Race, Ethnicity, Class, and Crime in the Media Fall 2020

The story that I chose to focus on is “The Kalief Browder Story” which is a documentary on Netflix produced by Shawn Carter, Nick Sandow, Julia Willoughby-Nason, Michael Gasparro, Chachi Senior, and directed by, Jenner Furst. (This film was also published September 15, 2017.) This film discusses does an amazing job of capturing the injustice, unfairness, and equality of the Criminal Justice System case of a young 16-year-old boy by the name of Kalief Browder who was arrested for allegedly stealing a backpack with valuables inside. He was going home from a party when there was a guy telling police that he has been rob of his little brother’s backpack by two black males, one being Kalif Browder. The police took him to the precinct, questioned him, and told him that “most likely he will be going home” but that is not what happened; he never went home. He spent three years in Rikers Island where he was beaten, mistreated, starved, deprived of showers, and most of all, mentally scarred. The key points, in this case, is that Kalief Browder knows that he was wrongfully accused by the NYPD, he was denied a fair and speedy trial, his family couldn’t make bail, and he was told that if he wants to get out he would need to take the plea deal -but he refused to take it, asserting his innocence. Kalif’s case kept getting swept under the rug. The state said that they weren’t ready for trial, they didn’t have a witness, the D.A. was on vacation, or the D.A is on another trail. Ultimately, Kalief ended up getting out but it was a rough and torturous path.

This film reveals the cruelty and corruption of the criminal justice system and why it needs form when it comes to fair and speedy trials, people in poverty, and the importance of an effective District Attorney. Kalief Browder spent over 1000 days in Rikers Island and more than 70 days in solitary confinement all because he could not afford it, he was indigent. His family’s backs were against the wall. When they found out that his bail was set at 10,000 and that with a bail bondsman, they needed $900 dollars, they could not pay it. The defense attorney in this case was very necessary and even though Kalief was provided one and entitled to one that did not mean that he was guaranteed an effective one. In the provided indigent defense which is public defense.  A public defense attorney’s role in the criminal justice system is to “challenge the reliability of the case, protect their client’s rights, and search for justice”. The concern with this is that because he could not afford an attorney, they provided him a demonstrably negligent one. The public district attorney had piles of cases just like Kalief Browder, almost 800 cases a day. It was hard for Kalief’s attorney(s) to keep up with all the cases. What made it even more difficult is that Kalief had little communication with him. “Whenever it came to court dates, his attorney would send the paper in the mail to his mom’s house knowing that he was in jail” (Carter, 2017)

The questions that are raised in this court is that if they even care about his case at all and the simple answer for that is “no”. Edelman (2017)  discusses how in court “the judge set bail at $3,000 because Browder was already on probation from a previous guilty plea to joyride in a stolen delivery truck” (pg. 45). He was offered plea deals on the backpack theft but did not want to accept them. Edelman (2017) also mentioned in the book that “despite a so-called speedy trial statute, was anything but speedy in the courts”(pg. 46) Speedy trails are different in a different area,s and in New York it wasn’t about the amount of time the court gave, it was about the amount of time the defense attorney needed and if they were ready but again because Kalief Browder was insufficient in providing him justice that becomes very difficult.

This case is important because this is a perfect example of how the Criminal Justice System is broken. Here we have a young boy who went into jail at 16 and came of jail at the age of 19-20 years of age. To add, this wasn’t just any jail this was Rikers Island, the jail that he in conclusion suffered from a mental illness, was beaten and extremely maltreated. It is very important for people to be informed about this case, to know that this can happen and how to handle it when it does happen. It was extremely unfair for Kalief or for any human being to get treated the way he was treated. You are taught to trust the system and it supposed to protect you and this did the total opposite. It is important that people know their rights and that people fight for their rights but it is also important to have a good legal system behind you to ensure that everything is going as they should Kalief Browder should not have been in that prison: He wasn’t supposed to be in solitary confinement, he was not supposed to be paranoid, he wasn’t supposed to commit suicide, he was not supposed to be swept under the rug. He deserved justice.

Edelman, P. B. (2019). Not a crime to be poor: The criminalization of poverty in America. The New Press.

Video Link:

https://www.netflix.com/watch/80187052?trackId=13752289&tctx=0%2C0%2C438b77b200009a8deee2af3624f16f4a1b269846%3A014c3a83df14aa234ac05e3b0545658d1e116123%2C438b77b200009a8deee2af3624f16f4a1b269846%3A014c3a83df14aa234ac05e3b0545658d1e116123%2Cunknown%2C