Failures of the US Criminal Justice System
Why Arrest Rates Are Not an Accurate Measure of Crime
Arrest rates measure how many people were incarcerated, but this does not accurately reflect how many crimes were committed. It omits crimes where the perpetrator was not caught or crimes where the wrong individuals were apprehended. Furthermore, perpetrators of white-collar crime rarely see any jail time. Thus, their crime is not reflected in the arrest rate even though it occurs frequently. Arrest rates are also more reflective of police behavior than real criminal activity. They show biases in the judicial and police system, with some groups being overrepresented, as well as certain types of crimes.
Problems With Our Current Processes of Conviction
Our current process of conviction is biased against the poor, given that it places people in jail even if they have not been found guilty yet. Those who are financially challenged are not able to post bail in many instances and must spend weeks or even months in jail waiting for trial. This overwhelmingly affects the poor, and statistics show that defendants who were not able to post bail are convicted at a higher rate. This system also coerces innocent people to often confess to crimes they haven’t committed in order to obtain a bargain deal and be released on time served, thus having served time without being guilty.
Disadvantages of Public Attorneys
Public attorneys are usually overworked and assigned multiple cases simultaneously, having little to no time to prepare or interview with the clients one-on-one. Thus, these attorneys have an incentive to want to settle cases quickly and without really going through the rigor of mounting a great defense. As a result, many defendants confess to crimes they did not commit in order to get a plea bargain.
How the Poor Are More Burdened by the Criminal Justice System’s Failure
Crime disproportionately affects the poor because most of the crime takes place in low-income neighborhoods, and most of those convicted also come from these social backgrounds. These convictions can break up family structures and sentence entire families to continued poverty, which in turn creates a loop in which the new generations are brought into a life of crime because of the poverty in which they grew, and it repeats. Also, the criminal justice system unfairly burdens the poor and makes it far more difficult for them to escape prison or have fair trials with qualified attorneys.
How Elite Segments Benefit From the Failures of the US Criminal Justice System
Elite segments of the population are often whiter and wealthier than the rest; therefore, they do not suffer from police biases in the same way the poor do. The elites are significantly less affected by racial profiling and police brutality than the poor. Also, they have access to more resources with which to defend themselves judicially. The elites also see less jail time because they can hire better attorneys. This is significant because the elites are underrepresented in the penitentiary system and, while they commit crimes, especially financial ones, they rarely see any jail time or are apprehended for their wrongdoing. This also creates the perception that only the poor commit crime, given that they are convicted in far greater numbers, which in turn drives biases against them.