14th Amendment

The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
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Equality in Criminal Justice System
The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides immunities and privileges for all American citizens. Although the country’s criminal justice has taken significant strides in ensuring equality for all, it is evident that some areas remain biased especially among minority groups. Not all persons situated the same are treated similarly.
Racial profiling is a persistent problem in the U.S. especially among police officers which violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. The Floyd et al. v. New York City 2013 case involving a 2004 to 2012 study on ‘stop and frisk’ proactive policing tactic confirmed bias against non-Whites Americans. More particularly, this study involving over 4.4 million stops showed that over 80 percent of these stop involved Hispanics and African Americans (Means & Miller, 2014). American Bar Association (2017) indicates that Blacks are imprisoned at about six times the rate of their White counterparts and constitutes approximately 1 million of the 2.3 million prisoners in the United States. While other factors contribute to these disparities, inequality in the justice system against these minor groups plays a key role.
People are responsible for their actions and should be held liable for them except reasons beyond control such as medical cases including mental illnesses. For instance, racial profiling is a choice among police officers since officials undergo training and, therefore, understand liberties and protections all citizens have as provided in the Constitution.

The Bible also supports equality indicating that all are formed in the Creator’s image, and therefore all are equal. “10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and is in all” (The Bible, Col. 3:10-11). The verse suggests all humans are same and God does not discriminate and, therefore, all humans ought to be treated equally.
Dilemma 2
The government is mandated to protect its citizens, but some situations tend to be complicated necessitating tough decision that might benefit some at the expense of others. Shooting down a terrorist controlled commercial plain would be advisable which can help save lives of those on the ground.
Agreeably, all lives matter and it would be imperative for military officials to exhaust their options before settling at shooting down the plane consisting of 310 lives. However, in the event where officials have no alternatives, shooting down the aircraft would be ideal for preserving lives of tens of thousands more likely to be in the stadium. The government’s aim should minimize damage as much as possible. Therefore, saving tens of thousands as well as preventing extensive damage to infrastructure would be advisable. Evidently, allowing the crash would result in both the deaths of the 310 passengers on board in addition to many more on the ground and infrastructure damage. Sacrificing 310 innocent lives, although inhumane and unethical, would be a viable decision in this scenario. For example, if the government authorized the shootdown of the two terrorist-hijacked planes on the 9/11 resulting in deaths of thousands and destruction of properties worth billions, perhaps the damage would have been minimized.
In conclusion, shooting down a passenger plane to save thousands of lives on the ground would be ideal instead of losing lives of those on the plane together with others on the ground. It might also help limit destruction of property ultimately saving more lives and property.
References
American Bar Association. (2017). The 14th Amendment: Transforming American Democracy.
Division for Public Education. https://www.ribar.com/UserFiles/2017%20Law%20Day%20Planning%20Guide%207th%20through%2012th%20Grade.pdfMeans R. & Miller Z. (2014). 14th Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause. Hendon Media
Group. http://www.hendonpub.com/resources/article_archive/results/details?id=5533The Bible. (1978). New International Version. Biblica.