Double punishment: Two Chinese American opium court cases

Abstract

Chinese immigrants have been treated unfairly in the United States since they arrived in this country. The American legal system has played a large part in this unfair treatment of Chinese Americans and other ethnic minorities. Historically, compared to non-Chinese, Chinese offenders were frequently more severely punished by the justice system, and at times, Chinese American were victims of double punishment this paper examines the discriminatory treatment of the Chinese in the United States via court cases of two Chinese Americans convicted of violating early twentieth century federal opium laws.