Racial Disparities Between White And Black Americans

Ex-offenders have a hard time finding long-standing, good paying employment because of the barriers they face. One of those barriers is a lack of skills needed to gain employment (Holzer, Raphael, and Stoll 4-5). Many offenders are both undereducated and unemployed when they enter prison, and while in prison, often fail to gain adequate education or skills because there are no resources offered to acquire these skills (Smith). Also, employers fear hiring ex-offenders because of their criminal past. John Rakis, who wrote, “Improving the Employment Rates of Ex-Prisoners Under Parole,” says many employers have a “prejudice,” against hiring an ex-offender (Rakis 8). Along with employers being wary of a criminal past, ex-offenders also have large gaps in their employment history, as a result of the time served in prison. These gaps cause ex-offenders to appear as undependable employees, and employers become hesitant of hiring the ex-offenders (Bracey 253). Richard Coley and Paul Barton, who jointly wrote, “Locked up and Locked out: An Educational Perspective on the U.S. Prison Population,” say, “Employers value experience and continuity of work history” (Coley and Barton 30). When an offender has spent a significant amount of

This obvious job discrimination shows that there are significant negative effects on blacks even after their prison sentence has been served. With less opportunity than whites to enter back into the workforce after incarceration, blacks end up having a higher rate of return to prison (USDOJ, 2008).

Recent sociological studies have focused on pressing social issues such as urban crime and mass incarceration, and examining the invisible link between urban crime, poverty and race. Research indicates that mass incarceration has always worked to the detriment of African Americans, especially the low-income earners (Western, 2006). The aftermath of this trend is that the employment prospects of former felons are significantly diminished (Pager, 2007). Felon disfranchisement in turn distorts the local and national politics of the county (Uggen, 2006). This paper focuses on addressing the contemporary trends and ramifications of mass incarceration of African Americans, and elucidating on the criminal justice policy and the factors contributing to the intangible but real racial divide.

Racial inequality is growing. Our criminal laws, while facially neutral, are enforced in a manner that is massively and pervasively biased. My research will examine the U.S. criminal justice policies and how it has the most adverse effect on minorities. According to the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, out of a total population of 1,976,019 incarcerated in adult facilities, 1,239,946 or 63 percent are

In today’s world, we treat criminals and offenders that are out of prison in a similar manner to how people were treated in the Jim Crow era. One example of the new Jim Crow Era is Sonya Jennings. Sonya is a felon as well as an African American mother. She was given an eight years probation after being arrested for possession of narcotics. Since Sonya is now tagged as a felon, she does not have the right to vote, she cannot receive public welfare, and she faces job discrimination (Alexander). The Jim Crow system has been planned in America today, legalizing discrimination for people with past criminal activity’s and records (Alexander).

Disparities of all kinds exist in modern day health care. One such disparity that is of particular interest is one that exists between Caucasian and African American women relating to their respective rates of breast cancer incidence and breast cancer survival. According to the American Cancer Society, Caucasian women have a higher incidence of breast cancer than African American women however; Caucasian women have a higher survival rate than African American women (ACS, 2006, as cited in Leshner, 2006). This is to say that although Caucasian woman have a higher rate of breast cancer compared to African American women, Caucasian women have a higher rate of survival. This finding is indeed a disparity in heath care, and one that begs the question as to why this is so. The reasons as to why this disparity exists are numerous and very complex. Several factors play a role in substantiating the disparity in mortality rates related to breast cancer in African American women, including differences in spirituality and religion, differences in education surrounding breast cancer, and differences in socio economic standing as it relates to ones health promotion

African American are the number one people who are more likely to try to adapt and focus on change due to not giving those unprivileged a second chance. Prejudicial treatment in a workplace makes it more difficult to obtain well-paying jobs and or acceptance of employment. Discrimination within a job is well an equality rule. “The intensification of the criminal record effect among blacks is consistent with earlier audit research (Pager 2007) and points to special barriers facing blacks in the transition from prison to work. Employers, already reluctant to hire blacks, appear particularly wary of blacks with known criminal histories. (DEVAH PAGER, BRUCE WESTERN, and NAOMI SUGIE, p.199, 2009)”. This quotation demonstrates, Discrimination in workplace but also housing a way of decrease of black house owning. African American are more likely as a black community to be turned away due to criminal record, stereotype of blacks as victims or criminals to society. Discrimination because of housing status. Criminal records on African American making very difficult to obtain employment due to criminal record and a mirror image of black. Mirror image tends to affect blacks as they turn away opportunities and experiences of a new change.  These are humans from a different race trying to break a stereotype that people isolate. This narrows down African

The last cause is cultural expectation toward race. People’s attitudes of African Americans tend to be biased due to the belief that African Americans are dangerous so they should be separated from other students as well as they are not as smart as people from Europe. Therefore, the article provides some possible solutions that would address this problem, many points should be taken in to consideration. First, we have to accept the fact of racial disparities instead of blaming. Second, we have to acknowledge our different prospective on race and racial disparities and what matters is how to find solution for this problem regardless of our different reactions to this issue. Finally, Developing a sophisticated response to intervention (RTI) to

“The United States imprisons a larger percentage of its black population than South Africa did at the height of apartheid. In Washington, D.C., our nation’s capitol, it is estimated that three out of four young black men (and nearly all those in the poorest neighborhoods) can expect to serve time in prison” (Alexander, 2012). The numbers tell the story better than words can: black people are more likely to go to prison than any other race in the United States, shown by the fact that more than 60% of the prison population is composed of people of color (The Sentencing Project, 2016). These statistics can be traced back to several different cause, including the Era of Jim Crow and the War on Drugs, both of which led to higher policing in minority areas.

Those who are attempting to gain employment in entry level jobs even with the most minor crimes have witnessed some type of discrimination. Uggen (2014) Studied men of all races apply for around three hundred entry level job. Each of the men had disorderly conduct on their records but where never found guilty. Compared to the control group, those who had the disorderly conduct on their record, had a twenty five percent less rate of getting a call back from the job that they were applying for. This article proves that there is discrimination among those who have criminal backgrounds, even if they have not been proven guilty. American law is based on the idea of innocent until proven guilty, but not everyone share that same belief (Uggen,

In addition, reduced unemployment leads to stability and a better wellbeing for everyone but especially those who need it most, namely, the long-term unemployed, the disabled, and the convicted. Even in times of plenty, Rebecca Blank identified that “low wage workers- the working poor and the near poor- face substantially more problems with job availability than do higher-wage workers”, as workers without a high school diploma are five times more likely to be unemployed than those who went to college. Therefore, regardless of economic conditions, there is a substantial part of the workforce that is “actively seeking work but not finding it” (Blank, 58). Blank’s characterizations do not even begin to address the unemployment rate for convicted felons, where “myriad laws, rules, and regulations discriminate against ex-offenders and effectively prevent their meaningful reintegration into the mainstream economy and society” (Alexander, 17). However, as government subsidized job

Criminal history and job opportunities are a major concern for some businesses, schools, and organizations due to a growing number of inmates being released from prison, and entering into the labor market (Pager, 2006). According to the Bureau of Justice, a total of 646,881 inmates was released from prison in 2015; 6,105 were in Mississippi. These inmates will be forced to seek employment. Studies demonstrate that employers are reluctant to hire an individual with a criminal record if they have the chance to hire an individual without a criminal record (Holzer, Raphael, & Stoll, 2006). Some employers will not hire individuals who have a criminal history and are prohibited by law for any participation of individuals with certain criminal records (Peck & Theodore, 2008). The research indicates that certain types of criminal records can stop an individual from working with children (Morselli & Royer, 2008). Certain management positions in corporations and community organizations are prohibited by law from employing individuals with criminal background records (Owens, 2009).

Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution proposed that humans and animals had a common ancestry, and that species survived by the process of natural selection—a process that results in the adaptation of an organism by selectively reproducing changes in its genetic makeup. Social Darwinism, derived from Darwin’s evolutionary theory, proposed that natural selection also applied to people, groups, and races. This would lead people to believe that, since whites were the more advanced societal group, they were the obvious superiors. Though Social Darwinism would decline in the twentieth century, its ideas had been used before and would be used later. This idealism was an underlying cause in many different events throughout history, such the American Civil War, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Chinese Exclusion Act, and influenced many other actions within larger events: For instance, WWII, where, although they were a key part of the U.S. army, Navajo soldiers were never raised above the rank of corporal. Even in our “advanced” society, racism is still a problem.

inequality in American society is getting worse and worse. Rich are getting richer and poor are getting poorer. Race plays the central role in determining your successes in society. In general, white people are more privileged than people of color. The enrollment rate of white people in public university is 57% while enrollment of African American in public university is 39%.(National Center for Education Statistics). It is clear that tuition is one aspect that affects the enrollment rate of people of color to the public university as African American people are more likely to suffer from poverty. Thus, free education is one of the possible ways to eliminate racial inequality in the US. The resolution of racial inequality could change the society in a good way. First, it gives kids from poor households the opportunity to succeed. They sometimes have no choice but to join a gang in order to support their family, as gangs function like a government, provide jobs and money in ghetto cities. In such areas, it is clear that there is poor public security. Even, polices hesitate to go into these areas. This leads to higher crime rate and causes more fatal crimes such as murder. If we can solve these problems by providing free education, it enables people to live in the more secure neighborhood and prevents people from committing the crimes. It is proved that people with crime rate have less chance of getting a job and it is significant among African Americans which causes them to

Racial inequality had always been a problem since 1500 up until to this day. Stereotyping was the underlying cause of racial inequality because it caused some races to feel superior to other races. Slavery happened because indentured servants led to Bacon’s Rebellion, which made the planters to not use indentured servants anymore. With that said, they started using Native Americans but they eventually diminished due to diseases. The planter then turned their attention to Africans to use as slaves to work on their plantations. Bacon’s Rebellion was a significant event that started racial inequality. Class inequality was more based on superiority. White people wanted to demonstrate their power through social classes. This then led to segregation and discrimination among the African Americans.