Due Process; Marginalization on the Narrative of Race

When Justice isn’t applied equally, it is not justice at all.

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America claims to be the land of the free, the home of the brave, and the epitome of liberation. From an outside perspective the United States looks as though she encompasses all of these attributes and then some, but from the inside, there is another story to tell. The narrative of racial inequity here in America is a tale as old as time. The country’s long history of injustice and cruelty towards its most vulnerable populations continues into the 21st century as Black individuals are not granted fair and equal treatment at the hands of the criminal justice system.

Two nineteen year old men, Kevin Bailey and Corey Batchelor were brought in for questioning by the Chicago chief of police in 1989 just five days after a reported murder. Through threats and physical coercion, these two young men were pushed to a breaking point influenced by violence. Though the statements made by parties involved clearly indicated innocence, Kevin Bailey and Corey Batchelor were tried separately as their disclosures in a hearing together would have dismantled any inclination of criminality. The verdict of each trial concluded with convictions of murder in the first degree, armed robbery, and burglary. Through acts of brutality and the processing of an unfair trial at the hands of America’s legal system, Bailey was sentenced to thirty years in prison, while Batchelor was condemned to eighty. Both men were exonerated for their innocence in 2018 after serving their time (Innocence Project 1).

While Kevin and Corey live out their predisposed indictment, a new narrative in the face of legality rests in the supreme court case, the State of Vermont versus Isaac Turnbaugh. Isaac was tried in 2004 for the murder of friend and co-worker Declan Lyons (Lohr 1). Declan was pronounced dead at the franchise where the two worked together with a bullet wound etched in his skull. As events unfolded, police had no suspects until Turnbaugh confessed to shooting Lyons in the head to some friends at a party just days after the incident. After being brought in for questioning, he was deemed mentally unstable resulting in a two year delay of the trial. After years of patiently waiting, the State of Vermont versus Isaac Turnbaugh resulted in the supreme court ruling that the defendant in question was not guilty. A triumph for Turnbaugh, yet a month after the final verdict was determined, Isaac confessed to the murder in a seven hour standoff with local police. The court’s response to the confession: nothing further can be done. Officials stated, “We gave it our best shot. Our justice system isn’t always perfect, but it is darn good (Lohr 1).” Isaac walks free to this day.

Two separate parties tried for murder, yet the end results and processes prove drastically inconsistent. There is one implicit variable in which separates these individuals and the treatment they receive by the criminal justice system. That variable is race. America’s legal system tells a two sided story. The deep rooted historical tale speaks on the division of Black versus white. This claim remains evident on the basis of the two previous accounts. On one side there is Kevin and Corey, two innocent Black American men, proven to be marginalized and discriminated against through due process. On the other side lies free, white American Isaac, admittedly guilty, yet treated as innocent by the fixated racial partisanship upheld by the criminal justice system. According to the National Registry of Exonerations, “African Americans are only 13% of the American population but a majority of innocent defendants wrongfully convicted of crimes and later exonerated. They constitute 47% of the 1,900 exonerations (Gross 2).” This data can be directly correlated to Isaac Turnbaugh’s case, where a man guilty of murder is set free from the “darn good system”. Contrary to this statement, discrepancies and carefully accumulated data clearly exemplify that the system is broken, resulting in the consistent marginalization and false incrimination of Black Americans. For reference, the United States makes up five percent of the world population. The country also accounts for twenty five percent of the prison population (Haug 10). Within the prison system lies roughly two million individuals, forty percent are Black. Within the walls of this abhorrent reality, Haug includes that one in three Black men will be incarcerated at some point in their life (Haug 10). These facts some deem unbelievable, but rather they portray a catastrophic symptom of the truth.

As the criminal justice system frames and incarcerates innocent Black men and women at an alarming rate, inequities can be identified in all major crime categories. On account of murder, innocent African Americans are seven times more likely to be convicted than white Americans (Gross 2). In cases of sexual assault, a Black prisoner serving time is three and a half times more likely to be innocent than white males incarcerated for the same offense (Gross 3). Furthermore, when looking at drug related crimes, evidence indicates that Black and white individuals partake in drug use at similar rates. This truth is not transparent in terms of criminality, for Black Americans are five times more likely to be imprisoned for possession than Caucasian users (Gross 3). While these numbers pertain to outcomes, the processes leading up to incarceration further support the Black and white institution being circuited.

Black people in this country are a victim of the system, but how they are pressured through due process is another chapter of the narrative. Due process consists of a variety of legal procedures leading to the defendants final verdict. The main reason for the implementation of due process is to ensure that the individual in question is granted fair and equal treatment at the hands of the law. Each level of due process shows equally concerning inequities. The Sentencing Project formed a report that was later sent to the United Nations addressing the particular issues of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance within American legal factions. Beginning with the first step of the process: policing. Data reveals that twenty seven percent of all arrests made in the United states were Black men and women. African American people make up just thirteen percent of the U.S population, making arrests of Black individuals double their population (Sentencing project 1). These numbers result from the practice of broken window policing. The report states, “New York City, like many other cities, remains reluctant to scale back Broken Windows Policing, a public safety approach that relies on clamping down on petty-offenses and neighborhood disorder (Sentencing Project 1).” These petty-offenses included alcohol consumption, disorderly conduct, and bicycling on the sidewalk. To back this claim, the Sentencing Project further strengthens their argument by providing city-wide statistics on the practice in question. The proposal states that 82% of those arrested for misdemeanors in the city of New York were either Black or Hispanic. At the time of the arrests, Black and Hispanic residents made up 51% of the city’s population. When comparing the percentage of people of color in the city to the percentage of petty crime arrests, there is an obvious disconnect. This confirms the implicit racial bias in America’s law enforcement projects. The discriminatory actions and mindset of police transition to the next phase of processing: pretrial. African Americans were incarcerated at local precincts three and a half times more than Caucasians. Along with this, it is proven that Black people are more likely to be either denied bail or given an unattainable price on bail at this point in the process (Sentencing Project 1). Lastly, if one cannot post bail, freeing oneself becomes much more of a challenge. During sentencing judges are more likely to charge people of color with crimes attached to a heavier sentence (Sentencing Project 1). Reviewing each step, there are multiple broken avenues in need of repair within the legal system. These avenues revolve around internalized racial practices, policing issues, and unlawful treatment of people of color.

There are many layers involved when processing someone for a crime. It is clear that change is necessary for vulnerable Black Americans. Due to the fact that the system works on a federal, state, and local level, there is no singular end to all answers to the problem. Although, after researching, there are ways to stir the evolution of the criminal justice system for the betterment of Black communities. In order to correct the mistakes being made, there needs to be systemic change at each level. Starting with policing, officers should be required to partake in culturally specific training to grasp the culture of each community in their area. In addition, officers who have inquired a multitude of complaints and or have clearly committed acts of bigotry in the past need to be reprimanded immediately (Sentencing Project 33). These actions, along with others can start the new narrative. Transitioning to pretrial, all those involved with the case need to understand that the individual in question is innocent until proven guilty. That means enforcing video recordings of questioning so violence is not used to persuade a confession, reasonable bail for all races if permissible, and a universal understanding of due process rights free of bias (Sentencing Project 37). Bias lies in all realms of due process but are obscenely prominent in the final phase of prosecution. Prosecutors involved in each case must take action to set reasonable verdicts regardless of skin color and continue efforts on distributing fair and lawful sentences (Sentencing project 41). Each level requires necessary change to meet the needs of Black citizens, and put marginalization to rest.

The system needs reparation. America’s deep rooted history of racial inequity started at her birth. Black individuals have been punished time and time again for the smallest of acts. America’s early history is to blame for the continued racialized crime, and although those in power have eliminated such drastic measures, they still enforce them consistently. From real accounts of indictment, to staggering statistics spreading across all major crime categories, to the bias present in due process, the United States criminal justice system both marginalizes and discriminates against its most vulnerable communities, Black communities.