Today is my final class in the Ethics in Criminal Justice course. I remember a saying from a few years ago,
All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten. Well I kind of feel like that about my Ethics class.
When I first entered Shaw University in the late 1970's thinking I was going to be a lawyer and fight the injustices in criminal justice way back in the 70's, one of my first courses was Ethics in Criminal Justice. I learned about un-ethical practices criminal justice.
I returned to college Fayetteville State University in the 90's to complete BS in criminal in criminal justice that I started back in the 70's, I had to take an ethics in criminal justices again and now in the year 2014 in a Saint Leo University Master's program in criminal justice, I am taking another class in Ethics in Criminal Justice.
So what I have I learned that I did not know when I started in this class? Nothing new.
The Ethics course confirmed there is still police brutality and racism in criminal justice, more black men are still in jail and still going to jail faster than any other race, more black men are on death row, black men go to jail for small amounts of drugs when white men go free. the American Criminal Justice System, is still not fair or just for people of color and the poor. our Criminal Justice is a system that need to be overhauled. Every judge on the bench from the Supreme Court on down need to take a series of fair and impartial sentencing and diversity training. Every lawyer need to take diversity training and how to counsel/ represent African Americans. The death penalty needs to be abolished, and instead of sending people to jail on these permanent vacation at the taxpayers expense we should provide more educational and vocational training programs, make the criminals work and pay restitution. Overall it was a good class with good professor and some very intelligent classmates.
NO MORE BLOGS!!!!!!
“It doesn’t matter what you say you believe - it only matters what you do.”
― Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
THE WORD RACE IS A " & @%$#" PROFANITY!
RACE IS @%$# PROFANITY WORD !
http://politic365.com/2012/03/19/trayvon-martin-and-7-black-men-who-should-be-alive-today/
The link title is 7 black men who should be alive today, should now read 9 black men.
In the course Ethics in criminal justice, we studied and discussed ethical issues in the field of criminal justices. Throughout the course I heard one topic over and over again, it was the topic of race. From what I learned most of the ethical issues in criminal justice stemmed from racism.
Ethics, is known as moral philosophy, it is a branch of philosophy concerned with the study of questions of right and wrong and how we ought to live. Ethics involves making moral judgments about what is right or wrong, good or bad. Right and wrong are qualities or moral judgments we assign to actions and conduct (Singer, 1995).
I have always been an advocate of fair treatment of people no matter the race. I chose criminal justice as a major because during my teenage years in the 1970's in Brooklyn, New York many of my male friends were being targeted and harassed by the 71st Precinct for crimes they did not commit. I vowed one day make a positive impact on the criminal justice system by trying to eradicate racism. Here I stand today nearly 40 years from when I made that commitment to self, I find that for every step African American have taken forward, we have taken ten steps backwards in the criminal justices system.
Based on the statement above, I find that there is no ethics in the criminal justice system when it comes to African Americans. I defend my statement, referring to the 2013 George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martian case and the most recent case of a white man Michael Dunn killing an African American teen, Jordan Davis because he felt the music too loud. As I sat glued to the television praying for guilty verdict for Michael Dunn murdering Jordon Davis, I was appalled when the jury stated they could not come up with a guilty verdict for the murder of another black teen. I was even more appalled when one juror stated that "race" was never introduced in the trial. The words, Jordon Dunn was murdered because he was Black, African American, Colored or even a Nigga, was never introduced in the trial, it was forbidden like a "Profanity word".
News commentators on CNN Don Lemon and others voiced their opinion that "race" is the only reason that Michael Dunn killed Jordon Davis, race is the only reason, Trayvon Martian is dead and race is the only issue Jonathan Ferrell was killed by a Charlotte Police officer.
My comparison to these recent murders is to black men being lynched in past, when slaves were killed for no reason, no white person was charged or brought to justice for killing a black man.
As a Black woman, a mother of a 36 year old Black man and a Grandmother of a 9 month old grandson, I am in fear daily for the lives of my son and grandson.
My question to myself on ethics in criminal justice is how do I make an impact on a system that is surmerged in a history of racism, when it's very foundation of laws were created not include but to exclude African Americans. I don't have the answer today, but for my Son and even more for my Grandson, I will figure it out.
References:
The link title is 7 black men who should be alive today, should now read 9 black men.
In the course Ethics in criminal justice, we studied and discussed ethical issues in the field of criminal justices. Throughout the course I heard one topic over and over again, it was the topic of race. From what I learned most of the ethical issues in criminal justice stemmed from racism.
Ethics, is known as moral philosophy, it is a branch of philosophy concerned with the study of questions of right and wrong and how we ought to live. Ethics involves making moral judgments about what is right or wrong, good or bad. Right and wrong are qualities or moral judgments we assign to actions and conduct (Singer, 1995).
I have always been an advocate of fair treatment of people no matter the race. I chose criminal justice as a major because during my teenage years in the 1970's in Brooklyn, New York many of my male friends were being targeted and harassed by the 71st Precinct for crimes they did not commit. I vowed one day make a positive impact on the criminal justice system by trying to eradicate racism. Here I stand today nearly 40 years from when I made that commitment to self, I find that for every step African American have taken forward, we have taken ten steps backwards in the criminal justices system.
Based on the statement above, I find that there is no ethics in the criminal justice system when it comes to African Americans. I defend my statement, referring to the 2013 George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martian case and the most recent case of a white man Michael Dunn killing an African American teen, Jordan Davis because he felt the music too loud. As I sat glued to the television praying for guilty verdict for Michael Dunn murdering Jordon Davis, I was appalled when the jury stated they could not come up with a guilty verdict for the murder of another black teen. I was even more appalled when one juror stated that "race" was never introduced in the trial. The words, Jordon Dunn was murdered because he was Black, African American, Colored or even a Nigga, was never introduced in the trial, it was forbidden like a "Profanity word".
News commentators on CNN Don Lemon and others voiced their opinion that "race" is the only reason that Michael Dunn killed Jordon Davis, race is the only reason, Trayvon Martian is dead and race is the only issue Jonathan Ferrell was killed by a Charlotte Police officer.
My comparison to these recent murders is to black men being lynched in past, when slaves were killed for no reason, no white person was charged or brought to justice for killing a black man.
As a Black woman, a mother of a 36 year old Black man and a Grandmother of a 9 month old grandson, I am in fear daily for the lives of my son and grandson.
My question to myself on ethics in criminal justice is how do I make an impact on a system that is surmerged in a history of racism, when it's very foundation of laws were created not include but to exclude African Americans. I don't have the answer today, but for my Son and even more for my Grandson, I will figure it out.
References:
Singer, Peter. 1995. How Are We to Live? Ethics in an Age of Self-Interest. Amherst, NY:
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Death Penalty Information
Center shows little has change when it comes to race and the death penalty.
Race of Defendants Executed
White: 767
• Black: 468
• Hispanic: 107
•
Other: 24
Race
if Victims in Death Penalty Cases
Over 75% of
the murder victims in cases resulting in an execution
were white, even though nationally only 50% of
murder victims generally
are white.
In Louisiana, the odds of a
death sentence were 97% higher
for those whose victim was white than for those whose
victim was black. (Pierce & Radelet, Louisiana Law
Review, 2011).
A
study in California found that those who killed whites where
over 3 times more likely to be sentenced to death than
those who killed blacks and over 4 times more likely than
those who killed Latinos. (Pierce & Radelet, Santa Clara
Law Review, 2005).
A
comprehensive study of the death penalty in North Carolina
found that the odds of receiving a death sentence rose by 3.5 times among those
defendants whose victims
where white. (Prof. Jack Boger and Dr. Isaac Unah, University of North
Carolina, 2001).
In
96% of states where there have been reviews of race and the death penalty,
there was a pattern of either race-of-victim
or race-of-defendant discrimination, or both. (Prof. Baldus report to the ABA,
1998).
98% of the chief district attorneys in death penalty states are white; only 1%
are black. (Prof. Jeffrey Pokorak,
Cornell Law Review, 1998). It has been proven that the death penalty is not a deterrence to crime, so why are we still killing people (primarily minorities) if it is not working to reduce crimes?
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Criminal Justice Reform
In August 2012 the Obama administration released information
for major changes in the criminal
justice system. The primary focus will be on sentencing for certain drug
related crimes.
 |
| Prison to Soldier Reform Program |
Attorney General Eric Holder said “Too many Americans go to
too many prisons for far too long, and for no truly good law enforcement reason”. He stop short of saying that too many
minorities go to prison for no truly good reason.
It is a travesty that in these United States, we have more
people in prison than some countries have citizens. We have put too many minorities behind
bar for petty crimes and drug related crimes.
The Regan administration started the “War on Drugs”, hoping
to catch the “big fish” in the drug market, unfortunately all they
caught was little guppies, minority guppies at that!
Now is the time to repeal mandatory sentencing
laws and every prisoner that was sentence under that law should be release but
with stipulations. Because the
government disrupted their lives by sentencing them, these prison have now
become the responsibility of the government. For up to five year the government must make restitution to these former prisoners
by providing a government assisted program for housing and food. These program would still probable be far less expensive then housing them in prison. The government should also provide sponsored training program such as: High School completion
and learning a marketable trade (welder, carpenter, auto repair, cook, truck
driver and more) that can find immediate employment upon completion. An even better option would be give these prison the option of enlisting in the military for 5 years.
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