Racism in the Justice System - Article Example

Michelle mentioned that because they are economically weak and socially deviant, people of color are perceived by the justice system as disposable portions of American society. Therefore, today’s mass arrests and subsequent incarceration of blacks in the United States have historical roots dating back to the discriminatory times of slavery and Jim Crow eras. Evaluation This debate is an illustrative piece of journalism, which not only illuminates on the current state of racism in criminal justice but also proposes probable roots of today’s problems in the American justice system.

Invariably, responses from the debate raise certain questions like; Are people of color unfairly targeted by the American justice system? Recently, there has been a bubbling controversy on the issue of racism perpetrated by police departments, especially in mostly African American communities like Ferguson. Admittedly, the textual transcript on the debate is useful in validating certain claims surrounding the racism controversy. First, it is substantial that during arrests in Ferguson, police are up to 88% more likely to use force against African American offenders compared to whites (Gonzalez and Goodman 01).

In addition, all reported cases of dog bites during arrests involved victims of African American origin. With respect to such statistically substantiated arguments, the article reinforces my current stance on the issue of police-propagated racism in the U.S. Justice system. Admittedly, the voices involved in the debate establish considerable degrees of credibility. Despite the debate’s video being long and tedious to watch, contributors derived their arguments from irrefutable facts. For example, the debate’s moderator Amy Goodman cited the words of singer John Legend during the recently concluded Oscar Awards ceremony.

John Legend reiterated the fact that the United States is the most incarcerated nation in the world. To emphasize his point, Legend mentioned the fact that correctional facilities in the United States today contains more numbers of African American convicts, compared to the numbers of black men under slavery in approximately two centuries ago (Gonzalez and Goodman 01). Michelle seconded Legend’s words by acknowledging that mass incarceration of blacks is real in America today. Besides reliance on facts, the credibility of Michelle Alexander cannot be overemphasized.

As a civil rights lawyer, Michelle is sufficiently versed with the country’s criminal justice system. Throughout her legal profession, Michelle has experienced the first-hand biases directed towards poor African Americans by the justice system. Therefore, her voice and response on the debate is nothing but objectively credible in nature. In practical contexts, the Society of Professional Journalists requires professionals to perform their journalism duties in accordance with SPJ ethical standards.

One ethical standard required of journalists is clear identification of sources. Technically, listeners and viewers are entitled to independently judge the credibility and reliability of information presented during a debate. In this case, succinct acknowledgment of a source by a journalist is necessary.