U.S.

Judicial System:
Fatally Flawed or Justice as Deserved?

Daniel Bryant

AP Literature
Mrs. Morton
19 November, 2015
Outline
Thesis: The U.S. court system has been around for hundreds of years, based on the purpose to
prevent the peoples rights from being infringed upon, fair and due process, to interpret the
Constitution, and to provide equal judgements for every American citizen, but is it as fair and

equal as it claims to be, and is rehab or incarceration the more effective method to fix
problems and ease the prisoners transition from prison to ordinary life again?
1. Courts of the U.S.
a. Established by Congress in 1891, the court of appeals system is
composed of 11 judicial circuits throughout the 50 states plus one in the District
of Columbia.
b. The highest court in the federal system is the Supreme Court of
the United States, the only federal court explicitly mandated by the
Constitution.
c. The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction in a limited number
of cases, including those that involve high-ranking diplomats of other nations
or those between two U.S. states.
d. The superior courts, usually organized by counties, hear appeals
from the inferior courts and have original jurisdiction over major civil suits and
serious crimes such as grand larceny.
e. Military Court
2. Exclusion of Evidence
a. Defense doesnt have to share evidence with the prosecutor,
because its the prosecutor's job to unearth evidence.
b. Its about which counsel puts on the best show, or has the best
advocacy.
c. Witnesses can tell the court they heard everything, then later
admit to the defense that they saw everything, and not be required to correct
themselves.
d. Exclusionary Rule -- If there is a technical flaw in how police
collect evidence (i.e. no warrant), then even if it is worthy of a conviction, they
cant use the evidence.
3. Judgements depend on race/wealth?

a. Multi-billionaire found guilty of raping his 3 year old daughter,

no jail time, just probation because rapists dont fare well in prison
b. 500g of Cocaine (caucasian crack-derivative of choice) carries
the same sentence as 5g of Crack-Cocaine (african-american crack-derivative
of choice)
c. Majority of crack-arrests made in African American
neighborhoods, cocaine arrests made in white neighborhoods.
4. Racially Motivated?
a. African Americans make up 14% of drug users yet are 37% of
those arrested for drug offenses.
b. Furthermore, once convicted, African Americans receive
sentences that are on average 10% longer than white offenders for the same
time.
c. When one in three black males can expect to go to prison in their
lifetime, prospects for the future seem extremely bleak. Inner-city youth
become desensitized to the idea of going to jail
d. Crack cocaine, primarily used by blacks, carries a sentence 100
times more severe than sentences for powder cocaine, a drug more associated
with whites. Crack cocaine is made from regular cocaine (and in fact is less
pure than cocaine), yet it carries a far stricter sentence. These laws are a form of
institutionalized racism.

U.S. Judicial System: Fatally Flawed or Justice as Deserved?

The U.S. Judicial system is known for being prejudice against minorities and for
favoring the rich and white, which raises the question, is it as equal as it says? The U.S.
court system has been around for hundreds of years, based on the purpose to prevent the
peoples rights from being infringed upon, fair and due process, to interpret the
Constitution, and to provide equal judgements for every American citizen, but is it as fair
and equal as it claims to be, and is rehab or incarceration the more effective method to fix
problems and ease the prisoners transition from prison to ordinary life again?
The US government created the judicial system hundreds of years ago, with our
country being set on the very foundations of the Judicial System, including checks and
balances for all three branches of Government, Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. They
are setup to prevent one branch from becoming too powerful and giving the opportunity to
plague the country with corruption. The Judicial branch is the one that interprets the law,

and applies it in the name of the State or on a federal level. The most prominent court of the
U.S. is the supreme court. This court is the main U.S. court that deals with government
matters, such as cases between two states or cases that involve foreign diplomats. It also
has limited jurisdiction (Mears), meaning that it normally only presides over cases that
involve the whole country or parts of the government. This court is the only court
mandated by the U.S. constitution (Mears). The supreme court is made up of nine
justices or judges that are first nominated by the president of the United States, and then
are later confirmed by the Senate (Mears), and one chief justice who is in charge and is also
nominated by the president of the United States and confirmed by the Senate. These
justices serve for life instead of being elected like other figures of authority such as the
president or state senators. The supreme court is at the top of the court appeals system,
which is made up of eleven judicial circuits (Mears). This court appeals system makes it
so that if a person feels that their trial was not fair, they can appeal to higher court to have
their own trial and make a new decision. The supreme court is not the only court within the
United States though. Within the United States there are over one hundred courts, not
including military court. The military has its own court, due to their isolation from normal
society. Military courts are made up of commissioned officers (I Found Expert Info on
Military Court System - Questions about the Military Court System Answered?) that deal
with the cases involving military people. This court is similar to a regular United States

Court, but in many ways it is stricter about evidence and the way it is run. The United
States Justice System has been operating for hundreds of years all across the United States
from little county courts to the Supreme Court, and this may be the reason why it is so
flawed.
The flaws within the justice system start with its fundamentals: incriminating
evidence. Evidence is the first step to incarceration, but the way it is collected and then later
presented in court is flawed. A police officer who did not warrant that finds evidence is not
allowed to submit that evidence to be used in trial. This is unfair to the prosecutor, and
allows professional criminals to have incriminating evidence against them thrown out due
to a technicality. This is called the Exclusionary Rule (Jones). Although this rule was put in
place to help preserve a citizens fourth amendment rights, the result has simply tilted the
odds in the favor of those being charged. However, if the evidence was collected correctly,
the way it is presented in court also gives criminals an advantage. Not only is there the
possibility of lying on the stand, but witnesses are also not required to tell the whole story.
In a case that Governor Ben Cayetano was the defense for, the witness originally said that
she heard the shooter (who was not the man Cayetano was defending) shoot his brother-inlaw, but when she was called on for cross examination, she said that she saw, not heard, the
entire thing (Jones). This discrepancy may have been cause for a closer a look into this
womans testimony and an investigation into why she changed her story, but instead, it

wasnt even reported. The defense, Governor Cayetano, was not required to bring this to the
attention of the Judge, the jury, or even the prosecutor, because it helped his client (Jones).
Now, due to the lack of regulations on what the defense has to report to the prosecutor, a
man who could have murdered his brother-in-law was acquitted (Jones). Another way the
presentation of evidence in court is flawed is because of the skill of the attorneys. Instead of
presenting the facts in an unbiased manner, the court rules in favor of whichever lawyer
puts on a better show. The jury most often picks the lawyer that made up a better argument
instead of making their decision based on evidence (Jones). This results in an unfair
advantage towards high profile criminals, because they can often afford the best lawyers
that know how to win over a jury. The best lawyers use fallacies to appeal to the jury
instead of trying to prove their client is innocent, and this results in more rich, guilty
criminals being acquitted just because they a lawyer who knows how to play the game
(Jones). The way evidence is used in the justice system is flawed, and it causes a biased
advantage towards the criminals, especially the ones who have money.
Robert H. Richards III was convicted for raping his three year old daughter. By
anyones standards this man is a terrible person and deserves to be locked up for years, but
Richards isnt going to prison. He was instead sentenced to eight years probation and has to
register as a sex offender (Conlon/CNN). A man who molested his three year old daughter
will not spend any time incarcerated. The judge said that he shouldnt go to prison because

rapists do not fare well in prison (Barrish). If the justice system is as fair as people claim
it to be, no rapists would end up in prison, because none of them would fare well(ABC
News).What makes Richards different? Hes a multi-billionaire. Richards is the great
grandson of the founder of Irenee Du Pont. Du Pont chemicals is a gigantic chemical and
health care company that makes billions a year. It isnt just a one time occurrence either, the
court systems are arguably set up in favor of the wealthy and white. Many are calling it
affluenza (Watkins). In June 2013, 16 year old Ethan Couch was driving drunk and killed
4 people. Couchs lawyer and court psychologist argued him as the victim. His cushy
upbringing prevented him from realizing the difference between right and wrong, and
consequences of actions (Goodman). After killing four people while driving drunk he didnt
spend a single day in jail or prison, instead he went to a $450,000 rehab facility (Ford).
Obviously the vast majority of the population cannot afford an option like that, which
allows the wealthy to escape the punishment of the legal system, while the poor, who may
be innocent, are convicted.
The justice system doesnt just favor the rich; it also favors the white. Cocaine is an
expensive drug, and so it is more often used by rich white people, while crack-cocaine (a
more impure version of cocaine) is cheaper, and more often used by African Americans.
The Justice System realizes this, and so to unfairly prosecute African Americans, the
sentence for 500 grams of Cocaine is the same length and severity as the sentence for only

five grams of crack-cocaine (ABC News). This equality of sentencing despite the inequality
of amount of the drug shows that it is literally 100 times worse to be found with crackcocaine than it is to be found with cocaine. Also, with the sentencing being in favor of the
rich and white, the arrests are too. Most crack-cocaine arrests occur in African American
communities, and target African Americans. The justice system is obviously racist, and
targets the minorities while white criminals get an easier sentence. This racial disparity isnt
just confined to cocaine usage. Every thirty-seven seconds a person gets arrested on a
marijuana related charge (The War on Marijuana), and most of those arrests are African
Americans. Although marijuana usage is the same with African Americans as it is with
whites, African Americans are 3.73 more likely to be arrested for it. The war on marijuana
is unfairly targeting African Americans, and wasting money. The amount of money spent
on arresting and charging people found with marijuana has cost the U.S. justice system
around $42,071,288. African Americans make up fourteen percent of all drug users, but
they make up thirty-seven percent of the drug arrests (ABC News). This inequality doesnt
make any sense. If the African Americans make up a smaller percentage than the white
people of this country, then why are they being incarcerated more? The answer is that the
U.S. Justice system is racist, and unfairly charges minorities. Not only are African
Americans arrested more, but they also receive sentences that are ten percent longer than
the sentences that white people receive (ABC News). One in three black males can expect

to go to prison in their lifetime (Infoplease). This is much more than the one in 106 that
white males face (Infoplease). These statistics show that the justice system is unfairly
incarcerating many more people of color than it is white people, even though white people
commit the same amount, if not more, of crime. The Justice system is not only favoring the
rich and the white, but it is also targeting people of color in the United States.
The U.S. justice system also tries to be equal by offering the same redemption
opportunities to middle class people of color that it does to upper class white people, but
they still arent making it equal. These poorer criminals convicted of drug crimes are
offered the same $450,000 rehabilitation centers that the upper-class white drug criminals
are being offered, but there is no way that they can afford to pay for such an expensive
rehab center, and so they are forced to go to jail (Infoplease). Due to this hollow
(Infoplease) offer, the justice system can claim it is equal, when it really isnt. The judges
and prosecutors know that the poorer people convicted of these crimes have to go to jail,
and so their conviction rate stays high, and the state still receives money for the prisoners
under its care. However, what these judges and prosecutors dont realize is that
rehabilitation is actually a more effective and better punishment for criminals.
Rehabilitation helps ease the offender back into society (Gadek), while jail time doesnt
offer the programs and opportunities that help the criminals better themselves that
rehabilitation does. Rehabilitation allows for criminals to reflect on what they have done in

a positive environment that promotes self-improvement, while jail doesnt. Also,

rehabilitation generally costs less than incarceration (Gadek). Incarceration usually costs
around $87,000 on average for an inmate, which is a cost that is picked up by the taxpayers
(Gadek). However, rehabilitation is only paid for by the punished. Rehabilitation in cases
of criminals could be paid for by taxpayers and it would cost less as well as allow the
punished to have a chance to improve themselves so that they can eventually give back to
society. Rehabilitation is the clear choice for a punishment for petty and drug crimes, but
this option is only offered to upper middle class white people. Which, again, makes it unfair
for the minorities, the lower class, and people who cant afford not to be sent to prison.
The United States Justice Department has been in place since the founding fathers
wrote the constitution, which is now over 200 years. The original values and decisions of
the U.S. justice system are no longer relevant, and as a result, the justice system has
become biased and skewed in favor of the rich, white, influential people. The United States
Justice System needs to do a large review of what is happening within their courts across
the country, and work to fix the flawed systems within them.

Works Cited:
ABC News. ABC News Network, n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2015

"About Federal Courts." United States Courts. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2015.

Gadek, Radek Rehabilitation Versus Punishment in the Adult Justice System.Rehabilitation

Versus Punishment in the Adult Justice System. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2015.

Infoplease. Infoplease, n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2015.

"I Found Expert Info on Military Court System - Questions about the Military Court System
Answered?" JustAnswer. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2015.

Jones, Bob /. "The Flaws In Our Legal System." The Flaws In Our Legal System. Oahu, 10
June 2009. Web. 08 Oct. 2015

Mears, Bill. "The U.S. Supreme Court: How It Works." CNN. CNN, 26 Mar. 2012. Web. 7
Nov. 2015.

"United States Courts." United States Courts. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2015.

"U.S. Court System." U.S. Court System. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2015.