Home » Discussion essays » Equal Treatment

Criminal proceedings that have been recorded since the 18th century indicate that fairness or equity hardly prevails in most criminal justice systems. In some jurisdictions, racial discrimination has remained a major factor that determines court outcomes. However, some changes have taken place with the passage of time. Social class and gender have also contributed towards injustice in the pursuit for justice. In the United States, racial minorities used to be tried by white juries. As a result, a high degree of bias was witnessed in the judiciary (Karmen, 2016).
Some pundits argue that racism and police brutality have negatively affected minority groups such as the blacks and Hispanic citizens as compared to the White majority. The methods used to apprehend law breakers are one of the pillars of any democracy. On the other hand, those who belong to the middle and low class have suffered more compared to the rich who can corrupt their way to justice.

In order to ensure that the system remains relevant and viable, public confidence should be restored. At each level beginningrom investigation to prosecution, all individuals should be treated equally irrespective of gender, social class or race (Karmen, 2016). In the United States, the blacks and Hispanics and other minority groups who are below the social and economic ladder are highly likely to be victimized by the police and other law enforcing agencies. Both the innocent and guilty citizens are affected by racial disparities. It can be very wrong for the minority groups to be subjected to stricter laws than the other segment of the population.  Those who are stopped while driving might face public humiliation from police officers because of their skin color.

In the United States, there is a high population of blacks and Hispanic in prisons as compared to their White counterparts (Karmen, 2016). This is an indication that lawlessness is a racial problem. In real sense, it does not necessarily imply that majority of criminals are black Americans and other minorities.
These observations illustrate that victims are sometimes not treated equally in the criminal justice process. There is a possibility that differential handling probably still occurs today. This is one of the most profound civil rights violation facing us in this 21st century.

In Box 6.1, it is vivid that unequal treatment is a systemic problem. The system is punctuated with bias and gender discrimination. There should be equality and justice for all humanity. In order to come up with an amicable conclusion, it is worthy to put away their political and personal orientations when discharging justice in criminal proceedings. By so doing, victims will face authentic justice according to the law.

In recent years, we have witnessed major controversies in the role that shuld be played by victims. Other issues that make the role of the victim challenging include differential laws in various jurisdictions, victims’ needs and the nature of crimes committed. All the investigations, criminal proceedings and restitutions should be carried out privately.

Crime has progressively become a state issue and not an individual matter while victims have fallen out of the view of the criminal justice process. There are certain initiatives raised by the victim’s movements which still linger on today but some initiatives such as legislation have been accomplished in some states and are meant to encourage victim participation in criminal justice processes (Karmen, 2016).

Insufficient communication to victims regarding roles and rights can result into lack ofnthusiasm for victim involvement in the justice process. The victims should be enlightened further on their rights.

Reference

Karmen, A. (2016). Crime Victims: An Introduction to Victimology (9th ed). New York: Cengage Learning. 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*
*

Disclaimer:

Services provided by Prowriterz.com are to be used for research purposes only. If you use an assignment written by Prowriterz.com writers, it should be referenced accordingly. Using this service is LEGAL and IS NOT prohibited by any university/college policies. You are allowed to use our model academic papers in one of the following ways: 1. To gain additional knowledge about the topic; To refer to the paper as a source of ideas and reasoning, given that appropriate references are provided; 2. To paraphrase the ideas contained in the paper (refer to your school’s policy on plagiarism and academic honesty); 3. To use it for direct citing, given that appropriate references are provided.

There has been a critical error on this website.

Learn more about troubleshooting WordPress.