The main goal of law and our judicial system in general is simple equal justice for all. The problem we face is the system is often viewed as unfair, but why and how could a system that is supposed to rule fair and just come under such scrutiny? The simple answer is the highest of courts are handpicked by those in power and we all know what power can do to individuals, all of this then causes a system bent on domination not true justice. Our judicial system has derailed from the tracks of justice and has fallen to a system based solely on power and domination like many things in our culture. The problem began early in our history and it did not begin with the judicial system. The first piece to fall to domination by power was the economic …show more content…
The people who are subject to power are often treated vastly unfairly and we’ve seen this throughout time whether it be serfdom, old British potteries, or even the working class of today. The problem started here but as most people who have power think the next step was to branch out and further their effects. The next step may not have singled out the judicial system but it surely had an impact on it. As we have seen throughout history wealth tends to stay in families as does power and America is no exception. Those of the higher ranks whether they’d had ties to powerful aristocracies in the south or the mafia as history progressed managed to infiltrate our government in many facets whether it be local, state, or federal. The main focus being federal do to its ability to impact every other form of government. This leads us to how power has impacted our judicial system. Many judgements are impacted by the conscience and thoughts of the judge as we have seen in projects like the forgery case, but the highest members of the court are handpicked by our president. Conspiracy theories aside like the mafia having ties to Nixon and …show more content…
In every period of our history judicial systems have ruled in favor of those in power whether it be Caucasians over other races, men over women, or money over poverty the only time power receives punishment is when it is ever necessary and those rulings don’t deter the other players. Our judicial system has derailed from the tracks of justice and has fallen to a system based solely on power and domination like many things in our
Being just in the American criminal justice system is a topic that is highly debated. Some believe the system is just, while others believe it is a flawed. The truth however, is that humans are not always right. God is the only who can practice justice in complete perfection, because humans are not perfect. Although many people in the American criminal justice system have good intentions, sadly that does not necessarily mean they are always just.
In the year 1803, an ambivalent, undetermined principle lingered within the governing minds. The government and its “justified” Constitution were thought to be fully explained, until a notion occurred that would bring individuals to question the authority and their limit for empowerment. To end his days as president, John Adams named fifty-eight people from his political party to be federal judges, filing positions created by the Judiciary Act of 1800, under the frequently listed Organic Act. His secretary John Marshall delivered and sealed most of the commissions, however seventeen of them had not yet been delivered before Adams’s departure in 1801. On top of that, Thomas Jefferson refused to appoint those seventeen people because they were
The United States Supreme Court was created by our Founders without many enumerated powers. Through legislation and precedent, the Supreme Court’s duties became apparent to the people and the other governing bodies. From judicial review to understanding unstated fundamental rights, the Supreme Court has furthered the American people’s understanding of our founding document, the Constitution. However, when it comes to the social climate of the United States can the Court dramatically change the people’s social views? There are two ways that the courts have been seen in allowing or impeding social change to be decided by the Courts.
Our legal system allows judges to make important decisions on their own, which is a huge responsibility, and if it falls into the wrong hands, there could be severe
A fair and unbiased court system is necessary for the legal system. The role of the court is to correct any injustice, not to compound it. When prejudice and corruption leak into the courts, what recourse do we have for eradicating them from society? Our judges must be stalwarts of integrity because the power to move our country forward or hold our country back often lies in their hands. Judge Persky had the power to bring justice to a victim, to help her and her family move forward.
Does the Supreme Court Have Too Much Power? Article Three, Section One of the Constitution states that “The judical power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.”. Throughout the years, the Supreme Court has evolved significantly. According to the United States Courts, the Surpeme Court can range from having a low of 5 members to a high of 10 members, the Supreme Court plays an important role in the government today. Although the Supreme Court of Justice is at the head of the court system, the power of the Supreme Court has grown exponentially to a point where it could be considered more powerful than Congress and the power of
Is our justice system corrupted, racist or is it perfect? Did you know African Americans now constitute for nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population? This is probably the case because Blacks are incarcerated six times the rate of whites. African Americans are directly targeted and punished in a much more aggressive way than white people. I believe race, ethnicity and gender disparities play a large role in how our system is executed.
All in all, the judicial system has cracks in the foundation, but it is on the right track. Our system is not perfect but it is better than not having anything. The judicial system gives individuals the chance to prove their innocence and to fight for the
Alex Frost Values: Law & Society 9/23/2014 The Hollow Hope Introduction and Chapter 1 Gerald Rosenberg begins his book by posing the questions he will attempt to answer for the reader throughout the rest of the text: Under what conditions do courts produce political and social change? And how effective have the courts been in producing social change under such past decisions as Roe v. Wade and Brown v. Board of Education? He then works to define some of the principles and view points 'currently' held about the US Supreme court system.
Courts prove unsuccessful in achieving social change due to the constraints on the court’s power. Rosenburg’s assessment that courts are “an institution that is structurally challenged” demonstrates the Constrained Court view. In this view, the Court’s lack of judicial independence, inability to implement policies, and the limited nature of constitutional rights inhibit courts from producing real social reform. For activists to bring a claim to court, they must frame their goal as a right guaranteed by the constitution, leading to the courts hearing less cases (Rosenburg 11). The nature of the three branches also creates a system of checks and balances in which Congress or the executive branch can reverse a controversial decision, rendering the Court’s impact void.
People have always been cheated out of what they deserve in one form or another. The court of justice should be a place where it does not matter the ranking people have. The court of justice is a place where only the facts and what can be proven determines the outcome of the trial not the ranking. Sadly this is not how it is during 1935 when people were classified and ranked because of their skin color. Harper Lee demonstrates this in the book To Kill a Mockingbird during a trial between a black man and a white man.
2- The constitution of the judiciary department might be inexpedient to insist rigorously on the principal. The system of checks and balances is one of the big ones. This gives all 3 branches of government about the same power but over certain things. They are all ruled over
The justice system sentences black people to harsh punishments for minor offenses, where white people would walk away free for the same crime. Our color blindness prevents us from seeing the racial and structural divisions in society, such as the unequal schools, the isolated jobless ghettos, and the segregated society the justice system has built by locking up African American men for up to half their lives and missing out on their
There are issues with the equality of the system, as depending on the income of the accused their experiences will be completely different. The Pyrrhic defeat theory tries to explain this broken system as the consequences of those in power seeking a scapegoat the poor, and to escape responsibility of their own criminalities. The issue is perception; there have been such negative connotations of being poor that poverty and criminality have become interchangeable. Those with power have the narrative to keep this simplified view of criminality alive having their own success over the failure of others, The Pyrrhic theory is worrisome, because acknowledging it means fighting years of false narrative and realize how useless our criminal justice system really
Hana Kim Professor Yvonne Wollenberg Law and Politics 106 7 October 2015 Title In the United States government, there are three branches called the legislative, executive, and judicial branch. Out of these three, the judicial branch is the most powerful. The judicial branch is made up of the Supreme Court, the court with the most power in the country, and other federal courts that are lower in the system; the purpose of this branch is to look over laws and make sure they are constitutional and reasonable.