Theoretically, the law is supposed to be an equalizer of varied human social, political and economic differences. All people are supposed to govern by same law; its administration should be in the interest of justice. Unfortunately, the present societies have made justice very expensive and rare for the minority and those who are poor.
The racial minorities who also doubles as the poor members of the American society find it very difficult to pursue justice in the courts; this has been attributed to the poor quality of legal representation. The helpless people find it very difficult o access justice. The counsels and the courts were supposed to serve as “havens of refuge for those who might otherwise suffer because they are helpless, weak, out-numbered, or because they are non-conforming victims of prejudice and public excitement” (Bright, 2002), have insistently been the one violating the right and socially perceived minority, they become a stumbling block on their way to justice. Before, the courts, the poor and the black stand no good chance for a fair trial, “prosecutors and juries are more likely to demand the death penalty if the victim is White and the offender is Black than in any of the other possible racial combinations” (McNamara & Burns, 2009, 68). The harsh punished accorded to the people of color, demonstrates the poor legal service they receive.
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Research has established that the racial minorities have levels of poverty, this is as a basically has a result of discrimination leveled against them. Nonmetro blacks and African Americans had the “highest incidence of poverty in 2016 (33.0 percent), while nonmetro American Indians and Alaskan natives had the second highest rate (31.8 percent)” (usda.gov, 2017), while the nonmetro Hispanics are the thirds with staggering 25.9 percent. Compared to the white counterpart, the minority groups have lower income and therefore unable to withstand the high cost of hiring good attorneys to represent them. Therefore, most of their cases are lost because of quality of legal representation. The composition of the judicial bench also demonstrates the tilted course of justice for the minority, “the American Bar Association found that minority judges made up only 10.1% of those presiding over state supreme courts, intermediate appellate courts and trial courts of general jurisdiction” (Tapia & Harris, 2006)
The type of legal representation also plays a fundamental in the administration of justice to the people of color and the poor, “in some situations, African-American youth with a public defender acted as an aggravating factor in decision-making, while in other circumstances, African-American youth who retained private counsel resulted in more severe treatment” (Jennifer Peck, 2016). Therefore, the nature of legal of representation accorded to the people of color does greatly influence the course of justice. Generally, cases against the people of color and the people in the society are basically determined based who the judge is, the complainant and the racial inclination of the criminal justice system. The nature of the attorney whether private or state, influences the course of justice in varied manner.
Representation in the court of law depends on the trust vested in the attorney representing them. As an American of the black race and in the socially perceived poor class, I would prefer a private attorney to state counsel; this is because it is easy to vest to trust a private counsel. The latitude to select from a wide range of private counsels allows one to select one that best understands the racial aspect of the criminal justice system and challenge them.
References
Bright, S. (2002). Race, Poverty, the Death Penalty, and the Responsibility of the Legal Profession. Seattle Journal for Social Justice, 1 (1), 72-82. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
McNamara, R. H., & Burns, R. G. (2009). Multiculturalism in the criminal justice system . Boston, Mass.: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Poverty Demographics. (2017, October 25). Retrieved March 02, 2018, from https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/rural-economy-population/rural-poverty-well-being/poverty-demographics.aspx
Peck, J. H. (2016). Contemporary issues of race/ethnicity, offending behavior, and justice responses. Journal of Crime and Justice, 39 (1), 1-8. doi:10.1080/0735648x.2015.1136381
Tapia, M., and Harris, P.M. 2006. “Race and Revocation: Is There a Penalty for Young, Minority Maler?” journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice System 4(3): 1-25
