Courtroom Prejudice

This week, the current trial of Derek Chauvin a Caucasian officer of the law who killed an unarmed black man by intentionally leaning all of his weight on the man’s neck during an arrest, despite protest of not being able to breath, has the world on edge! This incident in which George Floyd was deprived of his life over suspicion of using a counterfeit bill, took place on May 25, 2020; almost a year ago but is still sitting fresh in the mind of the Black Community. Because once again the Black Community is wondering whether the death of another Black Man will be held in valuable by the courts or casually dismissed. Dr. Angela Thompson had this to say about the trial “These incidents are rooted in not only prejudice, a preconceived judgment or opinion of other people and races that leads to preferring one kind of person over another, but also discrimination, the unfair or differential treatment of individuals and groups based on race and ethnicity”.

Race has been a determining factor of treatment in America since before its official advent of 1774. The many courtrooms of the country faired no different. From the Black Codes of 1865 to the later Jim Crow laws of the south racial disparity otherwise referred to as racism has always been implicit in the system, enabling harsher, stricter, and often times deadlier punishments for Blacks in comparison to their white counterparts. Fast forward to modern day America, the same America that believes and cries for equal treatment, and the question of whether racism is a factor in the courtroom is still present.

If one has ever been in the courtroom to experience the pressures of answering a summons, then they will know of the intensity of the feeling like David going against Goliath without the slingshot. The state is a big company with what seems like an unimaginable amount of power to begin with. Imagine going against a powerhouse like that and starting the fight off with a slope to overcome from the beginning because you were born a certain way.

Disadvantages such as this bring to the forefront questions of distrust for the character of the US Justice system. How can the system be counted on for true unbiased judgement when it can’t even sentencing is the result of judgement and it is proven to be biased? Many Social Activist have expressed similar thoughts.

Michelle Alexander, a civil rights activist and best-selling author wrote a book in 2010 called The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of and Colorblindness explaining the disparities faced by blacks in the legal system as a whole. In her book she states “In the era of colorblindness, it is no longer socially permissible to use race, explicitly, as a justification for discrimination, exclusion, and social contempt. So, we don’t. Rather than rely on race, we use our criminal justice system to label people of color “criminals” and then engage in all the practices we supposedly left behind.”

This statement is a sentiment that is backed up by the data from the ussc.gov site. This information shows that every other race receives longer sentences than Caucasian males. Can this be considered a contradiction of the American principle of equality if the same crimes from men of all races are all weighed on a different scale due to race? There can even be seen a difference in the way that the news presents stories of crimes between Black and Whites.

Not everyone agrees that there is bias in the courtroom despite the data shown. Sam Sommers, both professor and chair of the psychology department of Tuft University, made a statement in an interview explaining how easy it is for bias to creep into the courtroom process. He stated “On a daily basis, expectations, biases, and prejudices influence the way we see the world. They color our perceptions, judgments, and decision-making processes. Alas, nothing magical happens when people enter a courthouse to serve as jurors—those biases come through the doors with us.”.

According to Sam biases are normal and everyone has them, but commonality does not make something right. If America is ever going to be the America that it portrays in its “the Land of Equal Opportunity!” moniker, it must bring its equality full circle. Especially to the courts, home of the judge, the jury, and the executioner!