The Necessity for Reform in the U.S. Justice System

There is no such thing as a perfect justice system to enforce law and order in a nation for a simple reason: people are not perfect.  Even the most well-trained, well-educated individuals in our justice system make mistakes.  However, like everybody else, it is necessary our Justice System learns from its mistakes, and unfortunately there are many that have been made.  A former criminal (Link to Testimony) openly testifies to how there where times when he personally witnessed officers and prison officials abusing their power.  Though he confesses that the number of individual officers are in the minority, they are out they, and all too often, the system does not hold them accountable for their actions.  The famous Stanford Prison Experiment illustrates how quickly people can be changed by the environment that they find themselves in, and the Jane Elliot's famous Brown Eyes/Blue Eyes experiment provides a first hand look at how quickly prejudice and and superiority can take over one's psyche when they find themselves in an environment that allows such grants individuals power and prestige over others.

  

Abuse of power has not only happened in the prisons, it happens on the streets, and in the courtrooms.  There are times when officers will abuse existing laws in order to press criminal charges against suspects when they are in fact innocent.  There are instances when innocent people end up in prison for crimes that they did not commit, and they were convicted because they did not have accesses to proper legal counseling.  There are instances when officers violate constitutional rights and use excessive force when apprehending suspects, and at times these violations and excessive use of force can cost lives.  Bryan Stevenson's Memoir Just Mercy, and Radley Balko's Rise of Warrior Cop, illustrate these facts very vividly.  Our Justice system cannot allow officers to abuse their power, they must remember that it is the job of Law Enforcement to enforce our laws, but that does not mean that they're above the laws.  

The final issue that many raise is the "Arrest, Release, Repeat" cycle that many individuals who fall into the U.S. prison system find themselves in.  Many individuals who end up in the prison system suffer from drug abuse and any type of mental trauma that could have set them on the dark path that they're now on.  The U.S. Justice system needs to do more than serve as a center of discipline, but as a center of rehabilitation.  More funds need to be channeled into mental health care and substance abuse treatment.  Programs need to be created that focus on teaching job skills, GED education, and work programs 

These programs must be implemented so that they enable released inmates to find work and not force them to fall into illegal activities to sustain themselves.  More effort needs to be used to provide effective social programs to help at-risk youth acquire the help they need to come to terms with their traumas and obtain the assistance they need to recover and move forward with their lives.  Change does not have to happen after a sentence is over.  Change can happen in prison, all along the way.  

The best way to start making effective change is to consult people who are on both sides of the law, the law enforcement officers, and those felons who have broken the law.  There are many instances of former felons who have been effectively rehabilitated and we can learn from them, learn about where an how abuses take place, how people can effectively be rehabilitated, and how we can change the system for the better.  We can consult numerous law enforcement agencies about how we can employ less lethal methods of subduing suspects and retraining officers to use lethal force only when necessary.  We can consult individuals like Bryan Stevenson on how we can ensure the right to adequate legal representation as we must remember that our Justice System is not only about arresting the guilty, but protecting the innocent from wrongful accusation.  

Simply put, we need a collective push on all sides to bring about change, and we must do it together.  We must all unite to change not only our Justice System, but our society.  We need fair laws and fair enforcement of those laws, and we need to encourage people as a whole to abide by these laws.  People will make mistakes, but we must encourage a willingness to learn from them.  We must make the populace understand that if they want our Justice System to change for the better, then they too must change for the better.  If they want to better the system, they must in turn better themselves.  They must learn to find the strength to fight their demons, and also find the strength to seek help when they need it.  

We must not cast out felons as being "lost," but as people who must be taught to understand what they did wrong, and how they can do right.  It's easy for us to simply turn our backs to those we consider "outcasts," but we must remember that Jesus never dismissed the "outcasts" of his society, he embraced them, because he knew that they were most in need of God's mercy.