Issues with the Criminal Justice System
Overview
The United States criminal justice system is rooted in racial and and economic inequality, wrongfully incarcerating the poor, people of color, and children. Often, the system drains excess money and leads the imprisoned to leave confinement with aggravated mental illnesses and difficulty assimilating back to society. While the many problems and disparities arise in the American justice system, I will be discussing the five which I believe to be post prevalent and impactful: excessive punishment, wrongful convictions, the death penalty, the incarceration of children, and prison conditions.
Excessive Punishment
Incarceration is an extremely permanent punishment for many Americans. After being released, prisoners face loss of employment and housing, restitution, and often lifelong poverty. Additionally, excessive incarceration disproportionately affects people of color as seen through the “war on drugs”. Today, almost half of the people in federal prison are incarcerated for a drug offense—and two-thirds of those are people of color. (The Sentencing Project) African Americans are much more likely to be incarcerated for selling or using drugs than their white counterparts despite possessing and selling drugs at primarily the same rates (Washington Post). Another law that leads to excessive punishment is the “three strikes” mandate, which sentences a person to life in prison for their third felony conviction, even for those who have not committed a violent crime. More than two-thirds of people serving life sentences today were convicted of nonviolent crimes, including 30% for a drug crime (The Sentencing Project). Hundreds of people have been sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for petty and nonviolent crimes like stealing a bicycle (EJI). Even more laws continue to be passed that increase excess punishment and sentencing. States enforced laws that require people to serve at least 85% of their prison sentences and many abolished parole altogether. The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 allotted $12.5 billion to states to increase incarceration (Brennan Center for Justice).
Wrongful Convictions
The rate of exonerations continue to increase, revealing the criminal justice system as unfair and unreliable. Data from the Innocence Project reveals 367 people were exonerated through DNA evidence since 1989, and each person exonerated spent an average of 9 years in prison for a crime they did not commit. Half of these convictions were caused by witnesses who lied and conducted false accusations in court (National Registry of Exonerations). Other causes include mistaken eyewitness identifications, misleading forensic science, jailhouse informants, and inadequate lawyers. Many of the time, race and mental illness are a prominent factor in wrongful convictions. African Americans comprise of 47% of exonerations even though they are only 13% of the population and innocent black people are seven times more likely to be convicted of murder than innocent white people (National Registry of Exonerations). Additionally, after being convicted, it is extremely hard to get a second chance to prove someones innocence. Even when new evidence arises that proves the innocence of a prisoner, the police and prosecutors refuse to re-examine evidence or re-open the case. In fact, police, prosecutors and judges are not held accountable for misconduct that lead to wrongful conviction such as fabricating evidence or presenting false testimony.
Death penalty
Death penalty is a flawed and expensive policy and punishment. It targets vulnerable people in our community such as those suffering with mental illnesses and is an a result of widespread racial bias and discrimination in jury, selection, and sentencing. Additionally, it does not make us safer and often, many prisoners on death row are innocent and wrongly convicted. The system is designed to treat you better if you are rich and guilty than poor and innocent. Since 1973, 1,543 people have been executed in the United States (Death Penalty Information Center). In death penalty cases, false accusation and official misconduct are leading causes in wrongful convictions (Death Penalty Information Center). 111 exonerations in 2018 involved witnesses who lied on the stand and falsely accused the defendant (The National Registry of Exonerations). This is also extremely relevant with cases of people of color, as 87% of black exonerees who were sentenced to death were victims of official misconduct. Inadequate legal defense is also a leader in causes of death row sentences; the death penalty is imposed on poor people who cannot afford to hire an effective lawyer. Many times whether the defendant is sentenced to death is determined by the quality of the legal team. Mental health and race also play a large role in death row sentencing. African Americans make up 41% of people on death row and 34% of those executed but only 13% of population is black (Death Penalty Information center). The Supreme Court in 1976 declared that racial bias in sentencing is an inevitable part of our criminal justice system. Additionally, 20% of people on death row today have a serious mental illness (Mental health America). While the execution of people with intellectual disabilities was banned in 2002, states create a definition that permits the execution of people who meet clinical criteria for intellectual disability. Lastly, the death penalty is not proven to make society safer. No evidence that the death penalty deters murder and studies show that states that have higher murder rates, have the death penalty compared to those that do not. Additionally death row is an Inefficient use of taxpayer dollars in fighting crime as the death penalty costs more than life without parole (Death Penalty Information Center).
Incarceration of Children
In the U.S. Criminal Justice System, kids as young as eight can still be charged and sentenced as an adult, and held in an adult jail. America is the only country where 13-year-old children have been sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Before the Supreme Court banned the death penalty for juveniles in 2005, 366 people were executed for juvenile offenses (Death Penalty Information Center). Thirteen states have no minimum age for trying children as adults and in some states, children as young as eight have been prosecuted as adults. In jail, children are at risk to be sexually assaulted, raped, traumatized, and suffer from an untreated mental illness, greatly impacting the rest of the lives.
Prison Conditions
Currently, inmates are abused and beaten, as well as deprived of the proper care they need such as managing their disabilities and mental health disorders. Abusive officers and prisoners are stabbed, raped, beaten, etc. with no repercussions or help on the way. Mental Health America shares that more than half of Americans in jail have a mental illness. Prisons fail to provide treatment, instead utilizing unproductive methods such as abuse or solitary confinement to control their behavior. Hospitals and proper care are the only solutions to curing the prisoner, not harsh punishment. The gruesome experiences in prison often lead inmates' mental health to deteriorate by the time they are released from their sentence. Right now, 60,000 people in the U.S. are held in solitary confinement which leads to anxiety, depression, and often suicide. The horrid prison conditions are largely due to private prison corporations that are making a revenue of billions of dollars per year despite the less safe conditions.