No Equal Justice

David Cole conclusively shows that, despite a veneer of neutrality, race- and class-based double standards operate in virtually every criminal justice setting, from police behavior, to jury selection, to sentencing. Cole, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center and a leading thinker on constitutional law, argues that our system depends on these double standards to operate; such disparities allow the privileged to enjoy constitutional protections from police power without paying the costs associated with extending those protections across the board to minorities and the poor. Each…