Degree Year

1986

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Sociology

Advisor(s)

Jack Glazier

Keywords

Law, Legal, Decisions, United States, Judicial, Race, Extra-legal

Abstract

The laws of the United States have been written over time with the intention of providing a framework for fair, legitimate, and uniform legal decisions to be made. Laws attempt to provide national tranquility by providing channels of punishment for those who disobey them. At the same time laws in the United States attempt to avoid any conflict with differing cultural values present in our nation. The laws of the United States are intended to function without regard to the race, sex, or religion of the defendant, complainant, or attorneys involved. Laws themselves cannot help but embody the cultural values of their authors, yet at the same time they are expected to function in a manner that ignores individual cultural attributes. Laws are expected to provide a frame of reference for legal decisions on the basis of rules and values accepted by the culture as a whole. The role of the individual in the American legal system is to obey the laws as they are written or face the penalties proscribed for disobeying them.

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