To begin with my parents come from Mexico and my dad came to the United States for a better future for himself. He then met my mother here who also comes from Mexico and they built a future together towards success. Both of parents didn't even make it to high school because of economic issues. They both had to leave school at a young age in order to start working and bring money home in order to have food on the table. Since both of my parents had a lot of siblings it was hard and they lived in poor conditions. I just want to achieve what my parents couldn't and get a better education. Ever since I was younger I always had a goal to become something in life and earn a degree. Criminal justice has always been a passion of mine. I have always been attached to this field even as a kid and my mind hasn't changed since. My main goal is to just show my parents that the sacrifices they did of leaving their family and everything behind was worth it. I want a better future for myself and furthering my education will get me there. Making my parents proud is definetly the biggest goal for me. I’m still not quite sure what I want to do in the field of criminal justice but I am sure this if the field I want to be in. My mind has been lately on becoming a police officer and seeing where that takes me. As well becoming a parole officer also catches my attention or even being a social worker. Im still kind of confused on what to do I just hope that with time I can make up my mind. As for my personal history I can’t complain. My parents are very hard working and have always tried to give us the best. I like to say I have had it pretty easy compared to others which makes me want to work twice as hard to make my parents proud. My parent’s history has made me want to help others in need. I want to be able to feel like I am making a difference in the world as well as make one. I want to be able to be there for others and feel like I am making a difference in society just by helping at least one person. Learning about my parent’s history at a young age I think is what caught my attention to lean more towards criminal justice. I just feel like this field I can really help others.

 

            I think what Stevenson is trying to do is clarify the meaning of poverty and justice. Poverty is not just the simple absence of wealth but is the social condition of being disfavored. Poverty is communities that lack access to proper education, safe homes, decent jobs and reasonable healthcare. People that live in poverty have enormous consequences for their opportunities in life. I think with this quote is assuming that the opposite of poverty is not wealth its justice. Justice is not just a fair hearing in court but to ensure that all citizens have good opportunities, it's a social commitment to equality. Justice is the opposite of poverty because widespread poverty can only happen in the absence of justice. When we permit for every citizen to not have equal opportunity as everyone else that is what becomes injustice. I think through the whole book it shows many people who have been either falsely convicted or harshly sentenced. 1think with the central story is the case of Walter McMillian which is a black man that was wrongfully accused of murder and sentenced to death in Alabama. Stevenson himself was born to a poor black family witnessed a lot of racial and economic inequality in his community. I have never personally been affected by this however I do know a friend who has story that would support this assertion. She comes from a family that wasn't doing to good economically and her dad was accused of sexual assault from one her cousins that didn't like her family to begin with. She had told me the whole background story and there was clearly no evidence towards his case it was just her word against his. He then was in jail for a while I can’t remember how long and later on went on probation. He had another awaiting trial and I honestly don't know what happened after that. This story just really shocked because her family couldn't afford the legal help they needed and their lives were ruined. Her dad lost his job and couldn't live with his family anymore since my friend had younger siblings and he was registered as a sex offender. I agree with this quote 100 percent. I think especially now in our society we see it a lot and it’s not just poverty but it’s if you are a certain race, age or sex. 

 

            Throughout the book it shows many injustices. To me it is obvious that Walter McMillian case really stand out as injustice however there are a number of other stories that show it as well. The story of Herbert Richardson and his execution raised some question about the conception of justice and the respect to the death penalty. Richardson was a Vietnam veteran that had psychological damage from war that resulted in him making reckless decision. Like putting a small explosive outside the front porch of his would be girlfriend. In the story Richardson’s plan was to save her from the explosion in order to win her affection but that didn't go as planned. The “girlfriends” niece found the explosion and shook it causing it to kill her instantly. Richardson then received the death penalty after a trial even though he had no intent to kill anyone. Richardson was neglected to offer mitigating evidence and the courts refused to consider him assistance of counsel claims raised by Stevenson which was his new lawyer. With this story it clearly shows what the death penalty really looks like in and puts doubts if in any death sentence cases there is any justice? There are also other little things that show injustice in this book like the time that Stevenson was the victim himself. He was listening to the radio in his car on the way home from work and parked his car outside of his apartment and continued to listen. The police then pulled behind him and ordered him to get out the car and pointed a gun at his head. They illegally searched his car while interrogating him and ignoring his explanation that he lived in those apartments next to his car. The examples of injustice that Stevenson shows in just mercy just reflects how deep the problems in the criminal justice system really are and how extend they are. I think that Stevenson’s story show that injustices happen because they are a product of deeper cultural norms. Race plays a significant role in these cultural norms and minorities are perceived as more dangerous individuals. Certain types of people often racial minorities and the poor receive the criminal stigmatization before they ever commit a crime. By labeling people with criminal identity practically from birth, communities marginalize such people. I think that society just has people labeled as “good” or “bad” and based on what group a person belongs to determines if they will get justice or not. 

 

To begin with Utilitarianism means the goal to maximize benefit to society or utility of happiness. Meaning a punishment that benefits the best for society. As to just deserts is the punishment or reward the recipient deserves no less no more. Meaning a punishment that is enough depending on the crime. Retribution is punishment that fits the crime no less of no more. Which is sort of has the same concept as to just deserts. The wrongdoer should get what he/she deserves. I think when it comes to sex offenders it’s kind of hard what punishment paradigms would apply since each situation is different. Obviously every situation is different so according to the crime then that paradigms would be applied. For example, when it comes to urinating in a public place vs raping a child have different consequences. All in all, I definetly think that retribution is the best fit when it comes to sex offenders. The criminal should be punished with what best fits the crime and what they deserve. Retribution prevents crime by giving victims or society a feeling of avengement. I think with retribution the whole idea is that is someone is punished for a past bad act then he or she is less likely to commit the same offense again in the future which creates deterrence. Examples of retribution punishments would be like the severe fines or long period of incarceration all depending on the crime they did to become sex offenders. For example, in my opinion I don't believe that a person urinating in public should lead them to being registered as a sex offender because I don't think it fits the crime. Being registered as a sex offender can really effect someone’s life and future. I think the ideal punishment would simply be some sort of fine since the crime is not that serious. Utilitarianism wouldn't be a proper fit I think because society can choose a punishment that doesn't fit the crime and wouldn't be the right choice. Utilitarianism would be towards more the benefit of the society than anything else and most of the time the punishment society chooses isn’t the one they should be getting.  

 

Fully understand why certain crimes are not solved is hard in my opinion because we are not in police officer’s shoes. As for being the victim or part of the victim families it is difficult to know that their loved one’s cases was not solved. I do think however that sometimes our criminal justice system really can't solve certain crimes and that some crimes really are perfect crime however I do think that there should be more of an effort and maybe some type of consequence if an agency can’t solve a crime. However, if it just one crime that an agency can’t solve but they usually do solve most cases I don’t think they should be penalized. I do think an agency should be penalized if it becomes a pattern of unsolved crimes. The U.S law enforcement is the worst in the Western world at solving crimes. Only one- eighth of burglaries lead to an arrest and rapes its only one- third and for murder two-thirds. A way we can improve these clearance rates may be by having investigations be more intensive, move faster and be more organized. In a crimes aftermath the first 48 to 72 hours are critical so a way to improve may be by having more detectives available to work the long and odd hours until all leads are exhausted. Also have more forensic work and data analysis to have as much as evidence as possible. The DNA testing pause can sometimes kill and investigation especially if it comes back negative and the real suspect will then be long gone. Overall I think leadership is really important in order to improve clearance rates. Police play a central role in helping societies produce justice by holding offenders accountable for their crimes. The performance of police is typically measures by clearance rates which I understand why because it shows that they are doing their job by having at least one person arrested for an offense, charges and turned over to the court for prosecution. I think it’s kind of hard to force police to do better when in reality most of them are doing the best they can. Overall to help police do better I think as a society we can help. By applying certain laws and policies will help with clearance rates for police since crime will be reduced. For example, having more community policing and watching over delinquent juveniles as well raising the age or grade for dropping out of school and having behavioral intervention programs. 

1. Was “justice” finally served to Walter? Why or why not? What obstacles does he face now? Does his case represent the best or the worst of our criminal justice system? Explain why.

 

Although Walter conviction and death penalty sentence was declared invalid in my opinion I don’t think he was served justice. This did not officially declare him innocent. It’s really sad to know that Walter spent six years behind bars for committing a crime he had not done and that to me is not justice. They wasted six years of his life that he can never get back. I think after everything that happened Walter definetly faced many obstacles to fit back into society. In the book Stevenson mentioned how he believed that the media plays an important role into why Walter isn’t getting the support he needs because prejudicial media coverage would make a fair trial nearly impossible. The local press in Monroe County and Mobile would perceive Walter as a murderer, drug dealer, sexual predator and just the worst things possible in order to make its audience believe that he deserves to be executed for his crimes. So even though Walter was released, society still made it difficult for him. I think labeling someone like that makes it hard on them to become acting members of society. Im sure Walter had to struggle with getting a job again, finding a place to live and so much more. In my opinion this case represents the best and the worst of our criminal justice. This case showed that Walter was able to be released and not sentenced to the death penalty. However, it also shows how long the process is and how there is so many innocent people sentenced in our criminal justice system that are just wasting their lives away. I think there is no way to tell how many of the people executed in our history were innocent. Defense attorneys move on to other cases when client’s lives can be saved, if the client is dead then there is nothing to do about and no justice is served. It’s sad to know that this is true in our criminal justice system and that luckily in Walter case he was released but there are many cases in which the person is blamed for the crime being innocent.

 

After searching up the clearance rates for LVMPD I was kind of surprised. I am looking at the most recent year which would be 2013 and for violent crime the clearance rates are at 37%. As for murder and manslaughter it is at 78%, robbery is at 27%, aggravated assault is at 45%, property crime at 16%, burglary at 7%, larceny theft at 24%, motor vehicle theft at 6% and arson at 27%. I am pretty surprised because most of the numbers are lows besides murder which is the good thing since it is the most serious crime. I think it all depends on the crime the less serious they are they have a lower clearance rate which makes sense. However, what I was the most surprised with is that property crime is the crime that is most committed and it has one of the lowest clearance rates. In 2013 there is 48,225 crimes committed and only 7,799 of those crime was cleared with the rate of 17%. The reason for this I believe is because the slightest things can become property crime. For example, taking money of a property in many ways. Most of the time the owners of the property aren’t there and there is no evidence or no lead as to who committed the crime. As well many homes of property don't have cameras as well so I believe that's why the clearance rates are so low because it’s hard to identify who did it since there is no evidence. Another category that surprised me was the violent crime. Between both 2012 and 2013 there was a difference in the number of crimes committed. For 2012 there was 11,525 and 4,291 were cleared with a 37% clearance rate. As for in 2013 there were 11,295 and 4,200 were cleared with the same of 37% of clearance rate. In my opinion the difference between both numbers wasn't that high however there are 300 more crimes being committed in 2013 and the clearance rate stayed the same. However, I then compared LVMPD to Los Angeles, California and their violent crimes is way higher. For example, in 2013 they had 16,447 crimes and 5,663 were cleared with the clearance rate of 34%. Due that LVMP doesn't have that big of a number for violent crime and yet our clearance rate is higher shows that our department isn’t doing that bad compared to others.