The definition of criminal justice is: the system of law enforcement, the bar, the judiciary,
corrections and probation that is directly involved in the apprehension, prosecution,
defense, sentencing, incarceration and supervision of those suspected of or charged with
criminal offenses. Throughout history we have seen this system bend and break in many
areas because of the issue of race. Randall Kennedy gives a detailed and descriptive vision
on how far this system has failed to equally protect the rights of individuals based on race.
Being a history major I have read many different accounts from pre-civil war era on to the
present, but these studies only gave a broad description on slavery and civil rights
movements and barely ever went into detail on the unequal protection of the law that
African Americans faced. I believe that we should have the knowledge of how our criminal
justice system has failed so many throughout the past based simply on the color of their
skin. Kennedy gives us many examples of these injustices to help us understand the
importance of this history.
Kennedy quotes a slave, William Goodell, *…“is under the control of law, though
unprotected by law, and can know law only as an enemy, and not as a friend. After reading
these two chapters I have to believe that many African Americans related to Goodell and
had mistrust in the justice system. Much of the violence committed on African Americans
during Goodells life was to assert and preserve white supremacy. By preserving white
supremacy these people committed awful acts of raping, lynching, assault and battery and
