Throughout college, I have always been passionate about reforming the criminal justice system. Being an African American, I have been exposed to the flaws in the system and how our judicial system targets African Americans rather than looking out for them. One aspect of the judicial system’s flaws that is one of the main reasons I decided to go to law school and pursue a career as an attorney is the fact that many African Americans are wrongly convicted. “As stated in the reading, the consequences of wrongly accusing an innocent person of a criminal offense can be dire” (Gruman, 2017). African Americans already have a disadvantage in society alone, now with the judicial system not on our side either, it can ruin ones life.
An example stated in the reading speaks about an African American male named Ronald Cotton who served 11 years for a crime he had not committed. He was accused of raping a lady named Jennifer Thompson. Once the victim provided a blood sample for DNA test to be done, this indicated that a man named Bobby Poole was actually guilty for the crime. This demonstrates how people can be assumed to be guilty before innocent. This mindset is mainly used toward African American’s. We often are looked at as the bad guys because of our skin tone which results in racial disparities in the criminal justice system.
In my class, we discussed risk factors for why African American children often get caught in the judicial system and there reoffending rate is so high. Inner city families often don’t have the funds nor the resources to afford after school programs such as sports, Boys and Girls Club, etc. This results in students getting bored and participating in activities that may be illegal. Once an adolescent gets caught and is in the system, this often puts them behind with their education. Once they return to school, they are behind in school and can’t identify with other students due to them either getting held back or the lack of confidence from being behind. This causes them to interact and socialize with the people in the same boat as them, those who do deviant activities and have been in the judicial system. I want to become an attorney to stop this cycle.
To stop this cycle I hope to provide resources for inner city students. Free after school programs is the first thing I hope to address. This is deter students from committing crime. I also hope to be an attorney for those who are low on funds. As an African American, I believe that I will provide comfort to other African Americans so they know people are looking out for them.
Reference
Gruman, J., Schneider, F., and Coutts, L. (Eds.) (2017). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN 978-1-4833-6973-0. Pp 133, 135