Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States

150 word minimum for each paper.. give your feedback(your opinion) on each paper.

PAPER#1 rennob

Each year, roughly 500,000 people are held in jail in the United States because they are unable to afford bail, (Bennett, 2018). Being unable to afford cash bail, regardless of the consequent length of stay in jail, can lead to psychological impacts, and loss of jobs, custody, and housing, according to researchers, (Jones, 2019). Additionally, those who cannot afford bail are significantly more likely to be convicted or plead guilty, according to the case of (O’Donnell v Harris, 2018).

Under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, cash bail systems are unconstitutional because they impermissibly discriminate against indigent persons and fail under heightened scrutiny. In the case of (Williams v Illinois, 1970), the Court addressed whether an indigent could be held in prison after the statutory maximum of his crime “because of his failure to satisfy the monetary provisions of the sentence. Williams was convicted of theft and sentenced to one year of incarceration and a $500 fine. He was unable to pay his fine, so the judge ordered him to remain in jail to “work off” his payment at a rate of five dollars a day. The Supreme Court held that such punishment was unconstitutional under equal protection because the ceiling on imprisonment must be the same for all defendants regardless of their economic status, Williams v. Illinois, 399 U.S. 244 (1970).

Overall, efforts to reform bail policies have been underway in many jurisdictions, with the aim of reducing discrimination and promoting fairness in pretrial release decisions. These reforms include the use of risk-based assessments, the reduction or elimination of cash bail, and increased focus on individualized assessments. The goal is to ensure that pretrial detention is used only when necessary and that individuals are not detained solely because of their inability to pay bail, addressing the discriminatory effects of current bail practices.

PAPER#2 bria

Discussion Question One of Two:

I agree with the author’s statement. Economic inequality can be defined as a disparity in the distribution of wealth between individuals within a society. Professors Eran Itskovich and Roni Factor, located at the Institute of Criminology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, have found cogent results that prove that economic inequalities are positively correlated with criminal acts (2023). Their study concludes that economic inequality alienates individuals from the values of society. This leads individuals to resist institutions and values by engaging in criminal behavior. Least fortunate individuals are worse off while wealthy individuals are better off. Outcomes can be closely related to their resources (De Courson & Nettle, 2021). Lower inequality results in a lower rate of crime (Hartmann, 2022). Inequality causes crime and causes it to destroy social trust within society. Without social trust, it weakens the moral value. Interactions among the many different social ranks and racial groups in society have always seemed to be contentious. According to conflict theory, the law is used to control the power of dominant groups and individuals who threaten the makeup of society (Walker, et al., 2017). This theory also states that crime within society is caused by class conflicts. Criminal acts that are carried out have a political undertone due to their nature. This theory explains the imbalance of certain groups within the society. Various conflicts, such as social inequality and economic inequality, are fundamental factors within the social process (Petrocelli, et al., 2003). Society is made up of multiple social groups with various interests.