Crimes will never end. Justice is not always served.

The Criminal Justice System is expected to be one of the highest ranks when they determine the punishment for a criminal. The system is made up of agencies and hold many processes established by the government in order to impose penalties among the many victims in today’s society, which only increases throughout the year among other countries as well.

So which is the highest punishment a criminal can receive after being convicted for murder in this case? “Twenty-five years to life with no chance of parole, even if they receive parole hearings every two years.” That may be the initial thought of a student taking a criminal justice class, or someone in that field. In most cases this is proven to be correct, but sometimes death penalties are given to numerous amounts of different scenarios.

Why is justice corrupt? The most recent case occurred with a 16 year old boy. Driving drunk back home and killed four people, 3 good samaritans who had pulled over to help a woman whose car had broken down. There is zero tolerance for underage drinking in many states, many young teens caught drunk driving or holding house parties filled with alcohol and other drug substances would automatically be arrested, taken to court and or jail. If anyone has a .08, they aren’t allowed to be driving yet this youth passed it by three times the amount- .24. How would you react if a family member or someone you knew were killed this way my ignorant children? If you were the judge, how would you give justice?

Unfortunately, not many would agree with you. Texas teenage boy Ethan Couch killed four people under the influence and only serves ten years of probation and must live at an expensive rehab which looks like a summer vacation in Cancun, Mexico. The verdict was finalized that he had “Affluenza” which basically means he was a spoiled boy whose parents didn’t put limits upon. Therefore, he didn’t know any better for being so rich. So what? If someone was too dumb or poor would they be set easy on parole, not behind bars with the excuse of “Poorenza” or “Dumbenza”? Doubt it.

There are many other cases such as these where criminals don’t get what they deserve, whereas others who commit less serious crimes such as stealing a necklace may end up serving 10-15 years in prison. Or someone with the possession of marijuana ends up serving 55 years in prison.
So what plays out the outcome?

As a matter of fact, poverty, race, and bias all continues to contribute to many sentencings in the court of law. What does this demonstrate to the world? To the United States and all of its youth? It completely compiles a huge mess involving the CJ system. It strikes on their integrity and sends out a message that maybe, some lives are more valuable than others.

The 6th amendment gives you the right to a lawyer, if by any chance you can’t afford one. Where does the bias and poverty contribute here to an unjust sentencing? A rich civilian can pay for one of the most expensive lawyers he or she can find, who in turn, will bargain great deals to save a criminal despair in an orange jumpsuit. However, a poor defendant may end up facing life in prison just because they didn’t have the money to afford a better attorney to defend him or her to the jury.

Of course how are decisions made by the jury’s affected? It’s based on favoritism, who are the most compelling when arguing their side, who has the money. Clearly, Ethan Couch had the money to persuade otherwise to be released in such a criminal act.

Racism. Black, brown, white. Three colors that categorize hundreds of ethnicities. Han Chinese, Arabian, Muslims, Mexicans, African Americans, Nigerians, Ecuadorians, Guatemalans, Columbians, Pakistanians, Punjabis (Indo-European), Germans, Italians, the list is on going. The weather is a topic spoken of everyday in the news, words seeping through our lips when we ask one another, just so we know how to dress for the day or to make plans, likewise, it’s always present even when not spoken of. Similar to racism, even if it’s not spoken of frequently, it’s right there. We see it, when we pass the halls, go to the movies, go out to the beach on a sunny summer day. It’s there. There’s a girl or boy in your class with slanted eyes, “oh she must be chinese.” There’s a male coworker, second office to the left of your side of the building, “He’s brown with a thick spanish accent...oh, he must be a Mexican.” Did realization just hit that we categorize people everyday, to the point thats its habitual? The Criminal Justice system is no different, it consists of humans, people like us who make the assumptions as we do, even if we are wrong. Back in June 2010, Curtis Flowers was subjected to 6 murder trials for just ONE murder he committed. What race was he? He was an African American. Of course in the end, his trials were all deemed mis-trials because racism had played a majoring factor as well as biased because of the court rulings and death sentences imposed for four times, never carried out however. Henry Lucas, back in the 80s, was converted by the mass media as a serial killer who lurks in the dark ready to torture and mutilate, kill and feast in joy to have taken another life. The court charged him to the death penalty, for confessing over 100 murders of women. “If they were going to make me confess to one I didn’t do, then I was going to confess to everything.” A statement made by Henry Lucas himself when he sent a letter back to an interviewer who was interested in the trial. The justice system goes by what they see and hear, although in reality, nobody can truly know the truth except for the people present at the time.

Our criminal justice system like any other system not just in America, has its flaws. Consciously, we all know how fallible this system is, yet we refuse to admit it. Despite all best efforts by the public and the people in the system, there’s always a bad apple, not everyone is pure to the core. At the end of the day, at the end of a trial, who is to win? The most compelling, persuasive, most winning argument out passes everything else, even if it’s defending a guilty being.