Kalief’s imprisonment was in abuse of government power. It is a violation of certain guaranteed rights from the bill of rights such as the right to a speedy trial, no unreasonable searches, and due process. All of these rights were violated against Kalief starting from the day he got pulled over by the police. These violations of his rights scarred him for his life and led to him trying to commit suicide and then eventually succeeding a year later. After these events Kalief’s life was never the same. In the US court system there is a right to a speedy trial which was taken away from Kalief. In the article “Before The Law” by Jennifer Gonnerman it states “Browder had spent three years on Rikers only to have his case dismissed.” The right …show more content…
In the article “Before The Law” it states ”The officers searched him and his friend but found nothing.” There was no reason to search Kalief and his friend he was just walking down the street and he got pulled over by the police. It was just a situation where he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Even when they did search Kalief and his friend they didn’t find anything but they still brought them to the precinct. If they hadn’t take him to the precinct for no reason this whole case wouldn’t have started.
In the constitution it also states that there should be due process. With due process the police have to respect the rights of every person regardless of their race or who they are. This was obviously violated multiple times at first with the unreasonable search just because he looked like the person who committed the crime. After that the trial stretched on for much longer than it should have and later he received abuse from the prison guards. An example of this is when he spat on a gang leader and was brutally beaten.
That is how Kalief’s imprisonment was in abuse of government power. The government and court system of New York city abused his rights including the right to a speedy trial, the 4th amendment, and also due process. That is how the government abused their