Plessy V. Ferguson: Justification Of The Case

Justice is defined as the branch of human logic in charge of solving any of the dilemmas present in mankind’s social life, ranging from mere disputes to life-threatening eruptions of pure violence. On the other hand, this controversial topic of the judicial system’s fails or imbalances that can lead into an unfair verdict which harms the innocent, but leaves the guilty unharmed and roaming to commit once again their evil doings. The question must be asked onto both national and global societies: “On the whole, is there justice for all?” Recently, this subject has grown more prevalent and controversial after the unexplainable amount of true failures committed by the justice system around the globe. So, is there justice for all? The answer to this claim is no, there is no justice for all due to the uncertainty, unfairness, and inconsistency of the justice system worldwide.

Globally speaking, we can observe that there is an abundance of uncertainty inside the worldwide judicial system. Due to the many instances of uncertainty around history, the justice system has had cases sparked by mere allegations or even despicable motives; such as, racism which has been a very controversial subject especially in the history of the American continent. As mentioned in the phrase, “is he not a man? Can he not wield a sword, fire a weapon, march and countermarch, and obey orders like any other? -Frederick Douglass” (Siegel 2018) African Americans bounced through a sea of racial intolerance left behind by the old slaver customs of southern landlords. Racial intolerance developed into the inevitable segregation of such an immense part of the American population. Even though the bloody Civil War had ended, the greatest victims of this nightmare were not out of their rem state, being thrown into this new world without guaranteed basic rights and as mentioned in the phrase “Those who deny freedom to others do not deserve it on their own-Abraham Lincoln”(Siegel 2018) carrying around the scars of centuries worth suffering and abuses that had gone unpunished by their supposed liberators. Their burden extended from the nineteenth through the end of the twentieth century. Over and over, they were victims of the most unimaginable and despicable tortures, only for the authorities to look away thanks to absurd segregation laws that stripped the black minorities of both quality services and a peaceful life in a society filled with hatred towards the true victims. African American communities faced many uncertainties and tortures throughout history and still today are suffering from the impact of America’s dark past. They have not been given justice because racism is still a large problem throughout the country and they are still being treated as outcasts.

At the same time, with uncertainty present in the justice system, there also lies an abysmal abundance of unfairness in the worldwide law houses, caused by the alarming proliferation and lack of punishment of systematic corruption in the many levels of judicial power. The best example of unfairness, in fairly modern times, is the infamous Plessy V Ferguson judicial trial, where we can witness some of the most clear and vivid examples of such a despicable and Machiavellic act, summarized in the statement “The arbitrary separation of citizens on the basis of race while on public highways constitutes a badge of servitude which is wholly inconsistent with civil liberty and equality before the constitutional law …- John Marshall Harlan”(Gilmore 2008). Taking place in the year 1896 at the U.S. Supreme Court building, the justices were presented with the differing views of two men, separated not only by race and economy but also by means of a decade's long segregation of every single public building and enterprise in the nation (Gilmore 2008). A series of limitations given birth by Jim Crow himself haunted the lives of every African American in the nation, the social discontent with the situation was brought up by Homer A. Plessy, who as an African American himself, fell victim to the constant social mistreatments of the law enforcement and his white counterparts alike. Mr. Plessy presented a claim that stated the non-equalitarian treatment his people were subjected to every single day, but without any reasonable results, this due to the decades old racial segregation laws. Such devilish rules were only backed by the delusional claims that “Separate but equal' was the only way of maintaining social order, based on the sickening beliefs of the infamous Jim Crow and his white superiority gospel. Antagonizing the unjust case of Mr. Plessy was judge John H. Ferguson, Mr. Ferguson was a loyal believer of the segregation laws previously imposed in the states south of the Mason-Dixon line, it is because of this that Mr. Ferguson proceeded into filling an unfair judicial trial for Mr. Plessy, based on his violation of the whites only train seat area. This only inspired Mr. Plessy into a relentless fight against such a calumnious charge. Sadly, and thanks to the numeric superiority of the pro-segregationists at Supreme Court, Mr. Plessy was given the unconstitutionally unfair verdict of violating the principles of the “Separated but equal” doctrine, showing in it one of history’s clearest examples of how unfair justice tends to be. In many cases now and throughout history, people of color have had difficulties with the justice system. They’ve had to face many obstacles and are shown how the justice system does not work in their favor.

Following uncertainty and unfairness, the judicial system is faced with another vivid exponent of law inconsistency. Now referring to the case McClesky v. Kemp where an African American armed robber killed a police officer on duty at the scene of an ongoing crime. The judicial procedure was inconsistent because the verdict and posterior sentence of death were based mostly on the racial profile of the individual in question rather than on the actual crime. These allegations were made by a petitioner which sadly perished because of the abrupt lack of supporting data behind his claim (Siegel 2018). This fail led to the unfair execution of Mr. McClesky who was also sentenced to two life sentences for the crimes of armed robbery and the assassination of a police officer on duty. Even though the charges imputed on the case of Mr. McClesky were veridic, a certain pattern was noted by the petitioner who noticed that in similar cases compared between white and black criminals, black felons were 21% more likely to be given harsher sentences than their white counterparts who committed equivalent or even equal crime and were only a 2.1% percent likely to receive such severe sentences (Siegel 2018). Such a discovery shed once again light on the widespread unfairness of American law, by favoring the guilty and powerful while punishing the innocent and powerless.

Since the beginning of human history, there have been many instances characterized by one of humanities creations presenting a catastrophic flaw, which tends to lead into both destruction and unnecessary civilian suffering; but, as many of them also have in common, humans compromise into finding effective and everlasting solutions to such inconveniences. The same principle applies to the topic of justice and its many flaws, there is always a resurge into the light and like with justice, day after day there is a constant fight in order to repeal the stain of corruption, and the grim memories of past injustice, unfairness, and inconsistency that will forever haunt the judicial history around the globe. Although there have been many cases of the judicial system not fulfilling its duties, thanks to a well-established system of laws and regulations, there is hope that others can still receive a fair trial. Our society can expect the most swift and fair verdict at each trial without denying of course its eventual flaw, luckily these last ones are each day less and less frequent on our judicial circuits. As for all the before mentioned statements, it would be fair to say that on the whole, there is justice for all human beings through the hands of the global judicial system that after decades of trial and flaw, has accumulated the necessary experience in order to vanish such haunting occurrences into oblivion, and bring fair trial for both the innocent and the guilty. This resulting in the adequate sentence for the felon and the untouched freedom for the innocent.

The successes and failures of the justice system reign true today. Americans and global citizens alike have seen the way the justice system can help and hurt others. People have been set free while others have been given dire consequences even when innocent. The social mindset of the modern American society has started to degrade the decades-old roughness that, made our country a cultive ground for both segregation and intolerance through the spectrum of race and/or ethnic background; thanks to it, many of the aspects that held our society in a retrograde mindset have been erased, giving way to a new multicural wave that overcomes all of the long outdated standards based upon uncertainty, unfairness and inconsistency. Allowing a reformation of the judicial system in the United States, and with it, a new tomorrow for the guilty, the innocent, and the long-oppressed minorities.