Central Park Five: Racial Bias

We all have biases. Unfortunately, sometimes our biases distract us from what is right. In the recent  past, there have been several criminal cases in which justice was disrupted due to law enforcement’s bias against or towards a certain group of people. Whether it’s racial profiling by law enforcement or stereotypes held by the jury, bias can turn the entire justice process inside out. Racial bias affects criminal cases to the extent that the criminals often get turned into victims.

Professor Jerry Kang from UCLA calls them “schemas”. He goes on to explain that we often associate these schemas to larger ideas. When our mind categorizes simple things into larger concepts, and we associate them with larger ideas. “Automatically, we categorize individuals by age, gender, race, and role. Once the individual is mapped into that category, specific meanings associated with that category are immediately activated and influence our interaction with that individual”. This means that when we have an experience or simply learn about a category of people, our minds automatically influence our judgement.

In 1989, there was a case in New York City that sparked a lot of controversy in America. The case involved 5 African-American/Hispanic teenagers that were convicted of raping an upper class white woman, Trisha Meili- the “Central Park jogger”. On April 19, 1989, Trisha was attacked and severely beaten. The 5 young men convicted at the time were: Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise. Once the police got the the crime scene, they bought them in for questioning. The boys were giving little to no information that can give the detectives a lead. The detectives told the boys that all they needed to do was give a story, confess and they can go home. Each of them did thinking that it was it. The prosecutors and detectives used the confession tapes to convict. However, 13 years later the real rapist, Matias Reyes admitted to the crime.

The two main prosecutors in the case were Elizabeth Lederer and Linda Fairstein. The detectives investigating the case were Det. Humberto Arroyo and Carlos Gonzalez. When the boys were brought in for questioning, they were intensely, almost violently questioned. Such treatment led the boys to essentially confess.  It is understandable that a detective trying to solve a case, will get inpatient and upset, but it is unacceptable to carry it as far as the did. The detectives split the boys up and tricked them into admitting to a crime they didn’t commit just to get a confession. The details of the five boys’ stories didn’t match what was found at the crime scene, but these inconsistencies were ignored. Elizabeth Lederer , the lead prosecutor didn’t even bother to put the boys on the stand.

The documentary, “Central Park Five”, was released in 2012. It focused particularly on the differing stories of the boys. . The prosecutors, police, and jurors involved didn’t choose to participate in the film. Identifying the bias of the law enforcement agendas is obvious. specifically wasn’t hard at all. Implicit bias is the certain stereotypes that affect our decisions, and understandings. Implicit bias is being studied in the judicial decision making. This means making a decision based on your current understanding or even stereotypes that we are familiar with.  During conviction, all the boys went to juvenile detention centers except for Korey. He was the eldest and was sent to Riker’s Island. This was simply unfair being that just because he was 16, he was sent to an adult facility. This is age discrimination, treating someone less favorably because of their age.  Racism was and still is an issue today in many ways but it is only discussed when something like this happens. When the racial bias of law enforcement is publicized. When a rape case of an upper class white woman hits the air, all of a sudden everyone is interested. Sometimes, the subjects of the case determine whether the case will be covered as severely or publicized. Example, the previous rape recently in New York that got little to none because the attacker and the victim were of the same racial background. A test of our “justice” system. Donald Trump contributed to the storm by saying, “You better believe that I hate the people that took this girl and raped her brutally. You better believe it.” Not only did he openly voice his opinion, but he added it in 4 local newspapers saying that the death penalty should be brought back. Would Donald Trump care and have commented if this woman were to be found in an alley or in Harlem? Wasn’t hard to find either. A woman, the same night of the jogger attack, was rapped and thrown off a four-story building. Sure, teenagers have a reputation to always be under some sort of mischief, but African American teenagers? Guilty without question; but it wouldn’t be fair at all to bring the death penalty into play without even testing DNA and hearing their statements. In the documentary, there was a connection to Emmett Till. Young black males, white woman as victim. Harsh punishments. The racial bias was obvious to this point that a connection can even be made! Emmett Till’s punishment doesn’t fairly compare to a prison sentence but at a minor extent, they are similar. Justice wasn’t served in either case.

The goal of the prosecutors were clearly to put these boys in jail. To punish them for a crime that they knew that they didn’t commit. There was no evidence. The DNA from the crime scene didn’t match any of the boys. When Trisha woke up from a coma, she was not able to recall anything from that night of the attack. A white journalist says that it was a good thing. Maybe because she could have sent these boys home.  ⅗ of the boys family’s were able to afford to bail them out. Raymond and Korey remained imprisoned. The truth still hadn’t come out yet. Social psychologist, Saul Kassin stated that once we form a strong belief that someone is guilty of a crime, all the details that can prove us wrong, we tend to ignore them. This proves that original goal of the prosecutors. Once they associate “guilty” with these young men, it was impossible for them to steer off and let them walk. Can perhaps their bias be against African-Americans? I think it is safe to conclude that this was a racial hate crime.

The bias within this whole case is clear. Little to nothing was fair. Terrorizing and pressuring these young teens to admit to a crime they didn’t commit. Sending Korey to an adult facility! Adding extra time to Raymond’s sentence when caught with a drug charge just because he was apart of this case prior. It seems that some people are comfortable with their bias within society, that is, if we identify it. Implicit bias, is not limited in the judicial system and it must be something that the system is comfortable with. Sometimes it is a bad thing but it becomes a personal thing because then we’d sit around and judge everyone because of their bias but if they are fine with it, who are we to judge because we have blind spots of our own. My personal bias attracted me to analyse this case. My reaction watching the documentary was like many, “Wow, that’s unfair!” and “What kind of “justice” system do we live in?” but my reaction may be different of someone not within my “category”. I am a African-American teenager. The subjects of this crime were African-Americans. We are within the same “category” so my understanding and sympathy may be stronger than an “outsider” who might not understand but I have a connection with the boys that the “outsider” wouldn’t. The way I viewed the case is okay being different than someone else.

Citations:

1. Gove, Tracey G. "Police Chief Magazine." Police Chief Magazine. N.p., Oct. 2011. Web. 20 Jan. 2014. <http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch>.

2. "Central Park Five." NY Daily News. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2014. <http://www.nydailynews.com/services/central-park-five#trial2>.

3. Central Park Five. Dir. Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon. Perf. Antron McCray, Raymond Santana, Korey Wise, Kevin Richardson, and Yusef Salaam. 2012. Netflix.

4. Press, The Associated. "Woman Is Raped and Thrown From a Roof." The New York Times. The New York Times, 04 May 1989. Web. 22 Jan. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/04/nyregion/woman-is-raped-and-thrown-from-a-roof.html>.

5. "Age Discrimination." Age Discrimination. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2014. <http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/age.cfm>.