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Ailsa Schmidt, 2nd Place Grade 8, Lee Thao Roseville Area Middle School Beyond the Law In our society there are great divides, both of socio-economic class and race, Both inequaiities and tensions between different groups of people spring from and are reinforced by our own stereotypes and prejudices. �y making stereotypes and forming prejudices towards groups of people, we create and perpetuate cycles of violence and poverty, as well as prevent ourselves from developing nondiscriminatory and effective attitudes to fix these problems in our community. We see one example of this when looking at the treatment of African Arnericans in our legal system. It has now been 150 years since Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation and 4� since Jim Crovv was abolished, but discrimination against African Americans lives on. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, one in three black men can expect to go to prison in their lifetime. Because 11 states have laws saying that people with past felony convictions are not allowed to vote, 13% of African American men can't vote in �lmerica. Through discrimination in the justice system, the USA violates articles six, seven and twenty-one of the Universal I�eclaration oi Human Rights. These articles state that everyone should be treated equally before the law everywhere, and everyone should have the right to engage in politics by voting or running for office. When we disproportionately lock up African-American men and prevent them from being involved in local, statewide and national government, we cripple black communities, and without stable role models we can trap youth in the cycle of poverty. This prejudice against people of color arises from discomfort. Difference is scary to people; humans don't like for their beliefs about society to be challenged, For many people it is easier to think that all African American young men wear their pants down and their sweatshirt hoods up. This