We the People: Identifying Bias in Laws in Order to Lessen Future Biases

Laws and how they shape society are a complex process. I plan to examine to what extent our laws are rooted in bias and how it affects society’s future. The question I am going to answer is can laws be applied objectively, or will there always be some form of bias or prejudice? Why is this important to identify this and to what extent can it be monitored in order to preserve the rights of everyone? Our world has become too dependent on allowing laws to dictate to us what is right and what is not right. This is a relevant concept because it applies to everyone. Laws do dictate our world and that is why it is up to the citizens to make sure those said laws are doing their job. I chose this topic because I’ve never questioned the origin of laws, I just followed them blindly assuming that because it was law it would be just and unbiased. I also found this topic interesting because it is applicable to everyday life because it is what shapes our society and way of thinking.

The problem with laws is that it excludes large portions of people, the very same people who will have to adhere to those laws. This disparity in justice causes a divide in groups and creates an unequal society that focuses on dividing people on their differences instead of uniting them because of their differences. The creation of laws is a subjective and unjust process due to the limited amount of input and perspectives provided from different groups of people, which in turn allows for the predation on individuals who do not fit into these doctrines. In order to lessen this disparity between groups, representation must occur in order for all perspectives to be heard so that future laws will be less subjective and more equal.

I believe this is an important issue to identify because It is a difficult task to say all laws are just because to say that all laws are equal and applicable to everyone means that we are all the same. I plan to analyze this thesis through various works such as John Locke’s “Second Treatise of Government”, Jackie Wang’s “Carceral Capitalism”, Biko Agozino’s “Counter-Colonial Criminology”, Raymond Wacks’s, “Philosophy of Law”, and Michelle Alexander’s, “The New Jim Crow- Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness”” These sources will help me with supporting my point as well as it will provide perspective and give different thought processes on how government rules and how we the people can change it by looking for possible bias or prejudice to secure that bureaucracy is doing the most for everyone. I also plan to use various ideas proposed by philosophers that will help in proving my point such as ontology and law, legal positivism, social stratification, subjectivity versus objectivity, and legal rational legitimacy. It is a lot to cover but each concept, to me, provide logical feedback on what to look for and expect when creating and using laws in a society where it is important to treat everyone as fairly as possible.

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