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Intro Ethics W6 Discuss 1
What surprised me most about the talk was the discovery that the United States is the only country with such the strict justice system verdicts against children. I was surprised to discover that13-year-old children are also subject to sentences with life without patrol, despite being juveniles. In addition, regarding the issue of death row, although I knew about it, I did not know about the significant risk of executing innocent people, whereby there is a chance of executing one innocent person out of nine. However, the country has not been so responsive to such discussions.
One of the changes Stevenson discusses that would help confront injustice is the process of speakingup against racial injustices in the criminal justice system. He posits that it is essential for Americans to be vocal and openly talk about the issue of race, which individuals rarely speak about. This is because minorities are the most affected by the injustices in the criminal justice system. According to him, people do not like to talk about history despite prevalent issues such as racial subordination and terrorism in the country’s history.
The media and social media attention have significantly changed policing and race since 2012 when the talk was aired. Today, the uproar in the media and social media now creates significant attention around these issues and highlights the discrepancies, thus calling for more policy restructuring. One prevalent issue of policing and race that could evidence this claim is when a white policeman unjustly killed George Floyd and was captured on camera. This occurrence was aired worldwide and created attention as social media movements spoke up against the issue. Eventually, justice was served when the responsible policeman faced trial for his crime. Now, through social media and the overall media, the public is not afraid to speak up against racial injustices in the policing system.
Issues of race, poverty, and injustice are personal to me, and I am forced to think about them daily because they directly affect me and those around me. As a person from a minority group, these issues are personal, and I often think of when they will end and there will be more equality; even though I have not had a personal experience with them, I have friends who have been judged wrongly for being black in a store and accused of stealing because of their color. Issueslike this inspire me to pursueequality even more.
