the exercise of justice based on various cultural values, human experiences and personal interests. In reality, the process of exercising justice would normally...
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...Restorative Justice Paper Luis Sanchez Life is about making wrong and bad choices, there is not a single individual on earth that was born with the appropriated knowledge of what is right and was wrong. No individual is perfect they are all equal and all go through struggle, and by struggling choices are being made whether are choices with appropriate behavior or inappropriate behavior. Some individuals know how to control themselves before a tragedy occurs, but most fail to control their temper and they violate the law, and by violating the law consequences are implement because justice must be obtain. Once an offender commits crime then it is more likely for the case to go to trial. The criminal justice system is the practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control. So when crime occurs the defendant will receive either a punishment or sentence. The criminal justice system and other systems that are against crime and inappropriate behavior are always on the side of the victim, because their goal is to obtain justice. The restorative justice is an approach to justice that focus on the needs of the victims and offenders, as well as the involved community instead of satisfying abstract legal principles or punishing the offender. Restorative justices involve both victim and offender and focuses on the personal needs. It is based on a theory of justice that considers crime and wrongdoing to be an offence against an individual...
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...Retributive justice has been a part of our criminal justice systems for decades, and is still very active today. This type of justice is the heart of all judicial systems that has to deal with law and order. Retributive approach to fairness is, for every crime that is committed the felon should be punished justly. It takes on the biblical principle, an eye for an eye, or a tooth for a tooth. As human beings it is only natural for us to want revenge upon our enemy. For example, a rape victim will more than likely want to see his or her attacker suffer. Or, a parent would want revenge for the one who killed their child. Under retributive justice strategy, it is essential that wrongdoers are really blameworthy of the wrongdoing for which a punishment...
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...SOCIAL JUSTICE This is a sample paper for Dr. Matthew Robinson’s class … CJ 5150, “American Justice System and Social Justice” at Appalachian State University The paper is not be used for any purpose other than illustration for students in the class!!! Social Justice versus Criminal Justice Appalachian State University Social Justice versus Criminal Justice In this paper I will discuss how different aspects, policies, and procedures of the United States criminal justice system are inconsistent with the principles of social justice posited by John Rawls and David Miller. The criminal justice system does not promote socially just outcomes or practices. First of all, the criminal justice system is not really a system at all; it is a network. Second, criminal justice places greater emphasis on crime control, rather than due process rights. Our system encourages punishment rather than rehabilitation. Finally, criminal justice policies such as the death penalty and the war on drugs reflect prejudices within the system, resulting in unequal treatment. Before beginning to explain these flaws within criminal justice, I will first define social justice and explain the essential social justice principles suggested in Rawls and Miller’s theories. Social Justice Justice is based on two supposedly equal conceptions. First, guilty offenders are held accountable for their actions and second, that criminal justice processes...
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...COMMUNAL JUSTICE IN IGBO LAND: AN APPRAISAL INTRODUCTION There is in every society or community a conscious effort to maintain peace, and preserve mutual respect of individual’s goods, rights, and properties through gradual inculcation of rationally derived principles, ethical norms and trends. In the main, these principles seem to be borne out of the day-to-day experiences arising from human encounter and interactions. Often they are formulated in succinct formulas to instill discipline, and promote mutual relationship among the individuals in the society. In other words, both the ethical norms and principles are the fruits of man’s daily reflections concerning what is conducive for human welfare. They are veritable instruments at the service of the society as a whole. Since man is at the centre of every community, traditional or modern, he is ipso facto, an undeniable formulator of moral principles and norms. He uses his welfare, and a sense of common good as a moral standard of justice. In other words, whatever promotes the common good, and individuals’ welfare is considered “good” and “just”, and whatever does not, is seen as evil. It is from this perspective that this paper seeks to demonstrate, articulate and appraise the Igbo concept of justice (Ofo), which is more or less a communal justice. The interest of this write-up is limited on the idea of justice practice in the Igbo land and it efficacy before the advent of colonialism, which will be introduced with a definition...
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