Introduction
The main objective of any justice system is to provide justice without partiality or fear. Judicial system is the key pillars of the rule of law. All the bodies charged with the role of providing justice should be free from all forms on interferences. Legal experts have been persistently criticizing the American judicial system. The court system has been painted as on e of the most corrupt and incompetent departments in the United States of America. Juan Botero-director of rule of law index project, says that the American judicial system is similar to its health system. In many aspects it may be considered as the world’s best but majority of citizens does not get quality services at all. The system places the defendant at a position where he or she has minimal space for defense. There is a general assumption that the defendant is usually on the wrong. This has led to unfairness and hypocrisy within the system. Flaws and defects within the judicial system have been confirmed by many wrong convictions which are made. It is quite clear that forces outside the judicial docket are compelling the judges and magistrates to make rush decisions and verdicts. This has caused too much injustice to many people who are the moment serving undeserving sentences in the prisons.
Flaws within the court system have a root in the police investigations. Police are usually biased in their judgment and prosecutions. The high numbers of blacks and other minorities in the prisons raise eyebrows and bring forth many questions. It is hard to explain why we have many blacks in prisons in a country where white population is the majority. Is it that blacks commit more crime than the whites? The other thing that raises eyebrows is the big population of mentally challenged persons in the prisons. This means that there is something lacking within the court system. This means that the court process may be biased or manipulated by the rich and influential in the society. The flaws in the American court system are a disgrace to the whole country. The practical fact in the American court system is that the prosecution has an upper edge over the defense .This makes the prosecution remain very dominant in the court and thus beating the relevance of the defense .In many cases the prosecution triumphs the defense, not because the defense was weak but because there is a general assumption that the prosecution was right.
Research in recent years has shown that wrongful convictions have become very rampant than previously thought Grisham John-member of board of directors of the Innocence project linked these wrongful convictions to the flaws within the court system. Grisham pointed out that the wrongful convictions are exasperated by fault in scientific data, apathetic judges, racism as well as over-zealous prosecutors.
Government misconduct has played a key role in tainting the reputation of the American court system. Senior government officials have often blocked the path of justice. They make sure that the defendant is sentenced even when evidence is not clear. Corruption has also contributed to denial of justice. In cases where the prosecutions rich, the judge or the witness may be bribed or manipulated to work in favor of the prosecution. Other factors which contribute to denial of justice include; snitches, junk science, false confessions and eye witness misidentification.
In the last 23years at least 2, 000 people were wrongful convicted of criminal activities in United States. In addition the number of exonerations has escalated tremendously in the last few years. This is a clear indication that many innocent people are wrongfully convicted due to loopholes in the United States justice system. Many questions are left unanswered about the flaws in the country justice system. The fact is people in the society are well aware of the wrongful conviction and that it happens not once but on a regular basis. According to the National Registry of Exonerations, only a few people are courageous enough to publicly state they were wrongfully convicted. This is a clear indication that there are many other unreported cases of false convictions. Hence the numbers provided above are just a tip of the iceberg. “Most false convictions never see the light of the day” according to National Registry of Exonerations.
The newly-found body established that more than a 1/3 of those who were acquitted of murder would have been fallaciously executed. They had received death sentence and had their cases not been overturn they would have been executed falsely. Executing an innocent individual falsely reveals the justice system is flawed and does not protect citizens of the land. It is unethical and unconstitutional for an individual to be wrongfully convicted at this age and time. The main reason why forefathers fought for independence was promote equity in the society. However, hundreds of years down the line, the long arc of justice is yet to be attained.
Influential and wealthy individuals still have a say in the judicial system. Celebrities use their influence in society to influence the outcome of there cases. In some instances, supports of celebrities demonstrate to the streets demanding for there release yet they know very well of their wrong doing. Such incidences influence the ruling of their cases. On the other hand, wealthy people in the society use their wealth to influence the outcome of their cases. Wealthy individuals in the society hire experienced and highly trained lawyers to defend them during trials. Consequently, the poor people are denied justice due to the fact that they cannot afford to hire lawyers of such caliber.
Manipulation of the judicial system is the main reason why virtually half of the people who are exonerated either of sexual assault or homicide were either convicted for life in prison or death penalty. Powerful forces in the society are ready to use false evidence in order to ensure they eliminated there opponents in a case. Many people have either die or served their term in jail due to wrong conviction.
The incarceration of prisoners in private prison for profit is also unethical and discriminatory. Such a move is hypocritical, baseless and unethical justification that threatens the validity of the justice system. Nobody should be preferred when serving their jail term. The idea of secluding some prisoners is unjust and contradictory. The fact that an individual is influential in the society does not permit the judicial system permission to be lenient on them.
As a measure of controlling impartiality in the judicial system, judges who are found guilty of abuse of office should be fired and charged in the Supreme Court. Abetting wrongdoers should be treated as capital crime since it denies justice.
