There Can be No Justice Under Systemic Racism - Even for the People You Think Deserve It
Today we close up our Serial Killer series with a review or, rather, a commentary on the Netflix miniseries When They See Us.
Wait, is that serial killer related?
No, it isn’t. As we finished up our Serial Killer series, we felt it was more imperative that we look at true crime through a different lens–that of the victims of the justice system. In True Crime, police officers are often seen as the heroes of the story (or at least the bumbling annoyances). Rarely do we focus on the truth of the matter, which is that the police as an institution is steeped in racism and the justice system is unfairly punitive, and therefore neither can bring fair justice to anyone.
On April 19, 1989 Trisha Meili was found beaten within an inch of her life in New York’s Central Park. When They See Us tells the story of the Central Park 5: a group of black boys ages 14-16 who were wrongfully convicted of the rape and assault of Trisha Meili.
On the same night, 30-40 kids were allegedly harassing, mugging, and beating up pedestrians throughout Central Park. Police brought a handful of these kids to the station, including Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Korey Wise and Antron McCray. While they initially intended to have their parents pick them up, they began interrogating them to determine their involvement with the Meili attack. But “interrogate” is generous. It was actually a grueling set of interviews over 24 hours while being denied food, drink, and rest. All the while, police were telling them that they had evidence and testimony against them, even though they did not.
That seems super illegal.
It does, doesn’t it? Interrogating children for 24 hours without legal representation or parental presence is legally ambiguous at best and explicitly illegal at worst (though who’s going to prosecute the police?). However, the police are completely within their rights to lie to detainees and fabricate evidence while interrogating them.
Wait, what?
Give yourself the time to double take. Now, by the end of these interrogations, all of the boys except Korey Wise confessed to the raping Meili. Richardson, Salaam, Santana, and McCray were all tried as juveniles and sentenced to serve 6-15 years in a juvenile detention center. Wise, however, was tried as an adult at the age of 16 and sentenced to 5-15 years in prison. It wasn’t until years later that Matias Reyes, a serial rapist and murderer, confessed to the crime, and his involvement was corroborated by DNA found at the scene and knowledge of details withheld from the general public.
How could something like this happen?
The case of the Central Park 5 (now Exonerated 5) is infamous but by no means irregular for the Black community. The case is just one data point in a microcosm of racial injustice both formed and maintained by white supremacy. Our intention with the episode is not to be messengers of systemic racism, but rather break down some core components of this issue such that it can be brought to the forefront of our mind when we look at crime.
The Central Park 5 were hardly given the innocent-before-proven-guilty treatment afforded to many white criminals. In fact, the media made baseless assumptions about their upbringing and characters, claiming they came from “a world of crack, welfare, guns, knives, indifference and ignorance.” We don’t even have time to unpack that sentence. One thing we can discuss, however, is the adultification of black children in the criminal justice system.
Adultification bias was initially used to describe how black girls are regularly assumed to be older and less innocent than they are, leading to harsher and more frequent punishments in school. However, the same effect can be seen with black boys in the justice system. By “adultifying” black children, they will receive harsher sentences relative to that of white children. You can observe this phenomena when comparing the Central Park Jogger case to the conviction of Brock Turner.
Turner was convicted for raping a fellow Stanford student behind a dumpster while she was unconscious. Despite the disturbing nature of his crimes, articles described him as a Stanford swimmer, justices weighed on how a “mistake” like this would affect the rest of his life, and his age and naivete were a focal point of the discussion. This is a very different portrayal from what we would identify as an accused rapist. Let’s not forget about how the interracial nature of the crime played an even bigger part in the sentencing. That same week of Meili’s rape, over two dozen rapes or attempted rapes occurred in New York, including that of a black woman who had been raped and thrown off a roof. Why did Trisha Meili’s attack receive so much more attention than hers?
What other factors can play into sentencing?
One we discussed fairly thoroughly was the influence of ableism in court proceedings and interrogations. Korey Wise was hard of hearing and had learning disabilities, both of which impacted his success in school. This also put an enormous amount of strain on him during his interrogation, during which officers wrote his confession for him and had him sign. This barely scratches the surface of what people with disabilities have to face in the justice system. Another instance was the interrogation of Brendan Ray Dassey, better known as the nephew to Steven Avery of Making a Murderer. Dassey is now serving a life sentence for murder, but many have called into question the validity of his confession considering his intellectual disabilities. It is a privilege to have access to support for disabilities and those who lack that privilege often struggle interpersonally or in school. This lack of support makes those with mental or physical disabilities prime targets for unfair and abusive treatment in the justice system, as they are often seen as easier to exploit or purposefully “difficult.”
What about the prison environment?
It would be reductive to just say that US prison conditions are dehumanizing. On the podcast, we talked about one victim of the US prison system, Kaleif Browder. Browder was accused of stealing a backpack and subsequently held at Rikers Island Penitentiary for three years before his case was heard because he could not make bail. Of those three years, he spent two in solitary confinement. His case was later dismissed, but his experiences eventually led to him developing psychosis and taking his life – all because he was accused of stealing a backpack.
For Korey Wise, the inherent trauma of entering the adult prison system as a teenager compounded with the notoriety of his case made him a prime target for abuse. He voluntarily elected to stay in solitary confinement for years to avoid the violence he faced in the General Population. Though he fared better than Kaleif Browder when he was finally exonerated and released from prison, he still spent nearly 12 years of his life suffering daily for a crime he did not commit. Not only is it absolutely outrageous than someone who may be innocent must shoulder this kind of abuse, it’s also a glaring indictment of the failure of the justice system that this kind of abuse and misery is normal.
With the plethora of documentaries, novels, and dramatic retellings of the industrial prison complex, it would be naïve to argue that prisons are designed to rehabilitate prisoners. America holds a 43.3% recidivism rate and offers sparse (if any) mental health services to inmates. As a system created to get around the illegalization of slavery and to privatize cheap/free labor, there is no argument for the efficacy of prisons. It is a system that must be dismantled and replaced by one rooted in compassion - but that’s a whole other podcast episode, eh?
Can the police ever be trusted?
I was a little flustered in my frenzy of advice during the show, but the gist of it is this: if you view the police as your friend, then your opinion of them comes from your place of privilege in society. I don’t say this to make you feel bad, it’s simply a fact of your status in life. Be glad that you’ve never had to be a target of police abuse. But by the same token, realize that you have been groomed from the start to view the police as a benevolent and infallible force. TV shows and movies constantly barrage us with the idea that those who invoke their rights “against” the police are inherently guilty or obstructive justice, when this couldn’t be further from the truth. Our rights were instituted to protect us from the abuse of police power, unlawful imprisonment, and manipulation of the system. Unlearn the idea that you should relinquish your rights under any circumstances. If you are stopped by a police officer in any scenario, follow the following advice:
Don’t run, and don’t be rude - the police have the physical and legal power in this particular moment. If you are going to be arrested, there’s nothing you can do about it right now. Keep your hands where officers can see them.
If you’re stopped in your car, comply with requests to see your license and registration.
If an officer wants to search your car without a warrant or reasonable suspicion that you’re involved in a crime, you can deny the request.
Ask the officer if you are free to leave. If they say no, ask if you are being detained/under arrest. If they say yes, you are allowed to ask why. Then, tell them, “I am invoking my right to remain silent.” You must say this out loud to the officers present. And then STAY SILENT. The officers may, at any point, try to get you to talk casually with them, and they may threaten you, present false evidence, or otherwise try to intimidate you into speaking. Stay silent.
As a point of reference, the officers may pat you down at any point - do not resist this in any way. However, if they attempt to do further searches, you have the right to refuse. Consenting to further search can affect you in court later.
If you are arrested and taken to the station, continue staying silent - even if they try to interrogate you. You cannot be punished for remaining silent.
When they interrogate you, only allow yourself to say, “I am invoking my right to a lawyer.” Do NOT say “I want a lawyer,” “Give me a lawyer,” or any casual variation thereof. If you want to know why, refer to the Lawyer Dog case.
For more information about police and traffic stops, especially pertaining to immigration, visit the ACLU website.