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Institutional racism in the criminal justice system essay
Institutional racism in the criminal justice system essay
Essay on prisoners rights
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As a second semester freshman, I found English 102 to be one of my favorite classes. My professor Sally Benson, structured our class’s curriculum around issues in the prison system. More specifically juveniles in adult prisons, college classes for incarcerated individuals, and prison privatization. I found this quite interesting because every assignment we did directly correlated to these three issues. In the beginning of the semester, we, as a class, analyzed all three of these issues, to get a become well acquainted with each topic. This helped tremendously when it came to writing the first paper, the rhetorical analysis. Student were asked to choose a text from a list of resources and analyse how that text works- what he/she see a text saying, …show more content…
how he/she see this feature(s) doing what it does, and then speculate about why the text is constructed the way it is. Following this paper, students were asked to write a controversy analysis which presented both sides of the issue they chose, and a public argument which students chose their stance on that issue. After the public argument paper, students were responsible for putting together a presentation to illustrate their stance on the issue they chose to an audience of middle school students. I chose the issue of juveniles in adult prisons because for me it hits close to home. When I was thirteen of one of my closest friends was sent to prison for attempting to murder his step-father. Therefore, when Professor Benson introduced us to the requirements of presentation I assumed it was going to be easy. But, to my surprise it was not, actually it was a tad bit harder because I had to convince an audience of middle school students that juveniles in adult prisons hinders rather than help youth offenders in three minutes or less. Similarities in the rhetoric elements, I used to shape an open letter and presentation came from the information I presented, emotional appeal, call for action and the tone I used in both my open letter and presentation.
The information I used to present in each argument highlighted key facts on the issue and familiarized both audiences on why I believe juveniles in adult jails is unjust. I effectively did this by using this quote “The reality is, in America, some criminals make it out alive with a decent head on their shoulders, many make it out mentally, emotionally, and/ or physically damaged, others make it out to go back in and the rest don’t make it out at all”. This quote not only outright explains the problem it supports my stance. Shaping the argument for both the open letter and presentation was the easiest part of both assignments because of the issue I chose. To prove how unjust this issue was, I used the stories of Taurus Buchanan and Kalief Browder as examples of how the prison system causes more self harm than self healing for these troubled juveniles. After presenting that quote and two anecdotes to both audiences, I made a call for action to get both parties involved. I did this by presenting the solution: Instead of immediately sending these offenders straight to an adult facility, he/she should be sentenced a juvenile sentence until they are eighteen, and when this occurs he/she will be transferred to an adult facility to serve the rest of their time. This caused both audiences to think about the issue on a broader scale and possibly come up with a solution of their own. Finally, to win over and persuade both audiences that sending juveniles to adult prisons is unlawful is the tone I used both in my open letter and my presentation. By having a confident, informative, passionate, and stern tone, I informed both parties that this is a serious problem that is often over-looked by our society and needs to be
addressed. When writing academic papers as an undergraduate student in college, you are aware that you are speaking to a mediated audience, given your thoughts will be read on a piece of paper. In this case the mediated audience of this paper would Professor Benson, and readers of the New York Times. Because this was an open letter, I knew the format, flow of information, statistical evidence, and credibility as an author were critical to my paper. The format of my paper followed the structure of an open letter written in a major newspaper companies. This also structured the flow of information I presented because typically open letters range from five hundred to seven hundred words, so I opened up the the letter up with the question “ If you were a parent, would you be comfortable with your eleven or twelve year old child living with a sixty year old rapist?”. By doing this I catch the audience's attention almost immediately without having to go through an introduction. Following the question, to advance my argument, I use the statistical evidence that “practice of charging young people as adults gained momentum in America in the 1990s, as youth crime spiked” from another newspaper company to build credibility with the audience. In doing this, I provide evidence that juveniles in adult prison is a growing issue in the united states. To close the open letter I provided facts on behalf of the opposing argument, to cut a bias and opinionated tone out of my argument. The major difference between the open letter and the presentation was the audience, the open letter was geared toward an older, more mature crowd and this presentation was for middle school students. The main thing a presentation can provide that an open letter cannot are human interactions, pictures, and font colors . So, to start off my presentation I handed out four numbered colored index cards to four random students. I did this to catch the attention of the students, leaving them a bit confused. After the title of the presentation, on four different slides I posted a picture of four different cartoon characters and asked each student to re-aloud the question they had on the card. I then had the first student with his or her hand up answer the question. This was to get the students who did not have a card to pay attention and active in the presentation. The characters I chose were characters I knew the student had seen before, this would also help get my point across on a level to which they could understand. I also chose those characters because they were full of color. Using bright colors not would not only again, keep the students interested, but they would also help the students remember the information in the presentation. Thus, giving them something to think and talk about with their parents when they got home from school that day. As a writer, I had fun with the process of turning an open letter to a middle school presentation because it challenged me to think outside the box while training me to an expert on this topic. It also helped me exercise all the rhetoric elements I learned while being in this course. Instead of memorizing these elements for this project, doing this project helped me understand the importance of each rhetoric elements. Now that the semester is over, as a student I believe all the techniques I learned in this course has expanded my writing and analysing abilities making me a stronger writer.
Martin Luther King Jr. incorporates many rhetorical strategies in “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. He construes to the Clergymen why he is eager to adjust segregation laws. King relays his contradictions and arguments in a clear, considerate demeanor through the application of ethos, logos, and pathos.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested on April 12, 1963, in Birmingham, for having a protest without a proper permit. On the exact day King was arrested, eight clergymen from Alabama wrote a letter called “A Call for Unity.” The letter called for termination of civil activities and demonstrations and designated King an “outsider” and saying that outsiders were the problems in Birmingham and not the blacks that are from there. On April 16 King wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, which was his responds to his fellow clergymen. He wrote the letter as a means to convince the clergymen and the white moderate that the nonviolent demonstrations that had got him arrested, were a necessity and to enlighten them on why the segregation laws in the southern states needed to be changed. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” King uses logos, pathos, and ethos to persuade the clergymen and convince them in assisting him in putting an end to segregation laws of blacks in Birmingham, Alabama.
In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail) written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. the three artistic appeals of Aristotle are plainly apparent, especially logos. Dr. King repeatedly appeals to logos (Ruszkiewicz) throughout the entire piece; particularly when he says he was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist then gradually gained a matter of satisfaction from the label. He is very impassioned in his language and tone in this part of the letter, yet still makes a strong argument for logic. Despite the overwhelming emotional and personal investment involved Dr. King still allows logic to prevail thus lending him a huge amount of credibility. As a member of the community being persecuted in this case, he might have had trouble remaining objective but clearly he doesn’t let his own pathos take center stage. All in all the use of logic and concise reasoning make a strong argument for the effectiveness of the letter in general.
Recently you have received a letter from Martin Luther King Jr. entitled “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” In Dr. King’s letter he illustrates the motives and reasoning for the extremist action of the Civil Rights movement throughout the 1960’s. In the course of Dr. King’s letter to you, he uses rhetorical questioning and logistical reasoning, imagery and metaphors, and many other rhetorical devices to broaden your perspectives. I am writing this analysis in hopes you might reconsider the current stance you have taken up regarding the issues at hand.
Over fifty years ago, in 1963, Martin Luther King Jr., a Civil Rights leader, wrote Letter from Birmingham Jail addressed to eight clergymen. In his letter, King uses language tools to convey his concerns to the clergymen. Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. manipulated language by using rhetorical devices to effectively transmit his message to readers. King uses methods such as repetition, anaphora, syntax, and more.
Rhetorical Analysis “Letter from Birmingham Jail” In 1963 on April 16th, Martin Luther King Jr, who was in the Birmingham jail for non-violent protesting wrote a letter in response to a statement from eight white clergymen, in which they stated that his recent activities were “unwise and untimely.” In this letter King proceeds to state his purpose and reasons for his timing and his protests and powerfully he does so. He most obviously directs the letter to the Clergymen but there seems to be a many different audiences he wishes to enlighten on his thoughts. From what I gather he wants public figures and everyday men to read his letter, and by doing so he hopes to raise awareness of the cruel acts that have been done to the blacks.
The Letter from Birmingham Jail was written in 1963 by Martin Luther King, Jr. During this period, the African Americans were involved in a battle for white and black equality. This is evident from the vocabulary used by King including “Negro” which was common during that period but not used commonly afterwards. Moreover, the letter’s context tells it argues that King wanted was African Americans to have freedom. The letter’s purpose is that King wants to persuade the clergymen what he together with his people were demonstrating since it was extremely necessary during that period. In achieving this, King utilizes persuasive and condemnatory tones so that the reader can consent with him. King Luther King, the author of Letter from Birmingham Jail, presents a valid argument through the use of ethos, pathos, and logos in the entire piece with the intention of explaining his actions and changing the audience’s opinions.
In the touching, influential letter, Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. responds to the white, Alabama clergymen who condemned his movement as “unwise and untimely” (1) and delineates his motives for traveling to Birmingham, where whites consider him an “outsider” (1). Hoping to express his ambition of nonviolent protest in a sympathetic, deferential manner, he implores the white clergy to join the struggle for Civil Rights. Throughout the letter, he addresses and disputes against each negative argument by the whites, testifying his position unpretentiously, yet confidently. With aptitude, poise, and humility, King establishes his motives for coming to such an unwelcoming environment. In his heart-rending letter, King’s coherent logos, stimulating rhetorical questions, and accentuating parallel structure express to the white moderates who criticized his actions that nonviolent, direct protest is not only essential, but also inevitable to contain agitated hostility and to assume relative peace.
The Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, is a response that King uses to address the critiques about nonviolent demonstrations against segregation. He backs up each critique with reasoning of emotions which he uses to explain why each action is taking place. King doesn’t challenge the critiques being made, but instead points out the views felt by his community. In Kings essay, the rhetorical strategy of appeal to the emotions is the strongest. This can be seen when he discusses the physical and mental disrespect from the white community. Portraying to the emotions is important to his overall argument because it relates the reader with the black community by providing situations of struggle and hardship, triggering the typical
Atticus Finch says, “The one thing that doesn 't abide by majority rule is a person 's conscience” (Lee 99). In other words, people make personal decisions about themselves independently of other’s opinions. In the same way, Martin Luther King Jr. pricks the conscience by addressing issues surrounding the civil rights movement. He urges Americans to reflect and decide for themselves what they believe is right and wrong. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” King uses rhetorical devices to dramatically convey his arguments about the purpose of the government as well as the non segregational rights, moral responsibilities, and violent nature of the governed, ideas which are still relevant today.
“This Course prepares students for reading, research, and writing in college classes by teaching students to consider the rhetorical situation of any piece of writing while integrating reading, research, and writing in the academic genres of analysis and argument. This course is said to teach students to develop analyses and arguments using research-based content with effective organization, and appropriate expression and mechanics”. (1)
A deep look into juveniles in adult prisons. Touch bases on several smaller issues that contribute to juveniles being in and effects of adult prisons. The United States Bureau of Prisons handles two hundred and thirty-nine juveniles and their average age is seventeen. Execution of juveniles, The United States is one of only six countries to execute juveniles. There are sixty-eight juveniles sitting on death row for crimes committed as juveniles. Forty-three of those inmates are minorities. People, who are too young to vote, drink alcohol, or drive are held to the same standard of responsibility as adults. In prisons, they argue that the juveniles become targets of older, more hardened criminals. Brian Stevenson, Director of the Alabama Capital Resource Center said, “We have totally given up in the idea of reform of rehabilitation for the very young. We are basically saying we will throw those kids away. Leading To Prison Juvenile Justice Bulletin Report shows that two-thirds of juveniles apprehended for violent offenses were released or put on probation. Only slightly more than one-third of youths charged with homicide was transferred to adult criminal court. Little more than one out of every one hundred New York youths arrested for muggings, beatings, rape and murder ended up in a correctional institution. Another report showed a delinquent boy has to be arrested on average thirteen times before the court will act more restrictive than probation. Laws began changing as early as 1978 in New York to try juveniles over 12 who commit violent crimes as adults did. However, even since the laws changed only twenty percent of serious offenders served any time. The decision of whether to waive a juven...
Throughout history into today, there have been many problems with our prison system. Prisons are overcrowded, underfunded, rape rates are off the charts, and we as Americans have no idea how to fix it. We need to have shorter sentences and try to rehabilitate prisoners back to where they can function in society. Many prisoners barely have a high school education and do not receive further education in jail. Guards need to pay more attention to the well being of the inmates and start to notice signs of abuse and address them. These are just a few of the many problems in our prison systems that need to be addressed.
When juveniles commit crimes, it is critical that society finds a successful way to divert their criminal actions into good behavior. The main purpose of this essay is to find the different outlets the juvenile justice system is using to rehabilitate juveniles, how well those strategies are working, and personal suggestions for improvement that might result in a more effective juvenile justice system.
Today?s court system is left with many difficult decisions. One of the most controversial being whether to try juveniles as adults or not. With the number of children in adult prisons and jails rising rapidly, questions are being asked as to why children have been committing such heinous crimes and how will they be stopped. The fact of the matter is that it is not always the children's fault for their poor choices and actions; they are merely a victim of their environment or their parents. Another question asked is how young is too young. Children who are too young to see an R rated film unaccompanied are being sent to adult prisons. The only boundaries that seem to matter when it comes to being an adult are laws that restrain kids from things such as alcohol, pornography, and other materials seen as unethical. Children that are sent to adult prison are going to be subjected to even more unprincipled ideas and scenes. When children can be sent to jail for something as minor as a smash and grab burglary, the judicial system has errors. The laws that send juveniles to adult prisons are inhumane, immoral, and unjust. Kids are often incompetent, which leads to unfair trials. Adult prisons are also very dangerous for minors, and in many cases this leads to more juvenile crimes.