Segregation kept African-Americans from having the basic rights that the Founding Fathers had written into the Constitution of the United States. Law-makers, government officials, voting officials, and police officers were all white. This prevented African-Americans from having any say in their government; being able to get the same voting rights as white people; having police officers protect them; or being able to get justice for crimes against them. Because they could not count on all-white police forces to protect them, violence against African-Americans, especially lynchings, increased. Because African-Americans could not vote, they also could not serve on juries. This meant that if a black person was ever on trial for a crime, the jury would be all-white.