Racism And The Criminal Justice System

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

Criminal Justice system has been corrupted, due to the fact that there is high number of racism inside the system and how corrupted the system can be. Racism has been major issue for the citizens of colors, which affects their daily lives. Marc Mauer mentions story about two different teenage boys and their experience in Criminal Justice System, which explains the influence of racism, resources and judicial polices have on the juvenile cases to this day.

Undoubtedly, race defines nearly aspect of the criminal justice system, from police profiling/targeting, to crimes charged and sentencing, to rates of conviction and incarceration. Blacks and Latinos make up sixty-three percent of the prison population while only making up a quarter of the total population (Hunter & Wagner, 2011). According to Michelle Alexander (in The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, “More black people are in prison or jail, on probation or on parole than were enslaved in 1850”, despite the fact that whites and blacks engage in criminal activities, especially drug offenses, at roughly comparable rates (2010). Historically, there has been a tendency to strip black and brown bodies of their humanity,

Since Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, the criminal justice system of the United States has moved past racial discrimination greatly. With the election of President Obama in 2008, it would be easier to say that discrimination no longer exists in the criminal justice system. However, despite the progress that people of colour have made in society, there still exists a great racial disparity that can be seen through the rising trends of the sentencing and incarceration of minorities.

Due to the history of the United States, there are inherent biases within a myriad of institutions. One of these institutions which have policies which negatively affect minorities is the criminal justice system. There is an overrepresentation of African Americans and Latinos within prisons. Discrimination and prejudice have morphed throughout time to continue to keep individual without power. There are more African American adults in prison or jail, on probation or parole—than were enslaved in 1850 (Alexander. New Jim Crow.) Through the history of this country, this trend has developed to continue the disfranchisement of minorities. Legally it is acceptable to discriminate against criminals and Africans Americans and Latinos are viewed as criminals (Alexander). “Once you’re labeled a felon, the old forms of discrimination—employment discrimination, housing discrimination, denial of the right to vote, and exclusion from jury service—are suddenly legal” (Alexander). The United States prison population has quintupled in the last 30 years; now having the highest rate of incarceration in the whole world. This is mainly due to the unproportionate incarceration of minorities.

This paper discusses the racial inequities of the United States criminal justice system, especially pertaining to the African American male. Incarcerated African American males out number incarcerated White males by 6 times the United States national average (The Sentencing project, 2013). Racial disparities start with the first steps of being detained by law enforcement in the community. Disparity treatment progresses throughout the arrest, the investigation, interrogation, the trial process, representation of the arrested party, the sentencing process, and post release effects. Some factors will be provided to show some of the reasons as to why African American males and other minorities are

For hundreds of years’ race and crime in America has been an ongoing issue. Therefore, the criminal justice topic I am going to research throughout this paper will be regarding the different races and crimes that are most commonly committed and how each different race is treated in the criminal justice system also how they are each individually affected by the American justice system. I will discuss background information of each race as well as problems and issues they are currently facing today regarding the criminal justice system.

It is important to realize that one of the greatest challenges that has been and is still currently faced by people of color is the racial disparity in sentencing in the criminal justice system. As seen by criminal justice reform agency, The Sentencing Project, “Racial minorities are more likely than white Americans to be arrested; once arrested, they are more likely to be convicted; and once convicted, they are more likely to face stiff sentences” ("Shadow Report to the United Nations”). This can easily be interpreted by observing the data presented (see fig.1), according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, one in every three black males are likely to be imprisoned within their lifetime and one in every six Latino males are likely to be imprisoned within their lifetime as well, this in comparison to the fact that one in every seventeen white males are likely to be imprisoned within their lifetime is quite disgraceful. Although it is very hard to swallow, this is just one of the many harsh realities which face progressive America. This only helps in asking the question, in this new progressive, post-racial America is this racial gap in sentencing showing any considerable decrease?

American society is a great nation made up of rich racial diversity, a situation that brings sensitivity on the way different races are treated, especially in the justice system. Statistics on the field of criminal justice shows unequal racial proportions of people arrested and charged in courts of law. The statistics trigger unfounded theories that some races, especially the African American race, are mistreated may be due to their skin color. The assumptions regarding unfairness in the justice system on lines of racial alignment may or may not be true, hence the need for more scrutiny. According to Justice On trial (n.d), in regard to the allegations on justice system, it is imperative that the stake holders in the justice system consider

Race and crime are interwoven with how justice and criminology are handled. Police have a racial bias against blacks and incarcerate them in larger numbers than any other race. Statistically, blacks have a higher arrest and incarceration rate than other races do. Due to police being taught that racial profiling is a necessary part of the job, blacks have now become a prime target for many false arrests and often serve jail time for a crime they may not have committed. The black community often expresses their distaste with the criminal justice system, and how their community is handled, but encounter opposition from a group of people who believe nothing is wrong. With justice and bias, there are many improvements that need to be made regarding how criminals are arrested and charged, especially when race is a factor.

While the nation has recognized the significance of having the first African American man as President, clearly societal issues of race are still very prevalent in the United States in the 21st century. What is striking about the discussion of race is how frequent national attention to these issues is focused on race and the criminal justice system. However, people may view the justice issues in these situations, they represent moments in our national life in which it becomes clear that longstanding differences in how we perceive the criminal justice system are still very evident today and, in many ways, continue to define the racial divide in the country. For these reasons, as well as ongoing concerns regarding public safety and the impact of incarceration on communities of color.

Have you ever pondered on the inequality of punishment within the United States, and its correlation with its judicial system? A land well known for its prestigious freedom, opportunity, and overall liberty, while its criminal justice system, is supposed to serve justice, but in actuality, justice for whom, for wealthier white men, rather than persons of interest like colored and marginalized people? Systematically, individuals continue to be segregated due to their race, and social class. As a result, this is supporting an unequal punishment for the same type of crime- separate, but unequal.

Racial inequality in the criminal justice system is a belief that through research and statistics is a structural inequality that exists at different levels noted throughout the system stemming from those convicted and those convicting. According to literature published by the Leadership Conference, the nation’s premier civil and human right coalition, “racial inequality is growing, not receding. Our criminal laws, while facially neutral, are enforced in a manner that is massively and pervasively biased. The injustices of the criminal justice system threaten to render irrelevant fifty years of hard-fought civil rights progress” (Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, 2011). In today’s

The purpose of my project is to study and learn how race influences the legal justice system issues such as punitive crime policy, contact with law enforcement officers, etc. I intend to research some of the history of crime policy in the U.S. and whether or not racial discrimination bias within the legal justice system, and if racial neutrality is even possible. I will begin my research using the school library and academic sources, such as books and peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles, as well as educational web sources. I will specifically use sources that high point the racial and prejudice inequalities found within the legal justice system, and that suggest critical and sociological clarifications for those incongruences. My hypothesis is that I will discovery that racial bias in the legal justice system has produced some of the racial inequalities that exist and that racial neutrality within the legal system is unlikely.

Is there structural inequality in the criminal justice system? When we watch the news or read our newspapers, we can see that most of the criminals portrayed are of African American or Hispanic descent. Being a fan of true crime novels, they even depict more Black male criminals than White males. Are African American males committing more crimes than White males? What factors are involved for Blacks to be more involved in crime? How do African American stereotypes play a role with possible racial profiling from the policing force? Are Blacks treated fairly in the criminal justice system? After much research, I hope to answer these questions and determine if African Americans