The Rodney King Trial

Three Trails of Officers Acquitted in the fatal shooting of African Americans Shootings of African Americans by police in the USA is inflating. Officers involved in shootings are being discharged from trials. While people who advocate officers seem to be convinced with guiltless conclusions, victims’ families and others who defend them, call the trails as “implicit bias” against minorities. The three trails of the officers Jeronimo Yanez, Ray Tensing and Dominique Heaggan- Brown support such situation. Officer Ray Tensing’s trial ended in a mistrial and other two were found not guilty.

Four officers were charged with assault with a deadly weapon and use of excessive force. Three were acquitted of all charges. The fourth of assault with

Being an adolescent, who is in fact african american writing this essay, of course the first case which caught my attention was the 2012 Trayvon Martin case. Note, Trayvon was not killed by a member of law enforcement, rather, he was killed by a vigilante. But although Trayvon was not killed by a member of law enforcement this stirred up attention across america especially in the african american community concerning the law and members of its enforcement (judges, lawyers, police officers etc.) Following Trayvon’s death, deaths of other african americans by police officers started receiving national attention. Deaths of victims such as Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and others were being talked about nationwide following the death of Trayvon.

The Rodney King Riot happened in Los Angeles in the year of 1992. Rodney King was an African American male who was arrested on charges because of speeding, drunk driving, and refusing to stop his vehicle. Four police officers who have claimed to have witnessed King’s actions such as being high on drugs and was trying to attack them explains why they did what they did. A resident nearby by the name of George Holliday captured about 12 minutes of the attack on film. King was tasered, brutally beaten with side-handled batons, then forced to the ground to lie still which was where he was handcuffed.

When it comes to actions being made by African American judges in the courtroom, Wolfson article suggests that a judge’s emotions whether he is black or not do not have to affect their verdicts and sentencing. Wolfson provides research stating that the relationship between an African American judge’s race and decision making is not always plausible when it is based on his own merit. “We must stand against it in whatever form. As a judge, I do my work without regard to race. It is incumbent on me to confront and dispose of language based on racism and stereotypes."

Jurors should be individually screened, jurors should be educated about implicit bias, and juries should be more diverse. I think that all of these methods are important for improving bias within the courtroom, but this study’s findings and implementation suggestions might improve stop and frisk bias in New York, or employee discrimination

“King was caught by the Los Angeles police after a high-speed chase on March 3, 1991”. “King, who was intoxicated, had been caught speeding and initially tried to evade the police. When he finally pulled over and exited his car, multiple LAPD units and a helicopter were pursuing him. Taken by bystander George Holliday from across the street, the footage shows four officers tazing, kicking, and hitting King with their batons upwards of 53 times… the bruises, broken leg, and the scar from the stun gun, which jolted him with 50,000 bolt shocks… The officers involved, Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno and Stacey Koon, were put

Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno, and Stacey Koon were the four officers who beat up Rodney King on March 3(Biography). Although not all of the officers were being accused of the same crime they all still faced many difficulties. The officers received many death threats because of how they treated King. Many people believed the officers did not deserve freedom and threatened their lives. Most of the officers were being accused of assault with a deadly weapon which would result in years of prison if convicted (Biography).The jury for the Rodney King trial threatened democracy and the fairness of the trial.

Rodney king, born in Sacramento, California in 1965 and grew up to be known as a polite yet not very intelligent child and teenager. King was a high school dropout and a single father with a history of criminal activity. Rodney King was most famously known for his court battle against L.A.P.D. officers Stacey Koon, Laurence Powell, Ted Briseno, and Timothy Wind . On March 3, 1991 two crimes occurred involving King, one of which he was the offender and the other where he was the victim. On this Saturday night at 12:50 am Rodney king was driving his white Hyundai under the influence of alcohol along with his two fiends Freddie Helms and Bryant Allen.

Rodney King Riots Protest Movement Paper On April 29, 1992, A week of non stop urban violence and mayhem erupted in the streets and cities of Los Angeles, the riots were commenced by the unjust trial that let the four white police officers set free of any charges. All four officers were captured on videotape beating on a black motorist named, Rodney King after a traffic stop gone wild. The Rodney King riots impacted society greatly by presenting the nations people with an understanding of how racism was still present in america. A reminder that "justice for all" was still a long way off being set in stone and to followed by most people.

Do you think judges and juries are biased toward the white population? Three articles that cover this topic are “How the Judicial System Works” by Jacob Silverman, “A Defense of the Jury System” by Thomas M. Ross, and “Six Million Trayvons: How the George Zimmerman Mindset Has Rigged the Justice System Against Young Black Men” by Judd Legum. After reading all three articles, it is clear that America’s justice system is unfair, and juries are biased toward white people. The first reason why the jury is corrupt is because juries can be biased.

To Kill a Mockingbird Essay When controversy and conflicts sprout, many individuals go to courts to seek justice and to have a fair and just trial. Since this is the United States, a country known internationally for its equality and democracy, many individuals would think that the court system in the U.S. is the fairest and has the most sophisticated court system. However, for many individuals, this simply is not the case.

Coker gives great evidence that supports racial injustice in the criminal justice system. She discusses on the Supreme Court’s rulings and accusations of racial preference in the system. This article is helpful because it supports my thesis on race playing a role on the system of criminal justice. Hurwitz, J., & Peffley, M. (1997). Public perceptions of race and crime: The role of racial stereotypes.

The trial of the Scottsboro boys was a trial that was the cause of two white women accusing nine black men of raping them. Their appeals, retrials, and legal proceedings attracted the attention of the nation and produced to Supreme Court rulings in their favor. The Scottsboro boys trial demonstrates that nonconformity to unjust practices can lead to justice for all people because their trial triggered The Supreme Court ruling that had a major impact on the American system of laws for the right to adequate counsel, the ruling for the right to not be excluded from a jury based on race, and still has a continuing effect in our own time which affirms the principle of equal protection under the law. Their case not only saved them from the death sentence but also started up debate about equal protection under the law such as in the first Supreme Court ruling.

Introduction Jury nullification is defined as the occurrence whereby a juror purposefully acquits a defendant who it believes is guilty of the crime with which he or she is charged. In Paul Butler’s article, Racially Based Jury Nullification: Black Power in the Criminal Justice System, he describes the significance of race in a juror’s verdict. This paper will provide a brief summary of the article as well as an analysis. The analysis examines the plausibility of his claims, justifies why I do not agree with the author’s position, and raises critiques to his arguments. Summary Paul Butler is an African-American man who worked as a federal prosecutor for the District of Columbia in 1990, prosecuting those being tried for misdemeanor crimes.