Criminal Justice Systems Issue of Unethical Behaviors - Paper Example

In our contemporary society, stories about crimes being committed within our criminal and justice system are prevalent. Police officers have a bad reputation of involving themselves in racial profiling and incessantly targeting individuals who belong to racial and ethnic minority groups in case a crime happens. Unethical behaviors are prevalent in the criminal justice system. Criminal justice system professionals should be ones who hold high levels of moral standards based on the fact that they are entrusted by the public to maintain and ensure law and order in society. Policing standards in America are wanting. Accountability in the criminal justice system should be improved. Ethical training should be integrated into conventional police training practices. There should be an introduction of highly trained and specialized police units which are highly trained and professional in their conduct. Police officers who engage in unethical behaviors should continue to be sanctioned. There are many cases where individuals who work in the criminal justice system have committed crimes and gotten away with them. They have become above the law. The question is who is protecting us? Are these officers so above the law in our country? In other countries, do- individuals who work in the criminal justice system commit crimes and get away with the crime? There is a 2010 case where a 15-year old boy by the name of Sergio Hernandez was shot by a US Border Patrol agent known as Jesus Mesa Jr. while on Mexican soil. Mexico charged Mesa with murder, but the United States has not extradited Mesa to Mexico because the US government believes Mesa is not guilty. The United States government has on many occasions stated that Mesa was doing his job when the boy was killed and he is, therefore, not responsible for any charges leveled against him. A lot of evidence has been provided in the case involving Mesa, but the United States government has remained adamant, stating that Mesa is not guilty. Video evidence and witnesses testimonies have been provided in the case, but this has not been enough to convince the United States government that Mesa is supposed to be extradited to Mexico. I believe that the evidence speaks volumes. In the past, there have been cases similar to the one involving Mesa. Crimes such as the ones involving Mesa should no longer be overlooked. I believe that Jesus Mesa Jr. should be extradited to Mexico and tried in Mexicos court system since the boy was killed within Mexicos jurisdiction.

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There are many stories along the United States border about human smuggling and drug trafficking that involve individuals who belong to the United States criminal justice system. The stories are prevalent despite the fact that law enforcement authorities in the United States are entrusted with a responsibility of protecting the United States soil. I do agree that the United States border control should be alert but the day Hernandez was shot, he was 60 feet in Mexican territory. A Los Angeles Times article written by David G. Savage about the Hernandez incident disclosed Hernandezs parent's statement about the incident. Hernandez and three friends were playing a game in which they dared each other to run up the culverts northern incline, touch the U.S. fence and then scamper back down to the bottom. (Savage 2) They went on exclaiming that the children chose a spot in clear view near a busy border crossing. When Mesa arrived, the boys started to run away, thats was when Mesa drew his weapon and shot the teenager in clear sight with hundreds of people watching. Savage reports the FBI released a statement stating Mesa had acted in self-defense after the children began to throw rocks. But cell phone videos of the incident showed the boys were not throwing rocks (Savage 3). Robert Barnes from the Washington Post reveals that as Mesa arrived, he grabbed a young boy before firing a shot. Mesa went ahead and started shooting at what appeared to him trying to break up what looked like an attempt to enter the United States (Barnes 3). Soon after the statement, Mesa began to state many reasons as to what happened. The many reasons have left Mesas statement to be considered incredible and unreliable by neutral analysts of the incident.

The criminal justice department went ahead to investigate thoroughly Mesas case. About 25 law enforcement officers were interviewed in the course of the investigations. The law enforcement officers who were interviewed were present the day that Mesa shot at the Mexican teenager. The video footage that was presented to the criminal justice system with regard to Mesas case was analyzed several times. On the United States government website, office of public affairs, civil rights division reported that evidence was provided from the scene of the shooting, civilian and surveillance videos, law enforcement radio traffic, 911 recordings and other sources of evidence. However, it was concluded that the evidence that provided in the court was insufficient. Given that it was concluded that the evidence that was provided was insufficient, the case was closed on American soil (Justice 1). On YouTube, one can clearly see that the young boys, Hernandez included were not a threat to the United States security. CNNs journalist, Arianne Vogue did state that Mexico filed her case against the US Customs and Border Protection citing the deadly use of force involving fire arms, 243 times from October 2010 to August 206, with nearly all of them happening near the US border (Vogue 3). After reading many articles about United States border patrol officers, I have come to a conclusion that the patrol officers use weapons in a haphazard and carefree manner. I do not understand how kids running away from law enforcement officers could pose a security threat to the officers. I do not understand how running away from police officers could be interpreted as being tantamount to aggression. I sincerely believe that aggression, in this case, emanated from Mesa, the border patrol officer. Too many cases do not appear to meet the test of objective reasonableness with regard to use deadly force stated Andy Liptak, a reporter from The New York Times. This story has reminded people of many cases where law enforcement officers have unfairly meted violence and sometimes killed harmless and innocent civilians.

In 1990, there was a case that involved the United States government v. Verdugo-Urquidez. In the case, it was ruled that the United States Constitution does not protect noncitizens. There is a case similar to the Hernandez case, known as the Lonnie Swartz case. In the Lonnie Swartz case, a 16-year-old boy was shot by a border patrol man known as Lonnie Swartz. Swartz was convicted of murder but pleaded not guilty. In 2008, a case involving Boumediene v. Bush, the complainant went to court on a functional approach to border issues and was determined that the totality of their circumstances and not just the location of Border Patrol officers must be considered. In Hernandez case, I dont think the United States court system was concerned about what happened. I think the court system was only concerned about protecting a United States citizen. I think the court system also wanted to ensure that blood is not put in the hands of a United States citizen. Either way, I feel that injustice prevailed in the Hernandez case and other cases involving the killing of innocent civilians by the United States border patrol officers. I am certain that had the cases involved United States citizens as victims and Mexican border patrol members as perpetrators of the killings, the blame would have been put on Mexican officers.

After six years, the Hernandez case is still open. In 2016 the Hernandez family finally got a green light to sue Mesa for the incident. By letting similar incidents to slide away, law enforcement officers are likely to continue being arrogant and inconsiderate in their activities. Letting similar incidents slide away, gives law enforcement officers the audacity to commit crimes with impunity. Allowing similar incidents to slide away gives people in power more arrogance to continue perpetrating the crimes. The Criminal justice system should rise to the occasion and stop being partial in cases involving United States border patrol officers killing of innocent citizens of neighboring countries. The Criminal justice system is supposed to stand firm against injustice instead of condoning acts of injustice. When will people who continue to die and suffer in the hands of rogue law enforcement officers receive justice? I firmly believe that every person who commits a crime should be held accountable for the crime. The court system should not be lenient to the United States law enforcement officers in cases where there is enough evidence that suggest that they are guilty of a crime. Justice should never be partial. Justice should apply equally regardless of a persons race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, and creed. It is astonishing that Mesa got away with a crime yet there was substantial evidence and witness that the United States court system could have used to ensure that justice prevails. I am still puzzled how Mesa got away with the crime. Hernandez case is that of justice un-served!

In conclusion, I believe that the criminal justice system should undergo reforms that would ensure that the issue of unethical behaviors in the system is addressed. Jury skewing and corruption are major unethical behaviors that the court system has been grappling with for a long time. Anti-corruption policy in the court system should be buttressed to ensure that it becomes effective in addressing cases of corruption in the court system. Whistle-blowing practice should be encouraged within the criminal justice system as a way of addressing unethical behaviors that are prevalent in the system. There is a need for correctional ethics in the correctional department to ensure that ethical standards are adhered to. There is a need for correctional officers who use excessive force to be reprimanded and fined. There is a need for changes within the correctional system to ensure that cases of physical brutality that is meted on prisoners by correctional officers are addressed. Measures should be put in place to thwart inappropriate relationships that exist between prisoners and correctional officers. Measures should be put in place to address the issue of contraband items that is prevalent in the correctional department.

Works Cited

Barnes, Robert. Supreme Court considers case of a shot fired in US that killed a teenager in Mexico. The Washington Post. 2016. Retrieved on May 25, 2017, from https://www.abqjournal.com/953023/supreme-court-considers-case-of-a-shot-fired-in-us-that-killed-a-teenager-in-mexico.htmlDepartment of Justice. Hernandez v. Mesa. 2017. Retrieved on May 25, 2017, from https://www.justice.gov/osg/brief/hernandez-v-mesa-0Litpak, Adam. An Agent Shot a Boy Across the U.S. Border. Can His Parents Sue? New York Times. 2016. Retrieved on May 25, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/18/us/politics/an-agent-shot-a-boy-across-the-us-border-can-his-parents-sue.html?_r=0Savage, David. Does the Constitution protect someone on the Mexican side of the border? Los Angeles Times. 2017. Retrieved on May 25, 2017, from http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-supreme-court-border-shooting-20170221-story.html