“The Ethical Issues of Racial Discrimination and the Judicial System. Does it Exist?” By Captain Jerry K. Craig Marion County Sheriff’s Office
This commentary is designed to examine whether or not racial profiling exists in our judicial system. The affects that it may have and if it does exist, where are its origins. Watch the news or read the newspaper and you will find people killing people based on their ethnicity or religious beliefs. Here in America we have a Constitution and a multitude of amendments which protect all citizens from these type of abuses. We have the freedom of religion, innocent until proven guilty, all men are created equal and the right to legal representation even if we cannot afford it. With all of this protection, you would think that racism in the criminal justice system could not exist. “It is generally agreed that discrimination based on ethic origin is morally wrong and a violation of the principal of equality. The equality principal requires that those who are equal be treated equally based on similarities and that race is not a relevant consideration in that assessment” (May and Sharratt 1994:317). It is generally accepted that discrimination due to race, color or creed is unacceptable and there are laws that govern such discriminations. Studies show that racism gradually took hold here in the United States with the institution of slavery in the 17th Century. “African Americans have suffered discrimination on grounds of race, initially through the system of slavery and then through a pattern of exclusion and segregation, both informal and formal, in the shape of legislation and court decisions that have historically endorsed overt racial discrimination. From the time of the inception of slavery in the early 17th Century until 1865, slaves were considered the property of their masters based on a view that they were naturally unequal and inferior people” (Banks, 2004). If racial discrimination does not exist, it certainly has a...