Justice & Law: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 (2:30-3:30)

Our group met with a public defender to discuss the statistics dealing with prison, crime, and race. Joshua, the defendant, informed us with some alarming facts such as that crime has actually decreased these past thirty years in spite of the nation's 8X increase of media coverage on crime. Race became an interesting topic, apparently many more non-caucasian individuals are accused, pulled over, etc, than Caucasians simply because of their race. In saying that, the Caucasians pulled over are more likely to have actually committed a crime. The next question was then, of course, what causes this inequality? The education, poverty, unemployment, and even racial issues in this country has for formed what the prisons look like in today's society.