General Aim: To Argue
Specific Aim: To convince the audience that equity in the Jamaican judicial system is a misconception.
Introduction
WE WANT JUSTICE! WE WANT JUSTICE! This is a sentiment shared by persons on the prosecution and the defendant side of the court whom have suffered from a lack of equity in the judicial system; from the person who is wrongfully convicted to the mother of an innocent child who has been shot and the perpetrator gets to walk away not convicted. Each year, thousands of people are convicted of crimes they did not commit.
What is equity? According to the Legal Dictionary (2016) equity is a venerable group of rights and procedures to provide fairness, unhampered by the narrow strictures of the old common law or
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In fact, a national poll commissioned by The Gleaner has found that; ONLY THREE per cent (3%) of Jamaicans are of the view that the poor and the rich are treated the same way by the legal system (Luton, 2014). It is common knowledge to all Jamaicans that even the simplest of court case here in Jamaica can run up to five years; now a case of this duration is costly to an affluent person, how much more so is it for someone who is considered indigent, how can five years of going back and forth be called fair or due process? While an affluent person can afford to have his/her lawyer drag out the case for years or put a swift end to it, the judgement for the less fortunate is at the whim of our equitable judicial system.
Additionally, Prosecutors misconduct sometimes cause loss of cases in Jamaica (Davis _Ernest_ v General Legal Council, 2014). By the same token, persons are often denied the right to fair trial because the Prosecution has failed to give disclosure of material evidence in a timely manner (Director of public prosecution v Senior resident magistrate for corporate area,
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Moj.gov.jm. Retrieved 19 November 2016, from http://moj.gov.jm/justice-reform
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‘Let them kill each other’: Public security crisis in Jamaica. (2008) (1st ed.). Retrieved from http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session9/JM/JFJ_Jamicansforjustice_Annex17.pdf
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At first viewing of the documentary "Gideon's Army.' * you may become overwhelmed by the dire situation of the criminal justice system in the South, specifically with regard to the poorer and less educated population. To observe how stressed the public defenders are, how tapped the resources, and how desperate the defendants, you struggle with the notion that there may not be anything that can be done and it's too big a problem to overcome. But delving into the professional, and, at times, personal life of Travis Williams, a public defender in Georgia, you feel determination and hope. Williams advocates for each client with passion and diligence.
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.
A miscarriage of justice is when a person is convicted and punished for a crime they did not commit. This book displays many strengths. Some of the strengths found in this
This year at Elon University, all first-year students were given a summer reading. The author Bryan Stevenson, a gifted attorney, who founded the Equal Justice Initiative; fights to raise awareness about the injustices in the United States legal and social systems. Just Mercy, his book magnifies his early career, where he fought for people on death row. This book talks about the injustices that happened back in the 80’s and 90’s but, these same injustices by the police are still around today, but justified by law now.
Just like Kalief, 97% of the African Americans who are currently sitting in prison never saw a trial (Averick, 2016). The criminal justice system stopped being about who guilty or innocent, but rather on the amount of money greedy white-privileged men can earn based on the number of people in a prison. Kalief Browder endured physical and emotional pain, for a crime later shown he didn’t commit. Browder was released after the charges were dropped, but two years after, he died by suicide (Averick, 2016). The life of Kalief Browder and his family will forever be scarred because of a system who sees people as dollar signs.
This is exemplified by a Mississippi public defender, June Hardwick, who we meet in the film. Hardwick struggled to pay her family’s bills, which ultimately forced her to leave the public defenders’ office to pursue a more lucrative paying position in private law. Hardwick had not given up on indigent defense; she stated she would continue to fight for the poor. It is clear that she has given up on the system that supports the
Yet, according to government statistics, African Americans and whites have similar rates of illicit drug use and dealing” (Bryan Stevenson and Michelle Alexander, 2010). Therefore, the war on drugs was a systematic effort to target and arrest African Americans on the pretense of suspicion of drugs, which accounted for a higher incarceration rate among communities of color creating a racial divide. With this intention, the criminal justice system is a racial based institution that marginalizes and controls the fate of African Americans. In the book Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson represented Walter McMillian who was wrongfully convicted of murder and put on death row without legal and fair representation states, “We’ve institutionalized policies that reduce people to their worst acts and permanently label them criminal, murderer, rapist, thief, drug dealer, sex offender, felon- identities they cannot change regardless of the circumstances of their crimes or any improvements they might make in their lives” (Stevenson, 2015). With this in mind, Walter McMillian’s case is one of the many racial segregated cases that was denied effective representation and prosecutorial misconduct because he was black, which has subjected many African Americans to unfair treatment by the criminal system leaving
Famous American cereal killer, John Wayne Gacy, had murdered and raped 33 adolescents, many of whom were teenagers, the justice system made sure this man could never do this again. The public is turning a blind eye to the many contributions the justice system makes, we should look at not only how we can reform, but how it contributes to society The justice system creates many contributions to society, such as the safety it provides for children and their chances of exploitation, the many instances where they convict dangerous individuals therefore creating a safer environment for the present and future of society, and the fact it provides all citizens of the public and private sectors, to have the right to a fair, speedy, and public trial,
Mass Incarceration Through the Era of Colorblindness In the New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander portrayed a strong and provocative evaluation of the mass incarceration in the United States. When writing this book Alexander wanted to achieve to bring up a much needed conversation of the role that the criminal justice system had in the creation of this new racial caste system as well as show how the consequences of being labeled a felon have simply redesigned the old Jim Crow. She aimed towards the audience of other civil rights activists who hope to work towards racial justice, those of which she believes will be skeptical of what she has to say.
Through the book High Price by Dr. Carl Hart, we were presented with different ideas about the justice system that exists in poor communities and specially in those of people of color. In this book, Dr. Carl Heart gave us a way to connect with those who had to go through it by presented us with his own personal story. In this essay, we are going to talk about the Information in general that was presented to us, the types of evidence that he used and to what extent they were valid and reliable and if these points were not very reliable we will be talking about their disadvantage. The main point through his book, to makes us understand the disparities that poor African American people, specially juveniles, have to go through and the stigmas that
Today our justice system has a multitude of options when dealing with those who are convicted of offenses. However, many argue that retributive justice is the only real justice there is. This is mainly because its advantage is that it gives criminals the appropriate punishment that they deserve. The goals of this approach are clear and direct. In his book The Little Book of Restorative Justice, Zehr Howard (2002), illustrates that the central focus of retributive justice is offenders getting what they deserve (p. 30).
Sandel, Michael J. (2009). Justice: What’s the right thing to do? New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Introduction & Background Information In the book, Justice:
In this paragraph, the advantages and disadvantages of trial by jury will be discussed. The main advantages are that juries introduce community values into the legal process and can influence the system (Joyce, 2013); they can achieve a sense of equity and fairness without enforcing unjust laws; in addition, juries are independent and neutral (Davies, 2015). Moreover, they guarantee participation from the public in a democratic institution (Hostettler, 2004), and represent the population thanks to the randomness with which jurors are decided (Davies, 2015). On the other hand, the most important disadvantages are that jurors have no prior contact with the courts, no training (Hostettler, 2004) and therefore they lack knowledge of law, courtroom proceedings (Joyce, 2013), and lack of ability to understand the legal directions (Thomas, 2010). Moreover, they must face evidence which is highly technical (Hostettler, 2004).
Injustice; A Reality I discovered injustice sitting on an old velvet couch that sat in the corner of my living room. I was nine when my mother sat me down and told me that “divorce is the best option.” Divorce was unheard of at my conservative Christian school. I was the only girl in my grade whose parents were separated; due to this, I was treated differently. I couldn’t comprehend why people treated me differently when they didn’t understand what I went through.
Details : Trained stuff : The foundation fellows enjoy a reputation for competence and for professionalism as they are highly skilled and litigators who represent in all facets of family law. Facilities : Examples of projects recently funded of the foundation : Shelters , and assistants for domestic violence , programs in school to help children , scholarships for law students in family law of young family law attorneys and recommendations regarding issues in matrimonial laws and marriage enrichment to prevent divorce. Required technology: Computers and laptops.