Research Paper on African American Males and Capital Punishment

Introduction

The public gets justice for persons who have violated its penal laws by way of criminal justice. This system basically identifies these offenders and puts them through a structured process whereby if they are found to be guilty they gave punishment which is dependent on the type and severity of the offense committed (Rose, 1997). The authorities involved in this system are a combination of state institutions like the police and the state council. The main players in this are the police, defense lawyers, the judge, the jury, the state, and correctional facilities. This system does not only inflict some form of punishment to the offenders but it also has some alternate objectives like helping offenders going through rehabilitation, hindrance of crime, offer support to the victims of these crimes.

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Parts of the System

The system is divided into three categories, there is policing agencies who are often police, the correctional facilities/prisons and the form of law. These three agencies come and work together under one law as the main method of maintaining peace and tranquility in the society.

History of the Criminal Justice System

This system has progressed since the yesteryears with new ways of punishment, the offenders now have rights, victims of crime also have rights and light has been shone towards the police thereby birthing police reforms. These changes in the system come about as a reflection of the societal politics, Economics, and social practices and values (Demleitner, 2015). The mode of punishment that was in existence in the yesteryears like in the middle age was wergild which was a form of payment made to the victim's relatives. If an offender could not afford to pay his way out there was the option of having your body mutilated, public flogging or even death by hanging. William Penn was the first person to start prison reforms in the United States of America towards the end of the 17th century. Administration of cruel methods of punishment was abolished in the law of Pennsylvania like torture. The reforms had the effect of decreasing the rate of crime in Pennsylvania towards the end of the 18th century.

The British were the first to create this system during the revolution period. The British established in order to explain execution to their people. In every region, there was a presiding officer referred t as a magistrate nowadays they are known as judges. The magistrates' function was to weigh if the government had enough evidence for hanging an individual. Before an individual was to be hanged a trial process had to take place. The options available for an individual other than hanging was either cleaning ships, getting locked up. The mode of punishment during the revolution was mainly hanging or being locked up. After the revelation, the American forefathers decided to adopt this system.

The American Criminal Justice System

America has quite a distinct system. It is represented by a network of the system at the national, federal and special designated institutions like the court-martial territorial forums. The penal laws at all of these levels may vary from each other though they are under the United States of America Constitution. The federal system deals with matters that are national in nature like treachery, matters of espionage, and elimination of state officers. the state system deals with matters that have occurred within the jurisdiction of the state. This is the same process that is in play in the specially designated institutions.

Sections of the American Criminal Justice System

As with any other structure, this system is dependent on each system to be able to function together i.e. establishing a situation of interdependence. The objective of all of these systems is that an offender to atone for their illegal acts and giving some sort of compensation to the victims of crime. The 3 parts that make up this system are the law enforcement agencies, the courts, and the correctional facilities. Law enforcement agencies begin their work when an offense has been committed. This process takes off when the police get a report from a victim of a crime or a witness of a crime. The law enforcement agency after receiving the report make a follow up to scrutinize the information given after which investigation process takes off. The job of the police is to arrest suspected criminals, collecting evidence, find the motive of the crime and compete for reports stating how the whole process went on. They are responsible for preserving the rights of the suspected criminals, witnesses, and the injured party and carrying out their procedures within the boundaries set by law.

In the federal class, there is an enforcement agency which is given specific areas in matters of criminal law. At the state level, the organization of the police varies greatly and even the roles they play are different. The only thing constant is their objectives which include maintenance of law and order and provision of security in the societies they operate in. the judicial system is the next part that makes up the criminal justice system. The hearing of criminal matters in the united states of America takes place in the courts. The courts are structured into federal, state and special courts. The arbitration process stars when the police hand over their report to the prosecution who determine whether to prosecute the case or not. In determining whether to prosecute the lawyer will take into account the public interest over the matter and if there is sufficient evidence to have a conviction.

If the prosecutor after close analysis of the facts in front of him and decides to institute charges, the process then goes to the arraignment of the suspect in court to answer to the charges before her. This is what is referred to as to take a plea. The defendant can either plead guilty or not guilty (Demleitner, 2015). It then proceeds to the trial process if the defendant pleaded not guilty. During the trial process, the prosecution will present its case before the honorable court. After the close of the prosecutor's case the defendant will begin on is defense. The most likely outcome of the trial is an appeal from either the side of e prosecution or the defense side. The disadvantage side has the right to appeal to the higher court which may either contrast with the decision or upheld it. If the defendant is found to have been guilty of committing a crime the trial judge will provide a sentence that is in line with the rules and regulations in relation to sentencing.

Sentencing

This is the punishment of a defendant who has been found to be guilty. The type of punishment for each specific crime is provided for in the laws and statutes. The 8th amendment gives a restriction on the severity of sentences. The united states of America have the death penalty which is in operational in 38 states. The federal government also provides for this type of punishment. The type of punishment is reserved for persons to be found guilty of the 1st degree of murder. This penalty is governed under the death penalty statute.

The Impact of the Death Penalty Among African American Males

The capital punishment unreasonably kills black persons in the United States of America. African Americans are over-represented on capital punishment though they do not form the majority of the population in the United States of America (Jones & Johnstone, 2015). This is a clear indicator of a race problem in death row. The implementation of the death penalty in the United States of America is unjust, random and discriminative of race. The decision of whether an accused person should be given the capital punishment should solely rely on the facts and evidence of the case. In the American judicial system, this seems not to be the case and race counts if a defendant will be given the death penalty or not. Since the yesteryears when slavery was still a thing in the United States of America the application of capital punishment has always been impacted by race. Slavery is no longer in fashion and America is still dealing with the issue of race in the application of the capital punishment (Demleitner, 2015).

Scholars in this field have come to conclusions that a defendant is 39 times likely to face capital punishment if he or she was black. This may be attributed to the fact that the judicial system in America is predominantly controlled by white people. The African American who is over-represented in the system has the least amount of say of what happens to them in the system. Racial biases cloud the judicial system implementation of the capital punishment more than a smoker dying of a medical condition. It is also important to realize that the death penalty is supported by the vast majority of Americans. The unique thing about this is the vast majority which is for the death penalty is not the one affected by it because it kills people of color In dealing with smoking and the effects of smoking the world has turned to E-cigarettes, advocating for designated public smoking places and advocating for healthy living. All of these were as a result of the negative effects of tobacco use. The world has yet to deal with the issue of race and the death penalty with the impact it has on the American society (Demleitner, 2015).

Defendants have tried to appeal their decisions to be turned over because of this racial biases but this has not borne any fruits because the courts deny the fact that racial biases had a hand over the decision. The irony of this is that the same people you are appealing against are the same ones who are supposed to deal with the matter thus having a just and fair hearing may be only wishful thinking. It's only Kentucky which passed a piece of legislation to help correct the racial problem but for the rest of America, nothing seems to be happening. The United States of America has previously addressed the race issue in other sectors like housing and employment ut due to the backlash from the conservatives and southern states it has not made any attempt to correct racial biases in capital punishment.

The effect of this discrimination is imaginable to the human mind. The decision of whether a person lives or perish squarely lies in the hands of a system which is predominantly racial biased. The prosecution side which is 95 percent white decides on whether a black defendant should die or not. The capital punishment itself is representative of the products of racial biases in the system. In each case, it's signified by the race-related slurs cast toward black defendants by the state council. A black defendant is at a disadvantaged in that the chances of a white juror deciding on the death penalty as punishment for him or her is very high (Couzens, 2010).

In the American judicial system, it's highly unlikely in a capital matter for a black juror to be a part of it because of the assumption that there would be some form of biases. It has the repercussion of black jurymen or woman generally restrained from the service and putting more resources to victims of homicide who are white sideling black people. Basically, an individual cannot be a part of the jury if he or she does not agree with the implementation of capital punishment. The resultant product is a system in which white people do not get capital punishment for killing black people but black defendants get the death penalty for the killing of white people. This system is not only unjust and not in conformity with the constitution but it destroys the ideas upon which the American society was founded upon (Burke, 2013). Racial biases are widespread in America and have very harsh effects. In other areas, there have been ways of dealing with it but when it comes to the death penalty all methods a...