Criminal Justice System: Argumentative Analysis

Alexander believed that rates and patterns of drug crime do not explain the fact that although the majority of illegal drug users and dealers nationwide are white, but prisons are only filled with blacks and Latinos. Now the statement she made is very much so true when it relates to the criminal justice system. Now I am not saying that blacks are not drug dealers but they are not along Whites sell three times as much as a black individual. Just recently down from my home, a white man who had been selling drugs for years was finally caught by the feds. However, if was living in white community with his black wife and mix kids he probably would have never got caught. This is because the police do not ride in the white area trying to catch someone

There are three significant issues concerning law enforcement, namely enacting the law, police discretion, and assessment of criminal behavior. Different entities create and enact laws that are specific for the societies those laws represent.

Prisons where essentially build to accommodate a number of prisoners but over the years it has reach over capacity. Today in the United States there are approximately 193,468 federal inmates that consisting of the Bureau of Prisons Custody, private managed facilities and other facilities. The inmates ages range from 18- 65 with the median age being in their late 30’s. This number is counting both male and female population with male being 93.3% of inmates and females being 6.7%. The number of inmates has steadily increase since 1980 with only having approximately less than 50,000 but today the number has gone more up. Drug offenses are the highest number for inmate’s imprisonment, the next highest offense would be weapons, explosives and arson; immigration and miscellaneous fall next in lines. The number for the other offenses such as robbery, extortion, fraud, bribery, burglary, larceny, property offenses and other offenses are lower. Overcrowding prison has become problematic as the prison population continue to increase leading to proper care and attention for prisoners.

Another explanation to explain why minorities are involved in the criminal justice system more would be plain discrimination. Discrimination has been around forever, and it hasn’t disappeared. It wasn’t even more than a couple of decades ago when African-Americans were victims of slavery, or were not allowed to drink from the same water fountain as a white person. Whites had power over minorities for a long period, and have recently tried to make everything equal. With minorities being treated so unfairly in the past, they would hold a grudge against the justice system. Their ancestors being discriminated against would make these people rebel (Wright).

The problems surrounding the criminal justice system range from a variety of issues in different areas of the system. But i believe they are all connected back to a societal problem, that has to do with a outdated philosophical notion “redemptive violence”. I will break down each aspect, which i find most troubling. I will cover problems between policing and peacekeeping, corrections options, and the issue of redemptive violence which is a major issue in the philosophy of the criminal justice system. These issues represent problems that have always been key topics when discussing problems of ethics in criminal justice. Policing and Peacekeeping are roles that have long been debated in usefulness to stopping crime. Corrections comes with the reality of incarceration having little chance of success but more likely a higher rate of recidivism. I well also touch on briefly the issues of attorney discretion. While the issue of redemptive violence ties them all in, As i well show this philosophy is the “root of all evil” in the issues facing the criminal justice system.

The criminal justice system is composed of three parts – Police, Courts and Corrections – and all three work together to protect an individual’s rights and the rights of society to live without fear of being a victim of crime. According to merriam-webster.com, crime is defined as “an act that is forbidden or omission of a duty that is commanded by public law and that makes the offender liable to punishment by that law.” When all the three parts work together, it makes the criminal justice system function like a well tuned machine.

Minorities remain overrepresented in crime, offending, victimization, and all stages of the criminal justice process especially confinement. Overrepresentation alludes to a situation in which a greater part of a particular group is present at various stages within the justice system than would be expected based on its part in the general population (Rosich, 2007). Minorities have always had a larger population in the prison system and after the Civil War they were overrepresented in American prison. There are a few reasons as to why races are disproportionately which are denial of jobs, poverty, and it is felt that police have bias and

Chapter 9 focuses on special topics, which reviews the five present and controversial issue in the criminal justice system. Out of all 5 of these issues I think that the use of confidential informants in war on drug is the most harmful to our nation’s correctional system and should be eliminated. The reason I think that the use of confidential informants should be eliminated drug war on drugs is because the use of CI’s frequently have negative consequence on the war on drugs (Austin & Irwin, 2012). The first example, is that CI’s are not appropriately screened and supervised, which causes innocent individuals to be arrest. In my opinion, I think that if CI’s are going to be used then they should be supervised at all time because the lack

In order to keep a safe society, it is important to establish a nation with

“We are a nation that professes freedom, yet we have this mass incarceration, this hyper-incarceration, that is trawling into it, grinding into it, our most vulnerable citizenry, and is overwhelmingly biased towards people of color.” Booker’s quote serves to question the hypocrisy of our “democratic” government leaders. The American government has two faces: one for whites and the other for minorities. It comes out into the public and wears garments that portray freedom and equality for all. However, it reveals its bare self when it incarcerates and abuses minorities’ freedom to make rich white men more wealthy and powerful.

One way African Americans have a disadvantage in the criminal justice system is the arrest rates. Per chapter 4 in the Color of Justice book, it states that “66 percent of African Americans are more likely to be arrested before the age of 30” (Samuel Walker; Cassia Spohn; Miriam Delone, 2012, p. 172). Based on the statistics given, African Americans seem more likely to be targeted for an arrest. The population for the African American community only makes up for 13 percent of the United States, and out of that statistic, most them will be arrested. There should be a justification to the judicial system for this outrageous arrest rate on the African American community. Another way on how African Americans have a disadvantage through the criminal justice system is by the judicial system. Chapter seven in the “Color of Justice” book briefly describes the racial differences on how

There are many factors responsible for the overrepresentation of African Americans in the criminal justice system. Many research studies have been done on this topic as well but a study by Justice Policy Institute stated that there were four main reason for this outcome. One being “Whites have better access to high quality treatment and alternatively social services which diverts them away from crime and imprisonment. As said before, this has to be the most obvious reason, white people have more opportunities that will keep them from falling into this type of lifestyle. Bias and discrimination is the second, “Criminal records of crime, arrest and incarceration affects African Americans more negatively with respect to employment, access to higher

This research paper discusses the issues of people who suffer from mental illness being placed in jails instead of receiving the necessary treatment they need. The number of inmates serving time in jail or prison who suffer from mental illness continues to rise. In 2015 the Bureau of Justice reported that sixty five percent of state prisoners and fourth five percent of federal prisoners suffered from mental conditions such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Individuals who suffer from these problems require special mental health treatment for their needs to be met. Many of our prisons and jails lack the necessary resources to care for these inmates and because of that inmates who do not receive the treatment they need are at a higher risk of becoming a repeat offender. Despite the research and findings that show that the criminal justice system is unable to deal with issues dealing with the mentally ill there has been limited solutions put in place. Given the challenges the criminal justice system faces it is important to address the problem and come up with better solutions. This research paper will discuss the various techniques and solutions that scholars have propped and their effect on the issue of mentally ill criminals and how the criminal justice system should approach the problem.

While the above argument should not be taken lightly, the studies number one argument with the current system of computer assisted and evaluated sentencing is the fact that it does not make objective decisions but rather is highly racists and has a higher rate of sentencing men of color rather than white men. This argument is irrelevant. The fact that the studies even states that race is never asked or elicited within the survey takes away its’ credibility (Barry-Jester). The fact of the matter is that all questions for each scenario are exactly equal and the sentencing is also exactly equal; therefore, if it is unjust, it is unjust for everyone, which technically makes it just. If there is correlative data showing that an individual lives

Crimes are committed all around the world. It can happen any second, minute, or hour of the day. It can also be done by anyone in the world. Believe it or not, the whole population in the world has a slight chance of being a victim of a crime. Those percentage may increase or decrease over time but there is still a chance of it happening. Taken into the court, the perpetrator can be trialed to either be found as guilty or come out as an acquittal. In cases now, teens have been taking part into crimes and many people believe that it's necessary to punish them at an adult level. However, I believe that the court jury should be able to further careful investigation before actually declaring a punishment system ti be accused.