The courts in the United States are part of an institution of different opinions when addressing criminal and civil matters. One important group that can be addressed is judges, who can be referred to as a referee of the courts. Judges many times will give the final say in a case and determine the fate of someone who has been convicted to be guilty. A major problem in the American court system is the use of emotion, and what degree of emotion should be employed, or if none at all. Unfortunately, not all of those on the bench exhibit the same thoughts and preferences when determining a sentence for a convicted criminal, causing conflict between the system and those who are committed and sent to imprisonment. The defendant, Cynthia Ellman, had been caught for the third time shop lifting in her home state of Pennsylvania; and in this state, anyone who commits a crime a third time, such as shoplifting, receives a felony conviction. Ellman was a poor, African American woman who had stolen cigarettes and pants, resulting in a total of thirty two dollars worth of merchandise stolen. Because of these three events, she received six years minimum and twelve years maximum in a maximum security prison. …show more content…
It is thought that all cases should be ruled dispassionately because this could eliminate any favoring that may become present when someone dislikes someone or likes someone more than any other defendants. Even though judges do have the ability to rule dispassionately, it does not always mean that they should rule that way. There are many times where a judge could rule passionately, and end up saving the court time and the ones on the stand time. A plausible time to rule passionately was in this case that was just presented, along with other cases that may have special