Inquiry~What Did You Discover?

Question 1

Write about your inquiry. What made you interested in this question? Briefly, tell the story of

your own experience with your chosen topic. (If you did the pre-writing before the research

proposal, you may have most of this written already.)

Your Answer:

For years, I've been interested in crime shows like Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and

Dateline. I've always been curious as to why crime happens and whether society deals with all

forms of crime appropriately. Now that I'm older, I can see that things aren't always done fairly,

not in a way where justice is served for all. Today, I am a political science major, but I've

become so interested in topics like this one that I've decided to add on a criminal justice minor.

As of right now, I want to be a lawyer, but I am open to exploring all of the possible careers in

the criminal justice system, even outside of the courtroom. Since I see so many problems within

the system, my goal is to join it and hopefully make some changes for it to be better for society. I

became exposed to this particular problem through the recent news and I saw how negatively this

process can affect people. In my current criminal justice class, I've learned that two of the goals

of the system are restoration and rehabilitation. However, I don't see how this is accurate when

so many people of color are not given access to these opportunities, as they are often killed

before they have a chance to fix themselves, leaving their families forever incomplete, which can

reinforce a cycle of crime from generation to generation. People often protest but nothing good is

happening. Looking at this made me think about what would happen if I were in this situation.

Because I am a person of color, encountering a bad experience with law enforcement is a very
real possibility and I just want to know that If I were to ever get put in this situation, would

justice be served or would I end up on another list of fallen victims?

Question 2

Why is your question important? Who else would want to know about what you are inquiring

into? How many people are affected by your topic? Why should anyone care about this?

Your Answer:

In recent events, anyone can turn on the tv or any social media outlet and see how there has been

an influx on the reporting of fatal shootings as a result of police brutality. Many think that the

issue has been exaggerated through the media but thats not most peoples concern. People want

to know why certain groups seem to be targeted more so than other groups, and when they are

put in the same situations, minority races are much more likely to end up with harsher

consequences than the majority race. Situations like these spark up conversations about systemic

oppression and privilege, things that are hard to talk about but must be addressed. Addressing

this issue by serving unbiased justice in the system would help save people's lives and their

futures that have the potential to be taken away from them if its current behavior keeps up.

Millions of others are impacted by my topic because it involves more minority groups than I

myself are apart of such as Hispanics, non-native speaking individuals, disabled individuals and

the list continues on.

Question 3
In your search, who has made a significant contribution to the conversation on this topic? What

have they said, and how does that relate to your inquiry question? What important questions do

these other voices raise for you?

Your Answer:

The source that had the most influence on my question was the "Democracy Now!" source which

featured an interview with Michelle Alexander. With Michelle being a former Ohio State law

professor and an African American women, she was able to speak with not only a background in

research but also in witness. Being an adult in her field, she has had much more exposure to this

topic than I have and it was interesting to hear her point of view. She explained that in the case

of the unarmed Michael Brown shooting, she knew that the officer that murdered him would not

see any punishment for their actions. She knew this not just because of research but as an African

American, she knew that things in her community have not always been dealt with fair. She

voiced how with her son being 10 years old at the time, she already had to have serious

conversations with him explaining that he has to approach certain situations differently than the

rest of the world, all because he could lose his life over someone's, fear or ignorance. Me also

being an African American, I was able to think back and remember my parents having similar

conversations with me and my siblings. All I could think of while listening is how can this be

fair? Why is it that African American youth and other minority youth are forced to grow up at an

early age? It is in no way fair that we have to live our lives with caution because we don't want to

offend others, simply just for existing.

Question 4
What was the most pervasive and convincing answer to your inquiry question? In the end, whose

voice was the most convincing? What might you add to the conversation? What do you want to

say?

Your Answer:

I would say that by the end of this project, the answer that stood out to me the most was that no,

the criminal justice system is not colorblind. There are various specific encounters and statistics

that prove that there are people high in official ranks that carry prejudiced views towards certain

groups of people, and their teaching skills to lower ranks can affect how their force operates

towards the public. It is also evident that these actions tend to target certain groups over others

and this has been happening for generations, making it nearly impossible for underprivileged

groups at large to escape cycles of violence and crime. The source that convinced me of this the

most was Daniel J D'Amico's piece on LearnLiberty. Daniel showed many statistics of the racial

differences within prisons and how certain groups were more likely to end up in prison than to

ever go to college and get married, and he suggests that this problem roots from how laws are

enforced, written, and prosecuted. I would add that people with disabilities are also often

misunderstood by law enforcement, so I'm curious as to what the experiences are of people who

are both disabled and people of color.

Question 5

What have you come to understand about the topic that you didn't fully appreciate when you

began your inquiry? What difference will the discoveries you made about your question make in

your life? In the lives of others (potential audience)?

Your Answer:

I've come to understand why so many people are ignorant of this situation and why they often

will choose to stay ignorant, this is because people often cling to areas where people are like

them and share their views. When people do this, they don't learn as much about people that they

think they already know. Often time when Whites are told about how other races experience

prejudice or brutality with the police, they don't believe it and don't want to believe because they

have most likely not had those same experiences, making it harder to picture it from someone

else's perspective. Most whites have never experienced being held up at gunpoint with a cop

because most cops don't feel that their lives are in danger as they would with a person of color,

and these views start in the household and then stem their way into the workforce when people

with these views obtain positions of power. I understand that personal upbringing has a lot do to

with how people see rest of the world, which is why I would want to encourage society, but

specifically law enforcement, to look at people of color like you would like to be looked at and

treated if you were in their situation. Most importantly, we all need to step out of our comfort

zones and get to know people who aren't like us, this is the only way we can become a more

harmonious society.

Question 6

What do you remain curious about? What questions remain unresolved? What directions would

more inquiry take if you were to continue? What new questions were raised by this inquiry?

Your Answer:

Now that it is proven that there is a racial bias within the criminal justice system, I want to know
how to fix this. What policies need to be made to hold police more accountable for their actions?

How can we train the police to be less trigger happy and more skillful in other problem-solving

ways? What barriers are in the way between public officials and minority communities? If I were

to continue, I would look into how we can better integrate communities and law enforcement to

make both more comfortable with each other. I think law enforcement taking the time to become

more familiar with the culture in different areas would not only help them perform their duties

more effectively but it would also help communities to be more compliant. Through this, I think

research would show a decrease in crime and improved relationship between the two.