The Pros And Cons Of The Criminal Justice System

We all know it’s there. Sitting there, watching us, judging us, eventually it’s going to come up in our lives in one way or another. The criminal justice system of the United States of America. Some say it’s great, others hate it, probably because they’ve been through it. We’ve all seen it on T.V.- Cops, Law and Order SVU, I Almost Got Away With It. Someone commits a crime, the police get the bad guy, end of story. Unfortunately it’s not always as perfect as it may seem in real life. Sometimes the bad guys get away with it and innocent people are wrongly imprisoned. If the criminal justice system remains unrevised and prejudiced towards minorities then innocent citizens will continue to be incriminated for crimes they did not commit. The definition
When people are wrongly incriminated they can end up spending jail time, it can be as short as a few days or as long as a life sentence. If they are proven not guilty then they are exonerated. “The U.S. accounts for 5 percent of the world's population yet houses 25 percent of the world's prisoners, putting its incarceration rate four-times higher than China's (Byrnes).” This statistic shows that the American criminal justice system cares more about closing cases and having someone to blame rather than getting justice for victims and arresting to right
As stated earlier, an exoneration is when someone is removed from jail after being wrongfully incarcerated. “The record shows how flawed the U.S. criminal justice system has gotten and is criticized for ‘wrongful convictions, unjust sentences and predatory behavior toward minorities, particularly unarmed black men.’ (Exonerations Reveal Broken Justice System).” In 1975, three young black males were arrested for the charge of murder and robbery against Harold Franks and attempted murder against Ann Robinson. The only evidence the police had against them was a sworn statement from a 12 year old (Eddie Vernon) on his way home from school. The three teens were incarcerated and sentenced to death, but later on were reduced to life. After an altercation 39 years later occurred between Vernon and one of the teens out on parole, Wiley Bridgeman, Vernon came out and confessed that he was paid a whopping $50 by Ann Robinson’s husband to testify against the teens. This lead to the exoneration in 2014 of the wrongly accused then teens, now adults (The National Registry of Exonerations). “2015 was a banner year for the reversal of wrongful convictions. ... a record 149 people in 29 states ... were exonerated for crimes they didn't commit (Exonerations Reveal Broken Justice System).” “In all, inmates who