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Racism within the criminal justice system essay
Comparing and contrasting criminological theories
The influence of media on crime
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The novel, Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson is an incredible read. In this book, Mr. Stevenson discusses his journey as an attorney for the condemned on death row. He speaks of many of the cases he has taken on, and the people he has represented. One story he focuses on in particular is his case representing Walter McMillian. This man was condemned to death row before he was even convicted of the crime! Mr. Stevenson spends so much time advocating for Walter’s innocence, until one day he is finally released from death row. Mr. Stevenson’s book exposes many of the problems that face the Criminal Justice system, as well as reveals several criminological theories that have been developed. Throughout the stories told in the book, Mr. Stevenson creates …show more content…
15). This is the most prime example of the “labeling theory”. In criminology, the labeling theory is essentially the “dramatization of evil” in which the subject is singled out from his peers and treated as a criminal. This theory also states that people who have been labeled such names, also contributes to their future criminal behavior, they commit the crime because they have been associated by name with it. This presents a problem because the people who have been labeled with such names are prevented from being able to reassimilate within society, they are the outcasts. It also can potentially hinder their growth as an individual. If they are constantly hearing the negative names, they will begin to believe those things about themselves, thus preventing them from moving on from that part of their life, and also can coerce them into reoffending. Throughout the novel, Mr. Stevenson continuously refers back to the first death penalty case he worked on, Walter McMillian. McMillian’s case is the best example of the …show more content…
This is because the people of his hometown were truly convinced the McMillian was a very dangerous man and was guilty of the murder, and who knows what else. Upon Walter’s release and his move back into his hometown, all the momentum gained from his release, quickly began to fade. He ended up needing to be provided with consistent care and supervision. Most places refused to take him because he was convicted of a felony, even though he was wrongfully convicted and has been exonerated. At one point, Mr. Stevenson wrote of a conversation he had with a nurse who had been taking care of Walter at the hospital he was staying at. She told him that one of the other nurses had looked Walter up because he repeatedly talked of death row. The nurse had told her that “someone like that is not supposed to be here....a lot of people think once you go to prison, whether you belong there or not, you become a dangerous person, and they don’t want to have nothing to do with you” (Stevenson p. 280). Walter McMillian ended up passing away on September 11, 2013. Could it have been from his health complications?
...arrying a woman who was cheating on her husband. “She was a 36-year-old American who was married (although separated) and had two children” (biography.com). Her name was Fanny Osbourne, and her and Robert fell in love in France. “Osbourne had traveled to Europe in an attempt to escape her estranged husband’s influence” (gradesaver.com). Stevenson could possibly of gotten his ideas from Fanny’s situation. Her and her first husband once had loyalty, but eventually their relationship turned sour.
Anthony Lewis tells the story very well, including providing a background of Gideon’s case as
Acclaimed author and lawyer Bryan Stevenson depicts his crusade against an unjust and unlawful criminal justice system in his story Just Mercy. Throughout the book, Bryan depicts his progression from a confused freshman at Harvard law, into a criminal defense lawyer and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative. Unfortunately, his journey would unveil the truth America’s justice system: a system plagued by corruption and racism. Bryan Stevenson is an African American lawyer, who began his career after law school working for the SPDC, an organization that attempts to provide legal aid to prison inmates throughout southern states. While returning home from work one night, Bryan notices a SWAT car park near him. Soon he is held at gunpoint by a
Criminology is the scientific study of crimes and criminal behaviour. Criminological theories and research aim at giving us an understanding of the reasons and factors that influence why people commit crimes. There are two main types of crime: Blue collar crime and white collar crime. Blue-collar crimes is the term used to describe crimes that are committed primarily by people who are from a lower socioeconomic class while white-collar crime is usually committed by people in a higher socioeconomic class. The main difference between the two is “white-collar” crime is usually considered to be a victimless crime in which there is no one directly made to be in a worse situation than what they were in before . An example of the more common street
We learn values from family, friends, coworkers, etc.; those values either support or oppose criminal behavior. Sutherland also noted that individuals with an excess of criminal definitions will be more open to new criminal definitions and that individual will be less receptive to anti-criminal definitions. The theory does not emphasize who one's associates are but rather upon the definitions provided by those associations. Once techniques are learned, values (or definitions) supporting that criminal behavior may be learned from just about anyone.
Many of the traditional criminological theories focused more on biological, psychological and sociological explanations of crime rather than on the cost and benefits of crime. More conservative approaches, including routine actives, lifestyle exposure and opportunity theories have clearly incorporated crime rate patterns as a fundamental part of analyzing the economics of crime. Crime statistics are important for the simple reason that they help put theories into a logical perspective. For example, a prospective home owner may want to look at crime rates in areas of potential occupancy. On a more complex level, it helps law enforcement and legislators create effective crime reduction programs. Furthermore, it also helps these agencies determine if crime prevention programs, that have been in effect, have been successful. There are many factors that influence the rates of crime including socio economic status, geographical location, culture and other lifestyle factors. More specifically, Messner and Blau (1987) used routine activities theory to test the relationship between the indicators of leisure activities and the rate of serious crimes. They discussed two types of leisure actives, the first being a household pastime, which primarily focused on television watching. The second type was a non-household leisure event which was consisted of attendance to sporting events, cinemas, and entertainment districts. The focus of this paper will be to study the effects that substantial amounts of leisure activities have on the offender and the victim. Leisure activities not only make a crime more opportunistic for offenders, it may also provide offenders with motivation to engage in criminal activity. On the other hand, it may also be argue...
For decades researchers have speculated about the relationship between levels of violence, and societal conditions such as poverty, urbanism, population composition, and family disruption. National and international level research has concluded that each of these factors are related to crime rates and their trends overtime (Avison & Loring, 1986; Lafree, 1999, Lauristen & Carbone-Lopez, 2011). To examine these factors more closely we should recognize that they are the foundation of many criminological theories, both motivational and control, applied to the macro and individual level. Specifically, these include social disorganization theory (Shaw & MCkay, 1942), anomie-strain theory (Merton, 1968), violent subcultural theories (Anderson, 1999), social bond theory (Hirschi, 1969), self-control theory (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990), and biosocial perspectives (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1983).
The term reoffending refers to an individual who has committed more than one criminal act. As previously mentioned, current statistics indicate that 60 percent of adult criminals who have been imprisoned have reoffended at some stage. It has also been discovered that 80 percent of juvenile (or underage) criminals reoffend. Prison is defined as a legally sanctioned facility which holds individuals who have committed a serious crime. Prisons are typically defined within three categories; low, medium and high security, or can have areas of each security. Generally, lower security prisons include prisoners who are of less threats to society, and these prisoners have more freedom. In higher security ...
their acts as criminal and extending this judgement to them as people. Having been labelled, there is an expectation that this criminality must be expressed. With this attached stereotype, the general population will perceive them to be criminal and treat them accordingly. This produces unanticipated effects: the label of criminal is intended to prevent individuals from participating in criminal activities but it actually creates the very thing it intended to stop. It produces a self-fulfilling prophecy which is defined as a false definition of a situation, evoking a new behaviour that makes the original false assumption come true (Burke, 2005).
The treatment of the prison system has become a form of relax for prisoners. Some criminals commit crimes just to get into prison. Prison offers a nice warm bed for convicts to sleep and most of the time they are treated even with a pillow. Criminals in prison are fed three times a day, some may say,“but yes it 's nothing like the comfort of a suburban home”, but most don 't realize that criminals outside of prison don 't have a place to sleep and food to eat. Prison offers a type of safe haven from the outside, giving them shelter, food, and a comfortable place to sleep won’t change a criminal, it just gives them more incentive to keep committing the same
It does not consider other factors such as criminal associations, individual traits, and inner strains, which plays significant role in determining punishment for the individuals in committing crimes. It is observed that this theory endeavours to know that whether the activities of crime as well as the victim’s choice, criminals commit the activities on start from rational decisions. The theory also determines that criminals consider different elements before committing crime. They engage in the exchange of ideas before reaching on any final decision. These elements consist of consequences of their crimes, which include revealing their families to problems or death, chances of being arrested, and others elements, which comprises of placement of surveillance systems (Walsh & Hemmens, 2010; Lichbach,
Theories are designed and developed in order to explain the causes and effects of processes and phenomena, as well as to predict likely outcomes. There are many theories that attempt to explain the motives of criminal and deviant behaviours, including strain theory, structural functionalism, and conflict theory (Akers, Krohn, Lanza-Kaduce and Radosevich, 1979). Social learning theory examines the individual learning process, the formation of self, and the influence of society in socialising individuals (Brezina and Piquero, 2002). It is proffered that the formation of one’s identity is a learned response to social stimuli (Brezina and Piquero, 2002). That is, social learning theory postulates that an individual’s identity is not merely the product of the unconscious, but rather the result of modelling oneself in response to the expectations of others. Behaviours and attitudes are theorised to develop in response to the reinforcement and encouragement from the people around us (Jenson and Akers, 2002).
The Power to Name written by Hope A. Olson has similarities with this work in that classification systems are examined. Both authors argue that classification is part of life and can be considered a necessity. Basically, classification is ubiquitous and relevant to all facets of life. The Power to Name proves the difficulties posed by challenging a preexisting classification system (Dewey Decimal Classification) an idea that was brought up in Sorting Things Out. The idea of universality in classification is examined in Sorting Things Out by considering the lenses of anthropology, sociology, and history. Classification was used as a tool for understanding cultures for anthropologists, while sociologists have associated this with social
A prison is an institution for confining and punishing people who have been convicted of committing a crime. A prison is supposed to punish criminals by restricting their freedom of where they can go, what they can do, and with whom they may associate. In America, 1.1 million people are imprisoned (Prison). The course of action America's government should take towards individuals who have committed a crime, and the idea of imprisoning people for crimes against society have been an issue across America before it was founded. Before imprisonment was in use, criminals were punished by death or corporal punishment (Prison). Prisons today have four major purposes: retribution, the punishment for crimes against society; incapacitation, the removal of criminals from society so they don't harm innocent people; deterrence, prevention of future crime; and rehabilitation, activities designed to turn criminals into law-abiding citizens (Prison).