Racial Profiling And High Crime

To dig deeper into this overrepresentation of black criminality, we have to look at the loophole in the Thirteenth Amendment, which allowed slavery as a form of punishment in the prison system. The policymakers recognized the opportunities to acquire forced labor through mass incarceration and made use of the perpetuating cycle of racial formation, where representations and the actions of the institution often reinforce each other. The structural institution, or the policymakers in this case, used overrepresentation of black criminality to racialize crime. The overrepresentation of racialized crime then validates the need of criminal laws and their unequal application across racial groups. In the end, the institution created the false representation that justifies its actions which further feed the representation. The vicious cycle introduced racial discrimination into the justice system and guided the process of mass incarceration.

The documentary “13th” is very telling about the problems with the prison system and society's view of African-Americans. After the end of slavery, the economy too a hit because of the lack of labor needed for the industries. To solve this problem, people turned to prison workers, because it was cheap labor that weren’t protected under the 13th Amendment. This amendment abolished slavery and indentured servitude, but left the clause of criminal punishment. Because of this loophole, and because whites were very much still in control of society soon after the 13th Amendment was passed, police forces began going after African-Americans in order to fill prisons and satisfy work forces.

According to a release from the Bureau of Justice Statistics in the year of 2012 35% of the prison populations were white and 38% were black. (bjs.gov) In the year of 2012 there was only a 3% difference between white and black prisoners, yet according to the US Census Bureau in the year of 2012 in arrests made, white arrests were at seven million, and black was at 3 million. (census.gov) Even with double the arrests made somehow the actual incarceration rate of inmates is still with blacks leading by 3%. As stated above the arrests of white people were nearly double that of black yet the amount of people in prison remains at a 3% difference. Most of it boils down to money, in another census in 2012 the average income of a black male was nineteen thousand, compared to a white male who earned in average thirty thousand. (census.gov) With a higher income they have a better chance of both being able to afford a better lawyer or even paying such fines to avoid jail. People are not afforded the same chances equally in this system. Those with a higher income can afford a better lawyer and a better lawyer who can argue down the punishment. It is a flawed idea to allow criminals to lighten their punishment with money.

Racial profiling is still an ongoing issue that occurs and such an issue has led to many problems for the minority groups of this country. Whether it be African Americans, Indians, Asians, Mexicans, or Muslims, all have faced profiling at some point in time. The problems caused by this controversial subject include the impending distrust between black communities and law enforcement, unfair treatment towards all minorities by law enforcement, verbal and physical abuse of minorities by police officers which can sometimes lead to death, emotional unstableness of the victims whom have faced such a terrible judgement, and the negative impact it has on children of the minority groups.

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

There are more than two million people incarcerated in the U.S, whether it is in jails, prisons, or immigration detentions and the race with the highest percentage of imprisoned people are blacks. For many years, black men have always been at top of the list for going to prison during their lifetime. Following black men would be the Latino males, than white males, and so forth. Minorities are usually arrested more than whites. This is because they get off way easier with police officers and the law. Blacks have it the hardest where they get pulled over for any and everything. Most of the time they get killed for doing absolutely nothing wrong. Everyone is supposed to be treated fair, but police officers have their own motto for that. “Once arrested, they are more likely to be convicted; and once convicted, they are more likely to face stiff sentences.” (Knafo, 2014). Police find anything to arrest people for, especially blacks, just to be able

Of the many tribulations that plague Americans today, the increase in the amount of African American men and women in prisons is unbelievable. It would be naïve to say that the increase is due to the fact that more African Americans are committing crimes now than before. When in actuality it has very prevalent connections to a systematic plan to incarcerate a race of people by creating harsh drug laws to

Statistical accounts show consistent accord in that African Americans are disproportionately arrested over whites. What is much less lucid, however, is the real reason for this disparity.

Policing and punishment in America is hardly colorblind. It is not a coincidence that minorities serve longer sentences, have higher arrest and conviction rates, face higher bail amounts, and are more often the victims of police use of deadly force than white citizens. When it comes to criminals, many people have a preconception of what a criminal is. Usually when people think of a criminal they picture a Black or Latino face. The thought of an Asian criminal is often related to Asian gangs. Interestingly enough, White people as a group are rarely associated with the thought of crime, even though they account for 70% of arrests and 40% of the prison population each year (Russel xiv). This seems to be

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.

Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness goes into great detail on race related issues that were specific to black males, the mass incarceration, and how that lead to the development of institutionalized racism in the United States. She compares the Jim Crow with recent phenomenon of mass incarceration and points out that the mass incarceration is a network of laws, policies, customs and institutions that have been working together to warrant the subordinating status of black males. In this paper I will go into a brief examination of the range of issues that she mentions in her book that are surrounding the mass incarceration of black male populations.

Research shows that African Americans and Latinos have been the victims of racial profiling by the criminal justice system. African Americans and Latinos are at a higher risk of being arrested, prosecuted and sentenced that Whites. The main cause of racial disparities occurs because law enforcement agencies believe that African Americans and Latinos are at high risk of engaging in crime and violence. During prosecutions and court hearings, the jury and judges give harsher sentences to minority groups. As a result, minorities view the criminal justice system as unjust since it favors whites. This research paper reviews relevant literature to show white privileges and racial disparities in the criminal justice system. Additionally, the paper provides linkages between racial disparities in the United States criminal justice system and the law. In this regard, the main objective of the research paper is to give detailed insights on racial discriminations in the criminal justice system.

The convict leasing system contain about 90% of black people as if barely no white men or women were breaking laws. The percentage of blacks was so high, because of the “Pig Laws”. Those laws had been used to target and accuse many blacks for supposedly owning money, stealing a pig, or not being able to keep a job that they were often restricted from. I don’t understand how those broken laws could had even be remotely compared to true felons that are murderers. If somebody was in the system of convicts it was even worse than the known slavery. The system was brutal that whipped, killed, hardly fed, mentally, and physically abused these people. They were even easier to replace, because of so many black people being thrown into the system. Making

I still don't get the fact that there is still an issue among SAY when it comes down to race and how racial profiling can affects a person whole demeanor of life and education. However, the average test scores of black (186 points) below whites scores of 1200-1249, 19% of whites admitted with scores and 60% were black and also personal qualities were decisive, often for

The United States has lived through generations of racism and racial profiling. Racism is the belief that different races have distinctive cultural characteristics determined by hereditary factors, and that this grants same races with a significant superiority over others. After the days of the Black civil rights movement with MLK Jr., and the years of protesting to have equality in our country. The American people were left with a false notion that they had passed the days of being discriminated on based on their skin colors and they were able to walk down the street, enter a building, and get an equal opportunity as anyone else. Whether people think that we live in a racist free society, minorities today are chained to the thoughts of