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> | Professor Moglen, I decided for this paper to write about a completely different topic from my last paper.
I. Introduction
II. Socio-economic Factors
III. Discriminatory Laws
IV. Unchecked Discretion
V. General Perceptions | | | | |
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> | INTRODUCTION: | | | | |
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> | During high school, I became aware of the disturbing statistics concerning the overrepresentation of Blacks in the prison system. Every year the Street Law teacher, Ms. Glazer, took students to a Long Island jail. The purpose was to teach students about the realities of jail and scare them into law-abiding citizens. After the field trip, Ms. Glazer’s last cautionary message was to remind us of the plight of one girl who had the misfortune of being the only white girl in the jail. I understood the point of Glazer’s message to the other, mostly white students, but nevertheless her comment agitated me. Her remark implied that because the girl was white, she did not belong in jail. It was a mishap for her to be in jail, as oppose to all the other guilty, jail-deserving blacks. While this notion troubled me, it is a fact that African-Americans are incarcerated at staggering rates and account for half the inmates in jail today. Prisons have become synonymous for institutions holding blacks. This paper examines the reasons for this alarming condition. While the socio-economic factors are relevant, the prevalence of racial discrimination in the legal system also contributes to the disparity. | | | | |
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< | Pursue a Career You Enjoy, and the Money Will Come… Will it? | | | | |
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< | Ever Since middle school, my teachers have been expounding upon me the notion that the key to a lasting career is to choose something that you are passionate about and success (financial) will follow. This message was in direct conflict to my upbringing. My family had its own idea about the proper strategy for choosing a career, and it involved choosing a career that makes money, and this will ultimately lead to a life of happiness. My decision to come to law school and become an attorney has been influenced by both extremes of the spectrum. I still believe that a Juris Doctorate, despite the present economic crisis, is a versatile degree that gives its degree holders a variety of options to have some autonomy in their career path. However the practicality of a law degree also influenced my decision to become an attorney. With the present economic situation, made real to me by the grim job prospects for first year law student, I realize a decision to attend law school or pursue any career path founded solely on the prospect of financial gain seems a bit absurd. Yet the notion of pursuing a career in law based on one’s interest in the law seems equally absurd, since prospective students have only a limited knowledge of what the law entails. | >
> | ---++ SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS | | | | |
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< | It is not possible to fully appreciate the expectations or demands, which the study of law entails, until one is actually immersed in the field. Oliver Holmes Jr. in “Path of the Laws” describes the purpose of the study law as “the prediction of the incidence of the public force through the instrumentality of the courts.” According to Holmes, attorneys are hired to take calculated risks on behalf of their clients. While knowledge of precedent cases and relevant statutes help guide attorneys, the task is complicated because there are many areas of the law that remain unclear and subject to judicial whim. Two constitutional law cases that come to mind are United States v. Morrison and Gonzales v. Raich, which dealt with Congress’ commerce clause power. In Morrison, the Court struck down a federal statute that provided compensation for victims of gender violence, although congress provided evidence that gender related violence deterred and inhibited victims from traveling or engaging in interstate activity. The Court reasoned that gender motivated violence is not economic activity and therefore beyond the purview of the commerce clause. Yet, in Raich,, the court upheld a federal statute banning the private cultivation and use of marijuana, solely for medical purposes. Using home grown marijuana in one’s home does not invoke an economic activity, yet the Court upheld Congress’ authority to regulate it under the commerce clause. The study of the law does not always make logical sense nor is it an easy science with set skill requirements. Instead, being an attorney involves an array of skills not easily captured by words nor easily conveyed to prospective law students. | >
> | So, why are blacks overrepresented in the prison system? There are different theories to explain this phenomenon. One view articulated in Black’s The Behavior of Law suggests that people at the bottom of the economic pyramid are more likely to engage in deviant behavior. An “individual deprived of the legitimate means to improve his conditions is more likely to use illegitimate means such as theft or illicit business” (Black 254). This statement speaks indiscriminately to poor people in general. Poor people are more likely to be arrested, convicted and penalized more severely. And when wealthy people are arrested, they have certain legal advantages like better access to attorneys. People who can not afford to pay for attorneys have limited options for representation, which often means being assigned to an overworked public defender with limited resources. Stemming from the legacy of American slavery, Blacks tend to be socio-economically disadvantaged with less earning power than non-blacks. Thus, assuming the Black’s premises are true, the poor living conditions and limited financial resources of many African-Americans account for some of the statistics. | | | | |
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< | Even if the skill sets necessary for becoming an attorney were easily identified, prospective law students would still find it difficult to know whether they were well suited for the job. For instance, one skill that I believe is valuable to all attorneys is the ability to communicate persuasively. This became evident to me as I prepared for a moot court competition recently. When the law is unclear and both sides recognize its ambiguity, the outcome depends on which side conveys the information most persuasively. However, being persuasive with the law is an acquired skill that comes with experience and confidence. Most law students, at least 50%, come directly from undergrad. These students often have limited relevant work experiences and are still in the process of learning about themselves. Growing up, I heard many misconceptions about what type of person would be a good attorney; I remember hearing people say, “You are very argumentative, you should be an attorney.” Obviously this is not what a persuasive legal argument is and the only for people to know whether will be persuasive is to do it. The only way to accurately know whether one will enjoy the task of being an attorney is to become an attorney. | | | | |
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< | Choosing a law career because of one’s “passion” for practicing law is just as likely to lead students to choosing the career for money. Without a fully developed plan and firm grasp of the practical reasons for pursuing a law degree, students are easily lured to the job that offers the most pay. Especially students, who have an unprecedented amount of loans to repay, they will find the lure of a firm job irresistible. The choice to choose a firm job becomes even more compelling once students begin attending the weekly 1L dinner receptions hosted by the various firms. At these events wine glasses are always filled and endless trays of hors d’oeuvres circle about the room. Even someone that believes he is making the decision to go law school based on his passion for law school is likely to be swayed by economic influence. | | | | |
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< | Rather than deciding to pursue a law career based on “whether I have an interest in legal studies,” I think it is important to consider the practical reasons for pursuing the career by asking oneself, “what will I be able to do with this degree”? For some the answer is that having a law degree enables them to earn a decent income, while for others it provides a voice to affect changes in society. | >
> | ---+++ DISCRIMINATORY LAWS | | | | |
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- You haven't given any reason to believe that these two are in conflict, that they represent some sort of choice. You can have a decent income doing things that are good for the community, or you can have a decent (possibly larger) income doing things that are bad for the community. Now which do you choose?
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- This essay isn't doing hard work, it's just throwing lumps of well-crafted language at the subject. I don't know why I should think that a law firm dinner is likely to make one want to go work at a law firm: the events of that kind I attended while I was in law school seemed horrible to me. They certainly didn't make me want to go to more of them. Your paragraph is well turned, but it doesn't reflect experience as I know it for myself, and it's not language that vividly conveys your or someone else's reality: it's just well-filled trays of limp linguistic canapes circling the room. So it doesn't convince.
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> | While the socio-economic factors contribute to the overrepresentation of blacks in prison, it is certainly not the only factor. To racially conscious individuals, it is impossible to ignore the role that the legal system’s hostility towards African-Americans plays in the statistics. Although laws in the twenty-first century rarely mention race, their implementation often not only have a disparate impact, but target blacks. For example, crack and cocaine users commit the same offense in terms of culpability, mens rea, actus reus etc., yet the penalty for crack use is more severe than for cocaine use. The only difference between the crimes is that crack is generally consumed by blacks and other individuals with less economic means. The law seems to be targeting the people rather the conduct. Another example of how the law targets minorities while appearing facially (racially?) neutral was evident in City of Chicago v. Morales, 527 U.S. 41 (1999). In Morales, the Supreme Court overturned an ordinance passed by the Chicago City Council which made it illegal for a group of people reasonably believed to be gang members to loiter in the public streets. The ordinance’s vast reach resulted in 42,000 arrests within only three years following its enactment. Too often, it seemed the police “reasonably believed” that any minority youth in urban attire was a gang member. The ordinance was later described by Steve Chapman in “Courts Uphold America’s Right to Hang Out” as creating the new crime, “‘standing around while black’ to go with the old one of ‘driving while black’”(Criminal Law and Processes 164). | | | | |
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- I think the way forward here is to figure out what you really wanted to write about and to write about that, using the words that seem natural to you to convey most simply and authentically the idea you have.
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---++++ UNCHECKED DISCRETION
The broad discretion and unchecked power given to police and prosecutors contribute to the disproportionate number of blacks in the prison system. Police officers decide who is arrested and who gets off with only a warning. Drug use among blacks and whites are proportionally even, yet Blacks are thirteen times more likely to be arrested for the offense (http://www.hrw.org/legacy/campaigns/drugs/war/key-facts.htm). During undergrad, I remember a white student candidly testifying to the veracity of these findings. While driving in North Carolina (his home state) the white student was pulled over by cops, who found marijuana in his possession. The cops reprimanded him, threw the marijuana out, and sent him home. Around the same time, a black classmate of his was also spotted with marijuana by the police; however, the black student had to spend the night in jail. Police officers not only police Black people more, but use their discretion in a discriminatory manner. Prosecutors also abuse their discretion, further contributing to the disparities. Evidence of this abuse was apparent with the recent Jena 6 incident. Amidst racial tension, six black high school students were arrested and tried for getting into a high school fight. The prosecutor tried the students as adults for attempted murder, with the possibility of a 100 year sentence and no parole. After media attention and the organized efforts of Jena 6 supporters, the charges were reduced. Jena 6 is only one example of how the persistence of racial discrimination by prosecutors contributes to the overrepresentation of Blacks in jail.
---++++ General Perception
The discriminatory treatment of blacks by police and prosecutors coincide with American society’s criminalistic perception of black people in general. The events following the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina offered a glimpse of this. After New Orleans was wrecked by the hurricane, the first response by officials was to send police officers to stop looters instead of responding to the needs of the devastated victims. More revealing was the blatantly biased portrayal of blacks in the media. In one newspaper, there were separate images of blacks and whites both carrying foodstuff and toiletries in chest-high water. The caption beneath the image of the black woman condemned her as a looter, while the caption beneath the white woman sympathized with her and described her actions as finding food for her family.
The perception of blacks as criminals coupled with the unchecked discretion held by police and prosecutors contribute to the alarming statistics. While the socio-economic theory offers insight into the prison dilemma, it does not tell the whole story. | | | * Set ALLOWTOPICVIEW = TWikiAdminGroup, ShirleyBoutin |
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