The Criminal Justice System: Brandley V. Keeshan

As a result of the discrimination within the criminal justice system traffic stops are composed of mainly African American and Hispanics. These minorities are targeted within the streets as criminals by police officers. A video from The Orland Sentinel showed major evidence of racial profiling by police. Within the video there more than one thousand people’s roadside stops shown. With watching one hundred and forty-eight hours of video, statistics acquired were that “Almost 70 percent of the motorists stopped were black or Hispanic. More than 80 percent of the cars that were searched were driven by blacks and Hispanics. Although deputies contend they stop cars only for legitimate traffic violations - as required by the Florida Supreme Court

A landmark legal case that is proof of all the racial profiling that is present in such issues is the case Brandley v. Keeshan. In this case Clarance Brandley, a black high school janitor was accused of raping and murdering Cheryl Fergeson, a sixteen-year-old white student. He and another janitor had found her naked in the school’s loft. Once interrogations were conducted to figure out who was the one guilty of the crime the investigator told Brandley, “Since you’re the nigger, you’re elected.” This information stands for itself on showing that racial profiling was an is an issue within the criminal justice system, but that discrimination is only a small portion of what happened in the case. Brandley was also given a polygraph test and the examiner, having sixteen years of experience said he was not involved in the crime, but that information was dismissed. He was also interrogated for five hours in which they tried to make him please guilty, but Bradley did not give into the intimidation of the interrogation and kept saying he was innocent. In court, Brandley faced an all-white jury twice. During an interview, Brandley stated that black jurors had been taken out of the jury. The town where Brandley’s court was held was a town where Klu Klux Klan meetings still took place and the