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Impact of socialization
Juvenile delinquency problems
Reflection on socialization processes
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Imagine that you could be sent to jail for life or even killed for something that you did not do. This is what could happen to a fourteen year old boy, TJ Avery. TJ should not be charged with murder for apparently killing Jim Lee Barnett. While yes, TJ was there in Mr. Barnett’s store at the time of his death and was helping to steal stuff from the store, TJ did not kill Mr. Barnett. Tj should not be charged with murder because as I already mentioned, he is a fourteen year old boy that’s parents didn’t raise him correctly. TJ also is subject to racial prejudice, as most black people are.
As mentioned before, TJ is a big victim to racial prejudice. When Mr. Barnett was waiting on him at his store in Strawberry a few weeks ago, if a white person asked for help Mr. Barnett would leave TJ and go wait on someone else. Also Mrs. Barnett had no way of knowing that the other two people with TJ during the robbery were black. They were wearing black stockings over their heads so Mrs. Barnett assumed that the other people with TJ had to be black. The other people with her were actually RW and Melvin Simms. I interviewed some witnesses that saw RW and Melvin take TJ down to Strawberry. And yes, most of the witnesses were white people that are trustworthy.
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TJ is only a young boy that fell in with the wrong crowd.
He lacked proper parental support from his parents because they were always working. TJ’s parents didn’t really pay attention to TJ enough and that allowed him to get into a lot of trouble. TJ was ‘befriended’ by two older white boys, RW and Melvin. They only wanted to use TJ to help steal things. Melvin even said, “All right, TJ, we come down here like you asked. Now you come on into Strawberry with us like you promised.” TJ was forced by RW and Melvin to go with them to get the pearl handled pistol that he wanted and was blinded by how much he wanted it. RW and Melvin never planned on buying the pistol, they were going to steal it and money that Mr. Barnett
had. So, in conclusion, TJ did not kill Mr. Barnett. He still should be punished for stealing but that should be a lighter sentence, like maybe 1-½ years in prison. TJ never wanted to steal the pistol and only helped RW and Melvin because he was scared for his life. TJ never laid hands on Mr. Barnett it was RW that hit Mr. Barnett with the side of an axe blade.
While researching this case I stumbled upon many others and I became aware of how many people have suffered from the injustice of being found guilty. While reading parts of the book “Real Justice: Fourteen and Sentenced to Death the Story of Steven Truscott” I learned that the police played a large role in why 14-year-old Truscott was found guilty of murder. The book showed that they forced witnesses to change their story to further “prove” Truscott’s guilt of the crime. This led to the conclusion that in this case (like many others) the police were solely and unjustly targeting one
The killings of unarmed black men have increased tremendously with different races to blame for. In January 2011, the life of Justin Patterson was snatched from him and his family by Mr. Neesmith, who only served in prison for one year. How do you think the community of Toombs County and Justin's family feel about him only serving one year in a detention center? Many people protested that the racial issues behind his travesty caused an upstir in the world, including the murder of Trayvon Martin that just recently happened in Florida during that time. However, Justin Patterson's murder did not make national news or even in the papers because most people thought he was just another dead man.
In the book this happens after TJ returns home from foster care and becomes involved in gangs, violence, and drugs. TJ is spinning out of control with no direction until one day when his foster care manager comes to school to check in on him. She says, “I can’t save you. You have to do that on your own. You may not know this, but you have choices that you can make. You can choose, TJ” (Tillit 161). This quote directly relates to the theme of the story. In the story TJ is letting others influence his future and leading him down a bad path until his foster manager consults with him. The meeting helps TJ see that he can escape his life of poverty and violence and live a better life
I, Ponyboy Curtis, will appear in court to state that Johnny Cade is not guilty.
Criminals can come in many different shapes and sizes. For example, a criminal can be classified as being a murderer or a criminal could just simply have committed fraud in a business setting. There is a large diversity of criminals and it is the judge’s job to determine what is a fair punishment for a guilty verdict. Judge Ron Swanson, a federal judge for the Florida District Court of Appeal, deals with using cost-benefit analysis daily to determine what is fair for everyone involved. Before becoming a judge, Judge Swanson was a prosecutor coming out of law school in the University of Florida. As a prosecutor and a judge, Judge Swanson has always worked to bring justice for the victims, the defendant if he or she is innocent, and for the citizens
It was a mistaken identity case where the distressed raped women picked out the wrong black man. Even though the conviction was overturned due to DNA evidence, a mistaken eyewitness testimony led to a wrongful conviction that the Burlington Police upheld without question due to prejudice feelings toward determine Ronald Cotton (Thompson-Cannino, Cotton and Torneo 283). Ronald had his whole family testify that he had been home the night Jennifer was raped however because he had mixed up his dates when he originally confessed that police assumed he was lying despite what he and his family said. The other indication of racism on the police force was when the second rape victim did not pick Ronald Cotton out of the physical lineup; she claimed she was terrified of the black men standing in front of her and just needed to leave, even though she knew it saw Ronald that had raped her (Thompson-Cannino, Cotton and Torneo 129). Ronald was believed to be guilty and was trying to prove his innocence from the beginning. This simply cannot occur in a justice system where one is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty; racism played a part in convicting this innocent man. Even during the second court case when he was trying to prove his innocence he remembered feeling the jury turn and look at him, "every single one of their white faces" believed how terrible of a man he was (Thompson-Cannino, Cotton and Torneo
Capital punishment and bias in sentencing is among many issue minorities faced for many years in the better part of the nineteen hundreds. Now it continues to spill into the twenty first century due to the erroneous issues our criminal justice system has caused many people to suffer. In the book Just Mercy authored by Bryan Stevenson, Stevenson explains many cases of injustice. Stevenson goes into details of numerous cases of wrongfully accused people, thirteen and fourteen year olds being sentenced to death and sentences of life without parole for children. These issues Stevenson raises bring to question whether the death penalty is as viable as it should be. It brings to light the many issues our criminal justice system has today. There
Racial discrimination has been an immense problem in our society for a very long time. The fact that the race of a victim plays a role in his or her sentencing is appalling. Discrimination within our society needs to come to an end. It’s frightening to think that if you are a minority facing a capital punishment case, which you might be found guilty only because of the color of your skin.
It is sad to see youth with so many energy and potential get sent to jail at an early age. The crimes most of the young children commit are usually something that could have been prevented. Adnan Syed, a high school student in Baltimore in 1999 had a different case than the other young children that get sent to jail every day for drug and theft majority of the time. He is sentenced for life in prison because the judge believes that he have murdered his ex-girlfriend Hae min Lee. Adnan Syed is not guilty for the murderer of Hae min lee because there is no proof that he did nor is there a motive for him to kill her.
When TJ gets a trial, the Logan children are very happy because they think he will not be killed. Mama and Papa disagree because the jury will be entirely white. Mr. Jaminson does and excellent job defending TJ. He had experiments, such as putting a black stocking over his hand and showing it to Mrs. Barnett. He also had strong evidence that TJ did not commit the crime. At the end, TJ was found guilty, mostly because of the jury’s prejudice.
If a family member was murdered, a family member was murdered, age should not dictate if the punishment for homicide will be more lenient or not. If anyone not just juveniles has the capabilities to take someone's life and does so knowing the repercussions, they should be convicted as an adult. In the case of Jennifer Bishop Jenkins who lost her sister, the husband and their unborn child, is a strong advocate of juveniles being sentenced to life without parole. In her article “Jennifer Bishop Jenkins On Punishment and Teen Killers” she shows the world the other side of the spectrum, how it is to be the victim of a juvenile in a changing society where people are fighting against life sentences for juveniles. As she states in the article “There are no words adequate to describe what this kind of traumatic loss does to a victims family. So few who work on the juvenile offender side can truly understand what the victims of their crimes sometimes go through. Some never
Humanity instructs us that we must behave with tolerance and respect towards all. Just Mercy exemplifies how that is not the case for many Americans. Critical Race Theory is a theory which focuses on the experiences of people who are minorities. It argues that people who are minorities in the United States are oppressed and, because of the state of being oppressed, creates fundamental disadvantages (Lecture 4.7). A study conducted for the case McCleskey v. Kemp revealed that when a black defendant killed a white victim, it increased the likelihood the black defendant would receive the death penalty (Stevenson, 2014). Looking at this fact through the lens of a critical race theorist, it illustrates how unconscious racism is ignored by our legal system. The actuality that, statistically, people of color have a higher chance of getting sentenced to death than white people is a blatant example of inequality. In Chapter 8, Stevenson discusses the case of multiple juveniles who were incarcerated and sentenced to death in prison. These juveniles who were sent to adult prisons, where juveniles are five times more likely to be the victims of sexual assault, show an innate inequality towards minors (Stevenson, 2014). Ian Manuel, George Stinney, and Antonio Nunez were all only fourteen-years-old when they were condemned to die in prison. Although they did commit crimes, the purpose of the juvenile justice system is to rehabilitate young offenders. Trying juveniles in adult court represents a prejudice against age, which Stevenson sought to fight by working on appeals for Manuel and Nunez (Stevenson, 2014). His humanity shines through once again, as he combats the justice system to give the adolescents another chance at life, rather than having them die in prison. The way prisoners with mental and/or physical disabilities are treated while incarcerated is also extremely
Although the death penalty alone cannot bring back the life of those who have been murdered, it can serve as ultimate justice for the victims and their families. The deterrence of the death penalty can save lives. While opinions abound on both sides of the fence, in the use of the death penalty on juveniles, no one can argue with the fact that the voices of those murdered cannot be heard. Juveniles may not have fully developed brains, as Raeburn argues, but this is not an adequate excuse to dismiss the death penalty. American society cannot afford to babysit murderers, nor can they rehabilitate them. The end of the innocence begins when an innocent life is taken, and the sanctity of life is held defenseless.
Many prisoners in the past have been known to be killed before they were proven innocent. Many documented cases where DNA testing showed that innocent people were put to death by the government. This sometimes happens because there are defendants who are given minimal legal attention by often minor qualified individuals. The government has made many mistakes which are being wrong about convicting someone for something they didn’t do, and killing this person for the wrong reason. Putting the wrong person to death is the biggest mistake that can be made and the government cannot afford to make this mistake.
However, that is not always the case since it is shown that some people have hatred towards certain people: “For decades, scholars who have analyzed death-penalty case have consistently found racial disparities, with death sentences disproportionately handed down to black men, more often in cases with white victims” (Chammah). These disparities have clearly shown that a black male will more likely be given the death sentence especially if there is a white victim. This analysis shows that a black man is already convicted before he is found guilty or non-guilty before a jury. Where there are more white people with prejudice toward the African American population on a jury, there is a higher chance of the black person being convicted since the prejudice is present. Similarly to Robinson’s case, if a black male were to be seen with a white woman and accused of doing something that was looked down upon, he was automatically assumed guilty and hanged for the supposed crime. Today, if a black male is accused of committing a crime against a white person, there is an extremely high possibility of him being in jail for the rest of his life. If the roles were reversed, however, there would be a different approach on the matter that would ensure that the white person would not be convicted at all or only convicted for a short time