African American Suspects

Thomas Paine spoke of America as a place of diverse cultures, a “mixing pot”. But, as time has continued, Paine’s idea of a country of different speaking people living in unison, has changed greatly. The climax of this universal prejudice towards immigrants began for many Americans on September 11, 1999. Since the tragic terrorist attack on the World Trade Centers, citizens began to question the immigrant security of America. Fast forwarding ten years after many more terrorist attacks, Donald Trump along with many Americans support the idea of building a wall to block out immigrants from the southern border. Some supporters believe the wall would protect the people, protect the goverment, and protect the country as a whole. However, other

Two professors from the University of British Columbia and the University of Michigan Law School, M. Marit Rehavi and Sonja B. Starr recently conducted a study that confirms that Black Americans receive a stricter punishment than White Americans. According to the study “Black Americans receive almost sixty percent longer prison sentences than white Americans who committed the same crime (NewsOne 1).” Dr. Rehavi and Dr. Starr gathered their data from fifty-eight thousand federal criminal cases and determined that the sentences that Black people received varied significantly from those given White people (NewsOne 2). Assistant Professor of Economics Dr.

There is a large racial disparity with unjust arrests in America. African Americans are discriminated and racially profiled more than any other race within the criminal justice system (Slate, 2015). The main goals of the criminal justice system are to prevent and control crime and to achieve justice (Crime&Justice International, 1997). However, according to the ‘American Progress’, “people of color, particularly African Americans and Latinos are unfairly targeted by the police and face harsher prison sentences compared to other races, particularly white Americans (American Progress, 2015). Although the criminal justice is to provide equal justice to all of its citizens, African Americans tend to not receive the same justice. Specifically, African

It has been brought up that certain race and ethic affects a person’s sentencing. Many studies have addressed the question are African Americans treated more severely than similarly situated whites? (Mitchell, 2005). Observers had indeed noted that black defendants get more severe sentencing than white defendants do (Spohn, 1981). For many years’ social scientist has examined this theory and came up with three explanations, racial discrimination, Wealth discrimination, and legal factors (Sellin, 1928). These three explanations all direct back to blacks because blacks are more likely to be poor, so they are wealth discriminated. Also, legal factors point to blacks because black defendants are more likely to have a serious charge or criminal record than whites do. Some researchers examine whether race has an impact on juveniles being convicted in the adult system (Howell, 2012) as well.

Media bias is displayed repeatedly in news coverage of black tragedies and in the persecution of black bodies. From protest following the non indictments of cop killing unarmed black men to the uninformed persecution of the BlackLivesMatter movement, mainstream media is constantly standing in opposition to anything that threatens the status quo. My five articles assessed said media bias, and if that bias whether negative or positive affected the African-American community.

There are large racial disparities in incarceration and related detainments for African Americans. They are more likely to be under the supervision of the Department of Corrections than any other racial or ethnic group (H.West, Sabol, & Greenman, 2010). Institutional racism is believed to be the reason why African Americans, especially males, are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system. On balance, the public believes that discrimination against black people is based on the prejudice of the individual person, correlates to the discrimination built into the nation’s laws and institutions (Pew’s Research Center, 2017). This belief is actually supported through several experimental studies that provide evidence that African Americans are to be seen as more criminal and threatening than others thus more likely to be arrested or even shot (Greenwald, Oakes, & Hoffman, 2003). Racism within the criminal justice system very much exists and is still relevant.

In order to understand the nature of the statistical disparity, the first aspect that must be examined is necessarily the statistics themselves. Recent data (1998) shows that more than two out of every three arrested persons are white (67.6%) and that African Americans account for only 30% of all arrests. More striking is the data adjusted per capita: African Americans are two and a half times as likely to be arrested as whites, and are even more over-represented in violent crimes, for which they are over three times as likely to be arrested. African Americans are five times as likely to be arrested in cases of robbery or murder (Walker et al., 39).

At the prosecution stage, African Americans are subject to racially biased charges and plea agreements (TLC, 2011). African Americans are less likely to have their charges dismissed or reduced or to receive any kind of alternate sentencing than their white counterparts (TLC, 2011). In the last stage, the finding of guilt and sentencing, the decisions of jurors may be affected by race (Toth et al, 2008) African Americans receive racially discriminatory sentences from judges (TLC, 2011). A New York study from 1990 to 1992 revealed one-third of minorities would have receive a lesser sentence if they were treated the same as white and there would have been a 5 percent decrease in African Americans sent to prison during that time period if they had received the same probation privileges (TLC, 2011). African Americans receive death sentences more than whites who have committed similar crimes (Toth et al, 2008). Because of the unfair treatment from the beginning to the end of the justice system there is an over represented amount of African Americans in prison (Toth et al, 2008). Some of the problems faced by African Americans in prison are gangs, racial preferences given to whites, and unfair treatment by prison guards (Toth et al, 2008).

American has a legacy of the mistreatment and disenfranchisement of African Americans. The same bad treatment that many think only took place in the past is in fact still intact, it’s just presented in a new way. The mass incarceration of blacks in the Unites States can be attributed to the “racial hierarchy” that has always existed. The U.S contributes to about 5% of the worlds overall population, and about 25% of the worlds prison population (Holland 1), “if those rates reflected jail, probation and parole populations, the numbers would rise exponentially”(Griffith 9). Statics show that there is a chance that about 1 in 3 black males are expected end up in prison (Jacobson). Although, in terms of the entire United States population African Americans only make up about 13% (Prison Activist Resource Center. Racism Fact Sheets: “ Latinos and the Criminal Injustice System.” 2003). There is a huge number of African Americans involved in the criminal justice system in some way. The average person does not know about mass incarceration nor about the racism that is in just about every part of the criminal justice system. When most people think about racism their thoughts often drift to slavery or Jim Crow laws, but for most, they do not consider how the amount of African Americans in prison today could be due to bias or racism. A significant cause of mass incarceration is the same racism that produced the Jim Crow era.

In this class we have learned about mass incarceration and the criminalization of black and brown bodies throughout U.S. history. An early example of the criminalization of brown bodies can be seen in Los Angeles when the Spanish Crown came and deemed Native Americans as “lawless” and “ungovernable.” Then, later in time, we see the criminalization of black bodies in the South during the Reconstruction Era. Laws and ideology that are motivated by colonialism and settler colonialism, have helped put more black and brown bodies in prison and exploit them for labor through convict lease systems. The criminalization of Native Americans, Hobos, and African Americans served a political, social and economic purpose which helped colonialism and settler

There are so many more African-Americans than whites in our prisons that the difference cannot be explained by higher crime among African- Americans - racial discrimination is also at work, and it penalizes African- Americans at almost every juncture in the criminal justice system.1

Woolard, Harvell, and Graham’s study points to the beginning of the unfairness view which helps answer my question of why blacks are seen as treated unfairly. It starts at a young age in African Americans and grows with experience and observation of the criminal justice

Today we see the way other people see the African Americans, Although we are all human, still they see us as a crime because of our color, and for that they limit are ways of life. Less work, Less rights, and not getting the right to vote. We have been left in the dark where we are not important in regular society. Today is the time to change that, make a change and open the peoples eyes that us African Americans are also important, also have a right in to be free and have equal rights.

Today, certain people in our nation still treat African Americans with no respect. Some people believe being a certain skin color defines your behavior and think you deserve to be killed or treated unequally. Trayvon Martin was a victim and murdered because of his skin color. “Zimmerman (Trayvon’s killer) spotted him and reported him to the police

It there a disparity within the pretrial and sentencing procedures as well? Some studies have indeed found that African Americans are treated more harshly than whites even after legally relevant factors are taken into consideration (Mitchell 2005). Despite many reforms that have taken place throughout the years racial minorities are more specifically, those suspected of crimes against white people remain victims of unequal justice (Walker 2015). An african american male was charged with robbing a chicken place in Texas where there was no physical evidence to connect him to the crime, however he was convicted by an all white jury and sentenced to life in prison (Walker 2015). Another African American man was sentenced to life in prison for an armed robbery and murder of a white man, in which he had an alibi for. The jury convinced him without any finger prints or evidence (Walker 2015). Both