Paper assignment

Introduction

The American history is full of racial discrimination against the black people through the 18th and 19th centuries and pass of Civil Right Bill in the1960s, The article, “A presumption of Guilt” by Bryan Stevenson, highlights the disheartening picture of the American society and its criminal justice system. The central claim of this article is that the American police and justice given authorities presume the black young people as criminals. The black people in the USA are considered guilty and dangerous. To prove this thesis, the author describes his own personal experiences as well as many other factual pieces of evidence. Comment by HP: These two sentences weaken your argument. Comment by HP: “other factual pieces of evidence” is too vague. Find a theme that is more specific.

Discussion

The Civil War gave rise to the black majority in the country but the sovereignty of white people remains deeply implemented in the system. In this way, the role of the criminal justice department is very crucial. Theoretically, new policies are made to protect or deal with the black people;However, in practice, it’s the other way around.. We see that the justice department has invented new policies and crimes to arrest the black young people. Stevenson reports that “State legislatures passed the Black Codes, which created new criminal offenses such as “vagrancy” and “loitering” and led to the mass arrest of black people.” (p.1, para, 6). Comment by HP: ?? What is your evidence there was a black majority? Comment by HP: You need a topic sentence here connecting your thesis and first example of his own story. Comment by HP: Evidence? Stick to the article and provide evidence from the article. Comment by HP: This doesn’t connect the examples you mentioned in your intro.

The treatment of black prisoners resembles the history of slavery in America. In this context, the author shares a report in which in 1887, black prisoners were leased to a man named McDonald, 204 offenders were given to him. Among these offenders, “twenty were dead, nineteen had escaped, and twenty-three had been returned to the penitentiary disabled, ill, and near death (p.2, para. 8). This example shows that black people are victims of racial discrimination in the country. The brutal way they are treated is challenged by different channels, but no one finds any effect which reduced the enforcement of such laws. In some cases, the black people are subject to many offenses which cannot exist for white people. Thus, the evidence aptly supports the writer’s claim. Comment by HP: How does it show racial discrimination? You need to explain more clearly.

Actually, we find that race is a tool to treat a certain population in a specific way. It is not wrong to say that African-Americans are subject to brutal murders and unfair trials. There are many existing examples which indicate this fact. The mass killing of the black people during the start of the 19th century had no substantial reason. Here, the example of the case in which a woman was raped in North Carolina and naturally, a black man is the first suspect. Thus, the black man was lynched by the mob without proper examination. So, this proves that race was served as evidence to consider ones as a convict (para. 11).  Comment by HP: Topic sentence needs to connect to your thesis and example.

Lynching was a standard tool to victimize the black people in order to keep them “in line”. The author shares his research in which he finds out that “more than four thousand racial terror lynchings between 1877 and 1950 in those twelve states, eight hundred more than had been previously reported” (p.3, para, 14). We see that racial terror lynching was used as a weapon against the black people, specifically. The hidden purpose is to maintain the white authority and supremacy. These practices raise a question mark to the criminal justice system in the country. These lynchings were viewed as a celebrating event which ensures the white supremacy in the country. Comment by HP: Good topic sentence. You need to include lynching as an example in your introduction.

With the reduction in lynchings, the rate of capital punishment increases among the black people. The black community gain more capital punishment as compared to the white people. Thus, the imbalance and injustice in the department of criminal justice in the country shines once again. The author proves his point of view with the help of factual evidence. He asserts that the back people comprises 13 percent of the total population. Among these, 42 percent are on death row, and 34 percent are executed since 1976. Again, in courts, the color of skin is the determiner of crime committed or not committed by people (para, 29). 

Conclusion

The primary concern of the author is to highlight the reasons and events of discrimination in the country under the framework of the justice system of the country. The title of the article fittingly pinpoints the phenomenon. In the USA, racial discrimination prevails, but its form alters according to changes in society; However, it is concluded that the black people should be provided equal rights and protections as the white people have (Stevenson, 2017).

Reference Stevenson, B. (2017, 07 17). A Presumption of Guilt. The New York Reviews of Books.