Introduction
Congressman Barney Frank is widely known for his famous book known as Speaking Frankly, wrote that whenever anything has become obvious and has a considerable impact on people’s lives, and those who are trying to make people believe in it do not allow for the debate of those who are willing to talk about. In another book that has tried to address the same issues is called the Race, Crime, and the Law that was written by one Randall Kennedy. Randall Kennedy has indeed tried to prove Frank’s argument, by trying to redirect the debate about racism in criminal law just by merely talking about it (Gabbidon & Greene,2012).
This paper explores concise critical review of a book known as Race, Crime, and the Law and also putting into considerations of its social and political context.
Race, Crime, and the Law
The most important of race relations in the United States of America towards the end of the 20th century is the complexity of the issue according to the view of Professor Kennedy Randal. As a matter of facts he was able to prove his point by taking into account of discrimination by both the prosecutors and judges towards the minority defendants, and also by police and those politicians who were able to neglect the safety of minority neighborhoods. However, Professor Kennedy has pointed out that inadequately substantiated allegations of racism will lead to quite elicit stubborn defensiveness from the officials who have accepted fro having been mistaken, but cannot is unable to abide the charge that the racial biasness determined their conduct (Lynch, 2002). Professor Kennedy has consistently insisted that people should be looking beyond the looks; in any event that race becomes an issue within the criminal justice system. He further points out that in the event that racism becomes an issue, this would lead to a conclusion that would contradict the presumption that is shared by majority on the left and he further points out that racism would always be at the root of differential outcomes. Therefore, Professor Kennedy has found a quite disturbing residuum of bigotry that was declared in the approval by the Supreme Court on most of the race based criminal activities (Lynch, 2002).
Indeed it is undoubted fact that currently, racial issues have presented one of the biggest obstacles for the fairness of the criminal justice system. In this book, the Professor of Harvard Law school professor Kennedy who happens to be an African American, has applied his precise command of the relevant legal language as well as legal background to clearly explain and evaluate for a common reader on the various current ideas concerning how race is and therefore should be involved committing criminal justice. He has based his arguments on one principle; that both of liberals and conservatives have got a common ground on both race and law than it would appear at first. He has also pointed out that African Americans have suffered more as a result of being under protected by the law enforcement than from being mistreated as suspects or better still as defendants. Although most of the allegations have been as a result of blacks being treated as being suspects is where the attention has been focused on by those who view the courts through the racial lenses. According to Kennedy (1998), Professor Kennedy has been able to successfully balance the historical analysis of the state of race relations when administering criminal justice. He vehemently agued that many characteristics of the justice system, like jury selection, capital sentencing, police surveillance, perpetuation of racial discrimination of African Americans have been pointed towards these people. for this kind of discrimination to be eliminated, judges, lawyers, and the police are required to deal honestly with the America’s racism history. To illustrate this point, Kennedy was able to unearth piles of evidences that points towards the America’s past brutal activities that was meted on Africans, focusing on the slave codes, rape, and lynching as away for enforcement of a rigid racial hierarchy (Walker, Spohn & DeLone,2012).
Criticism of the Race, Crime and the Law Book
Although the book has been able to provide some insightful information about the racial injustices that have occurred on the America’s judicial process, most pundits have basically as a historical book and for that matter it has served well its purpose. As a matter of facts, Walker, Spohn & DeLone (2012) has pointed out that this book is merely based on the historical cases of racial system based on the judicial system in the United States rather than the purported prescription for the social ills that had been meted on the African Americans. This book is basically partly history and is partly containing contemporary analysis. The professor has tried to shed more light on the America’s deplorable history of racism in the corridors of courts. There so many social issues that the book tried to address but most of them were tilted towards defending the evils that were being meted on the white people by the blacks that were living in the United States. Although it is true that cruel capital punishment has always been carried out on the African Americans, some of them were indeed cruel. It is important to remember that Professor Kennedy was criticized by mostly legal scholars. This is because according to them the professor never cared about other social issues that had affected them. For instance, instance the professor was criticized for having not been as conservative blacks like Clarence Thomas. However, most importantly to note is that there is a reason this book by Professor Kennedy has been mostly referred to by most of the law professors. This Harvard law professor Kennedy was able to bring quite a terrific power to his very original work concerning how he has been able to articulate issues that regards ethnicity, race as well criminal justice system in the country. His writing has been criticized for having been based on his personal principles rather than the real issues that are affecting the black people (Walker, Spohn & DeLone,2012).
Conclusion
Basically, the book fairly addressed the issues that African Americans used to go through in the hands of America’s judicial system. However, there are some scholars that have critique the book for having been based on the historical facts and failed to touch on the current issues that are taking place in the America’s judicial system. This book is basically partly history and is partly containing contemporary analysis. The professor has tried to shed more light on the America’s deplorable history of racism in the corridors of courts.
References
Gabbidon, S. L., & Greene, H. T. (2012). Race and crime. Sage Publications.
Kennedy, R. (1998). Race, crime, and the law. Vintage.
Lynch, M. (2002). The culture of control: Crime and social order in contemporary society. PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review, 25(2), 109-112.
Phillips, C., & Bowling, B. (2012). Ethnicities, racism, crime and criminal justice (pp. 370-97). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Walker, S., Spohn, C., & DeLone, M. (2012). The color of justice: Race, ethnicity, and crime in America. Cengage Learning.