Is Justice Really Blind?

English 101 Mr. Young 13 October 2012 Is Justice Really Blind? The United States of America bases its whole judicial system around “blind justice” but is justice always blind? Since day one, justice has been portrayed as impartial. Ronald Nikkel says the U. S judicial system is represented by an elegant lady holding a set of scales in one hand and a sword in her other, while wearing a blindfold.

She carries the balances symbolizing fairness and the sword symbolizing power and authority, and she wears the blindfold, symbolizing objective justice for all people, without preference or discrimination, regardless of identity, wealth, power, social status, position, or circumstances (“Justice is not Blind”). However, is this always the case? In countless cases, the verdict does not seem as if Lady Justice is truly blind. No matter what is said, trial by jury has its flaws.

The article “Justice is Not Blind” says, “It is not only the accused who can be wrongfully treated by the ; victims also suffer the consequence of injustice when wealthy offenders with powerful connections simply get a slap on the wrist instead of being held responsible to face the consequences of their crimes” (Nikkel). Flaws in the jury system affect everyone. The judicial system needs to reformed, society has evolved over time, yet the judicial process has not kept up.

Justice needs to be done without bias, where fairness is not just a forensic technicality and where consideration is the same for all persons regardless of race, religion, creed, or social standing (Nikkel). The most infamous example of our corrupt judicial system is the trial of Orenthal James Simpson also known as O. J. Simpson. The O. J. Simpson murder trial is one of the most controversial court cases in the last decade. In 1995 O. J. Simpson was put on trial for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Simpson and her male friend Richard Goldman. From the outside looking in many people thought O.

J. Simpson was clearly guilty. So much incriminating evidence was found. Douglas Linder says, hair evidence, blood evidence, fiber evidence, glove evidence, and shoe evidence was all brought in front of the Jury (“The O. J. Simpson Trial”). With so much evidence pointing to him, many Americans were certain O. J. was the guilty of murder. Mr. Simpson had something that many people did not, cold hard cash. O. J. had the ability to assemble an all-star defense team. The media referred to it as the “Dream Team”, it consisted of nine high profile lawyers.

Douglas Linder figures Simpson’s defense team cost between $3 million and $6 million dollars (“The O. J. Simpson Trial”). O. J’s defense team worked diligently to raise doubt about every piece of evidence that was brought forth, and it worked well. The article “O. J. Simpson Trial” reads, As America watched at 10 a. m. PST on October 3, 1995, Ito’s clerk, Deidre Robertson, announced the jury’s verdict: “We the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant, Orenthal James Simpson, not guilty of the crime of murder” (Linder).

Many people came away from the trial with the impression that money will buy you justice in The United States. Money has bought freedom throughout history in the United States. Recently Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth killed a man while drunk driving. In article published by Globe Gazette it says vehicular homicide is a felony charge that upon conviction will result in a sentence of between three and fifteen years of imprisonment with no parole for at least 1 year (Magee). Three years is the minimum for vehicular homicide. Stallworth received 30 days in jail and two years house arrest.

Stallworth was playing in the next Browns football game. The main reason Stallworths sentence was so light was, Donte reached a confidential financial settlement with Reyes’ family. What does this say for people who commit crimes and are unable to pay off their victims? Debbie Shussel says that, contrary to the trite adage, justice isn’t blind in America. It’s not blind at all. If you have the right dollar amounts in your bank account, you get a separate kind of “justice” applied to you (“Yes, You Can Buy Justice in America”). This was the most blatant display of corrupt justice in recent years.

According to an article in USA Today, Donte Stallworth was extremely cooperative with authorities and remorseful throughout the process and this correlated with his sentence (Davis). Many people are remorseful and cooperative after taking someone’s life with their irresponsible actions, and are still given stiff penalties. It is clear that money will indeed buy you justice in the United States of America. It has been said that America has the best criminal justice system that money can buy. Paul Wright states, after more than 16 years in prison I have yet to meet anyone who was wealthy when they were convicted.

I long ago concluded that what people did, in the way of crimes, had no bearing on whether they came to prison Wealth is the determining factor (“The Crime of Being Poor”). The United States of America judicial system is extremely biased, a reform is desperately needed. Some may disagree with this and insist it is the criminal conduct of the poor that leads to incarceration but the evidence indicates otherwise. Paul Write wrote, the past two decades has seen over 100 people exonerated and released from death row after being convicted and sentenced to death.

During the same period, hundreds if not thousands more have been released from prison after being exonerated of the crimes they were convicted of. The reasons for the wrongful convictions range from police and prosecutorial misconduct, incompetent defense counsel, fabricated evidence, lying jailhouse snitches and mistaken eyewitnesses, among others. Yet I have not heard of any wealthy defendants who were wrongly convicted and sentenced to death or prison as a result. Instead, wrongful conviction of the factually innocent seems to be the exclusive province of the poor (“The Crime of Being Poor”).

This eyewitness account proves the point, people are being released from prison after the system realizes they were convicted on false charges. People of a lower social class are convicted of almost anything. Wealthy people are not convicted for anything, unless, they were caught red-handed. In a country like America, judicial corruption should not be a problem like this. Ronald Nikkel said Justice needs to be done without bias, where fairness is not just a forensic technicality and where consideration is the same for all persons regardless of race, religion, creed, or social standing (“Justice is Not Blind”).

Most people believe this is how the United States Judicial system operates. This is not the case. The United States of America is a great country; the people have the ability to make decisions in the government. Citizens of the United States must come together and impose a well needed reform on the biased judicial system. Works cited Davis, Nate. “Has justice been served in the Donte’ Stallworth case? ” USA Today. N. p. , 6 July 2009. Web. 22 Oct. 2012. Jenkins, Courtenay. “‘Trial by Jury’ Guilty of Character Flaws. ” Daily Press. N. p. , n. d. Web. 13 Oct. 2012. Linder, Douglas O. “The O. J.

Simpson Trial. ” University of Missouri – Kansas City. N. p. , 14 Jan. 2006. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. Magee, Dennis. “Woman gets 10-year sentence for vehicular homicide. ” Globe Gazette. Hearing Association, 5 June 2012. Web. 22 Oct. 2012. Nikkel, Ronald W. “Justice Is Not Blind. ” Prison Fellowship. Prison Fellowship, 7 Oct. 2011. Web. 13 Oct. 2012. Ogletree, Charles J. , Jr. “The Trial’s Significance and Lasting Impact. ” Public Broadcasting Service. N. p. , 5 Apr. 2005. Web. 13 Oct. 2012. Wright, Paul. “The Crime of Being Poor. ” Prison Legal News. N. p. , 22 Oct. 2012. Web. 22 Oct. 2012.