Essay Sample on The Central Park Five: The Tragic 1989 Incident That Changed Everything

Introduction

On the sunset of 19 April 1989, Trisha Meili, a 28-year-old banker, on her regular jogging route in Central Park, got attacked. She was raped and beaten almost to death (Green, 2020). Five teenagers (Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, and Korey Wise) were detained and accused of the criminalities. Their detention resulted in one of the highest-profile legal cases ever tried in New York City. The case ended with the conviction of the teenagers, famously referred to as the Central Park Five. Matias Reyes, a convicted murderer and serial rapist, eventually confessed to the attack and rape, this was backed up by DNA evidence. The New York City Mayor, Bill de Blasio, settled a $41 million wrongful conviction lawsuit with the five accused in 2014 (Green, 2020). The purpose of this paper involves assessing criminal justice in America regarding the case of the Central Park Five.

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Summary of 'When They See Us'

'When They See Us' narrates an essential story, depicting one of the most notorious illegal conviction cases ever experienced in New York City. It highlights the story of the teenagers in a hard, painful way, making people understand the reflective prejudice of the five boys' stolen fates. Besides, it illustrates the procedures and actions implemented by the prosecutors as they build the case against the five teenagers (Green, 2020). The story starts with the crime and proceeds to highlight the arrest and arraignment of the teenagers, all of them black or Latino teenagers from Harlem. The prosecution and the arresting officers coerce and force the teenagers into confessions. The boys try to draft false narratives that can keep them out of jail by pleasing the detectives. They turn against each other in total confusion in their attempt at being released. The teenagers get tried and convicted in a court after a series of events.

The police episodes show profound painful measures. The New York City police exert pressure on the youths to confess, set them against each other, and question them without parents or lawyer's presence. The police also struggle with evidence. The family members of the convicted teenagers show support to the boys despite the system's unfairness. The timelines, conflicting accounts, and lack of substantive evidence do not support the case (Green, 2020). However, the juries convict each of the youths of most charges. The series holds the media liable for its enthusiasm to trust the deeply racist account of five vicious teenagers attacking a white, affluent Manhattanites. The series depicts the persistence of a ruined justice system. The teenagers struggle with life in prison. On release, they have difficulty adjusting to life outside prison.

Discussion

Research shows the racial disparity that pervades the U.S. criminal justice system, especially for African Americans (Shelden & Vasiliev, 2017). Blacks get arrested more often than whites, get convicted, and experience lengthy prison sentences. The basis of such inequalities is profound and more organized than categorical racial discrimination. Some scholars argue that the American justice system function as two distinct systems, namely, one for the rich and the other for the poor and people of color (Shelden & Vasiliev, 2017). The affluent can easily access a dynamic adversary system complete with legitimate safeguards for offenders. Yet the experiences of poor and minority respondents within the criminal justice system often vary considerably from that model owing to several attributes. These factors underwrite the overrepresentation of such characters in the order. The case of the five teenagers illustrates the double standards in the American criminal justice system. The criminal law is color-blind and class-blind.

The criminal justice system indicates that the constitution safeguards the rights of everyone. Still, in practice, the rubrics guarantee that law enforcement privileges generally prevail over the rights of blacks and the poor (Shelden & Vasiliev, 2017). By giving criminal offenders extensive constitutional rights, in theory, the courts authenticate the outcomes of criminal justice as unbiased. Such prescribed equality obscures the systematic concerns that ought to indicate the fact that the prison mainly contains more blacks and poor people than wealthy whites. The case of the Central Park Five shows the disparity of the criminal system right from the arrest of the five teenagers and their wrongful prosecution, basically due to their color. Although there exists a higher rate of black involvement in certain crimes, white Americans overemphasize the quantity of evil perpetrated by blacks and Latinos, overlook the circumstance that societies of color are unduly victims of lawbreaking. Such notions rebate the occurrence of unfairness in the criminal justice system.

The increase of mass imprisonment starts with lopsided degrees of police interaction with African Americans. Such involvement resulted in the incarceration of the five teenagers and their subsequent conviction (Shelden & Vasiliev, 2017). Such incidents continue to occur across America despite the many amendments in policy concerning equal rights and advocacy by human rights groups. The lacking significant determinations to address societal discrimination and unequal levels of poverty and the U.S. criminal justice dogmas have cast a pursuit aimed at African Americans. Besides, policymakers and criminal justice administrators put little effort into ensuring the enactment of just policies. For example, the utilization of officer discretion and revenue-driven policing continues to hinder equal justice among the races.

Conclusion

Racial discrimination, segregation, oppression, and other forms of discrimination remains a challenge to the entire world. Most human rights activists and labor movements continue to struggle for reforms and equal rights of people regardless of their race, sexual orientation, gender, religious affiliation, or color, among other personality characteristics. It remains a struggle that requires the attention of everyone, including government institutions, religious outfits, and non-governmental organizations, to create a peaceful democratic society that respects the rights of its inhabitants.

References

Green, T. (2020, January). The Central Park Five Tragedy in Ava DuVernay's When They See Us. In 2020 MLA Annual Convention. MLA. https://mla.confex.com/mla/2020/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/11962

Shelden, R. G., & Vasiliev, P. V. (2017). Controlling the dangerous classes: A history of criminal justice in America. Waveland Press. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=FD9FDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=Criminal+Justice+and+racism+in+america&ots=KFmZQEA98U&sig=MjC8PVIpcM6wuTUWdkYCWQTmSLU