Justice and Injustices (Essay Sample)

Justice and Injustices
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Justice and Injustices
Introduction
Justice is a key belief of philosophical traditions in many cultures. The perception of injustice may be influenced by social, political, economical, and religious inequality. The concept of injustice can contribute to the social and political unrest in the society. Criminal justice in the society tends to be more criminal than to be full of errors and racism. Despite many people in the society believing that racism ended with the Civil Rights Movement, there still social and economic injustices in the society. There are many people wrongfully imprisoned due to racial and social backgrounds. There are individuals who deny others the ability to access economic, healthcare, and educational benefits. Bryan Stevenson examined how the justice and injustice system in the USA worked. Bryan Stevenson has been able to justify the innocent in the society that were wrongfully convicted. An example is the case of Walter McMillan, who was wrongfully convicted of murder. The paper will examine the theory of Bryan Stevenson on the justice and injustice using his book Just Mercy. The paper will apply the case of Walter McMillan to discuss Bryan Stevenson’s theory.DiscussionEqual justice is critical to the development of the society. According to Stevenson, inequality still exists in the American society. In order for the society to have social justice, the society must first eliminate poverty. Stevenson states that the opposite of poverty is justice. He believes that there are structures in the society that have ensured poverty exists (Stevenson & Stevenson, 2015). In his book, Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson believed that the justice system is abused by the law enforcement. Through his story of Walter McMillan, he witnessed irregularities in the justice system. McMillan was an African-American citizen that was accused of murder. The justice system unlawfully sentenced him to death. Stevenson’s theory revolves around mercy for the criminal. As he was working on the case of Walter, he managed to uncover some irregularities and unjust actions committed by the justice department (Rawls, 1999). The justice system ignored strong evidence, and some witnesses of the prosecution were coaxed to testify against Walter.Bryan argues that the justice department aims to appease specific communities. Innocent people are sentenced to death or prison for the crimes they did not commit. In the case of Walter, the prosecution was against the law to sponsor two false witnesses to testify against Walter. The witnesses later admitted to being coerced to lie. Apart from the witnesses, the police force is also involved in injustice activities. Bryan believes that the justice system in the country is unjust in its action. There is no equality in the society (Harris, 2003). Despite the justice department in the country ensuring transparency, Stevenson believes that the social conflict is behind the injustices in the society. Most law enforcers ignore the moral concept of justice. Walter had to serve six years in prison for the crimes he did not commit. According to Stevenson, the witnesses acted on the immoral ground to put an innocent man in prison (Stevenson & Stevenson, 2015). If it were not for Stevenson, an innocent man would have died for crimes he never committed.Racism contributes to the injustices in the society. In his book, Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson argues that racism will always affect how the society develops in terms of the justice system. He uses the example of Walter McMillan, who he thought was convicted because of his color (Stevenson & Stevenson, 2015). The police force and the prosecution wanted to make the community happy by convicting an innocent person. In Walter’s case, the jury excluded the African American individuals. This showed that racism played a part in the injustice rulings in the justice system of the USA. Though the jury’s verdict was a life sentence, it does not justify the exclusion of the African American community from forming up the jury. This shows how the justice system in the country was biased. Walter McMillan was convicted on racial backgrounds. It is required for the justice department to view and determine all the evidence that is brought to them so that they could proceed with the verdict in a fair manner (Harris, 2003).The exclusion of the black community from the jury indicates that there was racial inequality. Racial inequality in the society often contributes to injustices (Harris, 2003). According to Bryan Stevenson, the inequality in the justice system resulted in the wrongful convictions of Walter McMillan. The racial injustice is affecting how justice department conducts themselves. The unfair treatment of the African American community was evident during the conviction of Walter. The police force and the prosecution claimed that Walter was guilty. Bryan argued this by stating that the justice system used biased means to convict members of the society. In a situation where it was a white American being convicted, the justice system would have used a different criteria (Rawls, 1999). Bryan states that people tend to commit a crime because they lack to judge what is right and wrong. It is unjust to treat criminals different basing on social and racial difference.Bryan argues that the justice system tends to provide harsh sentences if a victim and the perpetrator are from the different social background. In the case of Walter McMillan, the victim who was killed was from the white community, while Walter was from the African American community (Stevenson & Stevenson, 2015). The police and the prosecution used the unjust process to prosecute an innocent man. Since there was the social difference between Walter and the victim, the justice department and the jury in generally convicted Walter for the murder he did not know about. He was given life sentence with no parole. Despite the jury sentencing McMillian to a life sentence, the judge stated that Walter would face a death sentence. According to Bryan, this sentence was due to Walter being an African-American, and the victim coming from the white community. The judge wanted to appease the white community in Alabama for political favors (Harris, 2003).Bryan Stevenson believes that one of the problems in the judicial system is the ability to elect the judges. In this case, Alabama elects their judges. This situation brings about the cases of politics in the justice system (Harris, 2003). According to Bryan, judges who have been elected tend to act on the ground of politics. The judicial candidates are likely to attract political scenes i...