Judicial Bias Between White and Blue Collar Punishment Essays

There are many ways punishment is differentiated between the rich and poor, pointing out that white collar crimes including theft involving millions of dollars often get far lighter sentences than blue collar crimes. Economically disadvantaged people are punished worse for their crimes than the wealthier members of society. Criminals often receive preferential treatment and lighter sentences than blue collar criminals. There are many reasons this happens mainly due to their influence and high paying job positions, those accused as white-collar offenders are able to afford the fees of the best lawyers, and may have friends among senior ranks of the political elite, the judiciary, and the law enforcement agencies. These connections also enable laws to be drafted or resource allocations to be shifted to ensure that such crimes are not defined or enforced too strictly. The reasoning is due to the fact that blue collar jobs are usually have physical force involved where white-collar crime will tend to be more manipulation of accountancy or inventory records. However a crime whether committed by white or blue collar individuals still have damaging effects on society and should both contain equal punishment even if the court-determined punishment is less than that for violent crime. There are many steps that our judicial system could take to make equitable punishments between white and blue collar crimes. I believe all crimes need to be judged individually and equally, whether white collar or any other type of crime. Criminal judgments being based on the extent of the crime would be equality. Therefore I think in order to make the crimes equitable the punishment should pertain to the acts involved and their effects. Both discrimination and disparity exists within our criminal justice system. To determine whether the decision is a form of discrimination or a disparity the decision must be based on a person's age, race, gender, ethnicity, or lifestyle. Forms of discrimi nation are found in discretions or use of force shown toward an individual whereas disparities are most commonly seen during sentencing pertaining. However, to determine which element affected the decision the professional must look at the intent of the person making the decision in the criminal justice system. As a society influenced by many factors that impact the criminal justice system the idea of justice is an almost impossible goal. Disparity in the justice system prevails because of social disparity. Social disparity refers to a situation in which individual groups in a society do not have equal social status. The article I researched, pertaining to criminal disparity, deals with an age discrimination problem in our local police. Twenty-nine police officers have filed a lawsuit against Chattanooga, its mayor and police chief alleging age discrimination, due process violations and breach of The lawsuit states that officers with the rank of sergeant and above were not provided with a training and raise program similar to what new officers could use. In 2009, Fraternal Order of Police representative Danny Hill wrote the city that the promotion and pay system was creating pay disparities between subordinates and supervisors and if "left unattended this disparity will only grow worse. ?Hoss wrote that his clients have tried to avoid a lawsuit but they've gotten little response." They simply want a pay plan that is fair and that reflects the chain of command, time in rank and service, and merit," Hoss wrote. "But the mayor's office is the proverbial ostrich with its head in the sand." Eighteen of the officers are over the age of 40 and claim age discrimination as part of their complaint to the court. Many, but not all, of the lower-ranking officers who received pay and promotions above their supervisors are younger than 40, the suit states. Their main complaint centers on a promotion program that has allowed new police officers training and raises that, in many instances, paid lower-ranking police more than their supervisors. The article deals with inequality due to age discrimination in that it refers to a situation in which individual groups in a society do not have an equal. Age discrimination refers to the actions taken to deny or limit opportunities to people on the basis of age. These are usually actions taken as a result of one?s