While police departments in small towns and major cities throughout the country have been entrusted with the duty of public protection, all too often the corruptive power of pure authority poisons this sacred bond. From the institutionalized graft of Tammany Hall, to the militant misapplication of force used by police departments enforcing “Jim Crow” laws in the South, the police have always been capable of enforcing injustice, and as New York City’s divisive “Stop and Frisk” law attests to, this problem has not abated in the wake of the Civil Rights movement. Simply put, racial minorities are disproportionally targeted for traffic stops, investigation and arrest, and even injury or death at the hands of officers (Feinstein, 2013); a statistical outlier which does not conform to the prevailing research on crime rates across racial or ethnic demographics. To address the issue of rampant corruption and racism within law enforcement, the concept of citizen oversight has emerged as a viable method through which communities can effectively police their own police force. Whenever reports of police misconduct make national headlines, such as that of illegal domestic surveillance of Muslims by the New York Police Department, the need for viable oversight of law enforcement agencies is only reemphasized, and indeed “minority demands for police reform … can lend support for its implementation, especially after a highly publicized case of misconduct between the police and minority citizens” (Wilson & Buckler, 2010).
Corruption Within the Criminal Justice System
Although the American system of criminal justice and jurisprudence is widely regarded as a model for democratic nations across the globe to emulate, with its guarantee of due process and protection from illegal search and seizure standing as pillars of liberty, glaring defects still exist which warrant further improvement. From the disturbing trend of disproportionate arrest and sentencing among minorities, to the inability of courts to adequately enforce prohibitions levied against sexual predators, America's criminal justice system is imperfect at best, and inherently broken at worst. Widely publicized court cases such as the recent trial of George Zimmerman, a Florida vigilante charged with, and late acquitted of, murdering a young African-American man named Trayvon Martin, only serve to expose the fundamental flaws which are still far too prevalent within corrupt law enforcement agencies, an aging and outmoded judiciary, legions of overburdened prosecutors and defense attorneys, and a jury system which can be too easily manipulated. Unarmed children slain in their own neighborhood, and confessed murderers set free after sensationalized trials, these phenomena are nothing new in terms of this nation's history with a distorted sense of justice, but in a modern age of diversity and innovation, there is no excuse for further complacency. The following report summarizes several suggestions intended to improve the American criminal justice system's ability to ensure impartiality, with a specific focus on the inequitable treatment of racial minorities by law enforcement, prosecutors and judges.
Ensuring Legitimate Oversight of Law Enforcement Agencies
While police departments in small towns and major cities throughout the country have been entrusted with the duty of public protection, all too often the corruptive power of pure authority poisons this sacred bond. From the institutionalized graft of Tammany Hall, to the militant misapplication of force used by police departments enforcing "Jim Crow" laws in the South, the police have always been capable of enforcing injustice, and as New York City's divisive "Stop and Frisk" law attests to, this problem has not abated in the wake of the Civil Rights movement. Simply put, racial minorities are disproportionally targeted for traffic stops, investigation and arrest, and even injury or death at the hands of officers (Feinstein, 2013); a statistical outlier which does not conform to the prevailing research on crime rates across racial or ethnic demographics. To address the issue of rampant corruption and racism within law enforcement, the concept of citizen oversight has emerged as a viable method through which communities can effectively police their own police force. Whenever reports of police misconduct make national headlines, such as that of illegal domestic surveillance of Muslims by the New York Police Department, the need for viable oversight of law enforcement agencies is only reemphasized, and indeed "minority demands for police reform & #8230; can lend support for its implementation, especially after a highly publicized case of misconduct between the police and minority citizens" (Wilson & Buckler, 2010).
Removing Undue Burdens from State Prosecutors
Whenever law enforcement becomes preoccupied with arresting minority groups in a disproportional rate compared to the general population, this trend has devastating consequences on subsequent segments of the criminal justice system. In New York City, for example, the institutionalized racial profiling which occurs under the guise of the "Stop and Frisk" mandate, a law that encourages police officers to unnecessarily detain and search minorities in search of illicit substances, has created a disastrous situation for that municipality's prosecuting attorneys. According to a report released by New York state attorney general Eliot Spitzer, "minorities -- and blacks in particular -- were 'stopped' at a higher rate than whites & #8230; (and) precincts where minorities constitute the majority of the overall population tended to see more 'stop and frisk' activity than precincts where whites constitute a majority of the population" (1999). This artificial increase on minority arrest rates, which is largely predicated on arrests for possession of the decriminalized substance marijuana, has created a situation wherein prosecutors have been forced to work through hundreds of hours of superfluous casework before ever handling cases involving actual crimes. By removing prejudicial legislation such as New York's "Stop and Frisk" law, or Florida's controversial "Stand Your Ground" statute, states can remove the unnecessary burdens that have been foisted upon their prosecutorial ranks.
Monitoring and Rating the Performance of Judges
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