Korene Dunn

Prof Ogbara
Letter for change
March 30th,2015
Justice for false conviction
False imprisonment is a chaotic problem for minorities,primarily for black men.many issues are
connected to this such as:institutionalized racism,stereotyping, and discrimination amongst
minorities.In society,false conviction demands a change due to black men serving false sentences
for twelve plus years or life and not being compensated enough money but most importantly the
years lost cannot be taken back.
False imprisonment is defined as unlawfully being held against your will without authority.The
change for false imprisonment can be conducted by the obvious;stopping racism.institutionalized
racism plays a crucial role to minorities by the disadvantages they encounter,for example
jobs,their environment,police,hospitals etc.Equality can end this problem,by doing so would take
minorities out of poverty,no more disadvantages to the American Dream(equal opportunity to
achieve success within the U.S. With hardwork,determination and motivation),college and so on.
Stereotypes lead to false imprisonment with majority of cases ending with minorities in
jail,police called or someone killed.example being,customer being held without notice based on
appearance while police are being called,in other words held against will without reasonable
cause
Institutionalized racism involves intentionally discrimination against particular races within any
system.The justice system being the main perpetrator for example;police stereotyping
minorities,pulling them over,false convictions and the worst case scenario being death (trayvon
Martin/eric Gardner).An old saying "you do the crime,you do the time",what happens when you
are falsely imprisoned and you did not do the crime?The justice system needs tremendous
improvement,it is estimated about ten thousand people each year are falsely convicted and
majority being minorities (Richard sanders,2).According to the huffington post; Among those
who are falsely convicted and paid,81 percent get less than $50,000 for each year they are falsely
imprisoned,a human beings life wasted is far more valuable than that.These victims would want
the years that were forcefully stolen from them including freedom as well. As slow as the Justice
system is,on average the victims get compensated for false conviction two too three years after
released.for example Johnny pinchback was accused of raping two women after being mistaken
in a police lineup,he spent 27 years in jail after obtaining help to appeal towards a DNA test and
was only compensated $2 million.
Justice for false imprisonment needs to be served,by simply ending institutionalized
racism.Innocent African American men's lives are revoked and wasted in jail for years that
cannot be made up for.African American men can't achieve anything if their life and freedom is

revoked from them being falsely convicted.With no aid from the Justice system,the longer the
victims stay in jail they begin to lose hope for resolution and after years of being secluded from
life how can they function in the real world again without guidance and knowledge.A lot of
victims went into jail young and during an era when racism was still overt,African Americans
had no chance due to discrimination and institutionalized racism leaving them at a disadvantage
towards the "American Dream" but also life in general...