Joseph L. Jones, Ph.D., is a scholar, activist and political scientist. Opinions expressed are solely his own. Email him at josephljones@hotmail.com.

Last week’s execution of Troy Davis is a reminder that the American judicial system still harbors vestiges of Jim Crow. The fact that Davis was executed, despite the insurmountable doubt that exist in his case, will go down as one of the most egregious acts of injustice in the 21st century.

This is a case where justice was not served for the Davis family nor for the family Mark MacPhail, the Savannah, Ga., police officer Davis was accused of shooting to death in 1989, because the murderer is still running loose. In fact, the Davis case is just the beginning of what seems to be a pattern of judicial injustice in the United States.

Earlier this year in Arkansas, three men known as the West Memphis Three were set free after a judge ordered a new trial and prosecutors concluded that they probably did not have sufficient evidence to win another conviction. The men were arrested as teens in 1993 and charged with the satanic killing of three 8-year-old boys whose nude bodies were found in a drainage canal.

From the start, this case was wrought with insufficient evidence, prosecutor/police misconduct and a seemingly toxic political environment hell bent on keeping the men in prison. One of the accused, Damien Echols, was charged with capital murder and sentence to death.

As a condition of their release, each of the convicted men – who had long maintained their innocence – was required to enter a so-called Alford guilty pleas, which allows people to maintain their innocence while admitting that a guilty plea is in their best interest.

Also in Arkansas, the underreported Tim Howard case was a similar instance of injustice.

Mr. Howard was convicted in 1998 of murdering his best friend, his best friend’s wife and attempting to murder the couple’s child. In January of this year, it was discovered that DNA evidence used to convict Mr. Howard was contaminated, according to notes taken at the time by the state’s own lab technician. This key fact was never shared with the jury that convicted Mr. Howard.

Furthermore, dubious theories surrounding Mr. Howard’s alleged motive -- from him being on a meth rage to him impregnating the female victim -- have all proven false. What does remain is a black man charged with killing two white people, who coincidentally were his best friends.

All three cases should sound alarms that something is still fundamentally wrong with the American judicial system. More important, we need to take careful consideration of death penalty cases because we have witnessed in the past few decades many innocent people who have been exonerated due to new evidence, and some wrongly accused individuals have likely died at the hands of the state (as did Davis).

What these cases highlight is that injustice can happen to anyone of any race. Justice was finally served for the white West Memphis Three, yet the black Troy Davis was killed and Mr. Howard continues to be on death row.

This problem does not even fall along the lines of those who are anti or pro death penalty. What is at issue is the injustice in the trial procedures and the conduct of prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges. If America is claiming to have a copyright on its exceptional judicial systems that touts due process, then the process deserves a thorough vetting to ensure everyone is protected and treated with the same amount of respect and fairness when going through trial.

Davis, the West Memphis Three and Howard are all cases that should signal to us that there continues to be systematic structural problems in the American judicial system. I hope we can find a way to channel the same energy, rage and resources we saw in support of Davis to continue the fight for those countless others who are, or will be, in Mr. Davis position.

Justice matters, because without it, we all play a role in this judicial tyranny, either as an opponent, a victim or as a de facto participant.

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