Structured Inequality and Incarceration Essay

The United States features a prison population that is more than quadruple the highest prison population in Western Europe (Pettit, 2004). In the 1980s, U.S. legislation issued a number of new drug laws with stiffer penalties that ranged from drug possession to drug trafficking. Many of those charged with drug crimes saw longer prison sentences and less judicial leniency when facing trial. The War on Drugs has furthered the boom in prison population even though violent crime has continued to decrease steadily. Many urban areas in the U.S. have a majority black population. With crime tendencies high in these areas, drugs are also prevalent. This means that a greater percentage of those in prison are going to be black because law

The following piece of work will discuss racism within the criminal justice system by viewing the Black Lives Matter movement, the roles of law enforcement and how that effects citizens, and potential solutions to the problems in the system. Within our criminal justice system, it is evident that there is a problem by the ratio of blacks in prison, and the number of police brutality cases in the country.

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

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

The first article I am going to focus on, Foreword: Addressing the Real World of Racial Injustice in the Criminal Justice System, was written by Donna Coker . Primarily, the article talks about the statistical evidence of in justice regarding racial profiling in policing and imprisonment. Official incarceration data speaks for itself when it shows that although African Americans make up twelve percent of the U.S. population, they make up of almost half of the population incarcerated for crimes (Coker, 2003). Researchers with the Bureau of Justice Statistics estimate that twenty-eight percent of African Americans will be imprisoned at one point in their life (Coker, 2003). A study conducted by the Sentencing Project reports that nearly one in three African American men between the ages of twenty and twenty-nine are under the supervision of the criminal justice system on any given day (Coker

Racial disparity in the correctional population refers to the difference in the number of minorities versus whites represented inside institutions. “The American Correctional Association acknowledges that racial disparity exists within adult and juvenile detention and correctional systems. This contributes to the perception of unfairness and injustice in the justice system ("ACA Policies and," 2004).” “Blacks comprise 13% of the national population, but 30% of people arrested, 41% of people in jail, and 49% of those in prison. Nationwide, blacks are incarcerated at 8.2 times the rate of whites (Human Rights Watch, 2000).” This difference in proportionality does not necessarily

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 today’s society, discrimination continues to affect millions of minorities from inappropriate name calling to being shot by a law enforcement officer because you were perceived to be dangerous. The underlying effects of racial discrimination are seen in all aspects of our society, especially in our social institutions. These social institutions range from the educational system to our government, yet racial discrimination is more evident in the criminal justice system. When analyzing how the criminal justice system discriminates against minorities we are able to do so through the visible disparities within the system. Unfortunately, these disparities display African Americans having the highest population rates in the criminal justice system, therefore, we can immediately conclude this disparity in population is due to the injustices conducted by the system. Thus, there is a need for urgent change not just within the criminal justice system but within all social institutions beginning with our government. This change should create greater opportunities for minorities to enter the political field in our government as well as promoting higher participating in voting. Yet, the criminal justice system within all its aspects practices discrimination due to its deeply interwoven prejudice, institutional racism, and socioeconomic status.

You are driving down the highway, obeying the traffic laws. You look in the rear view mirror and you see flashing lights, cop lights, and a siren. You pull over and you are not too sure why. What is clear from research is that race is a consistent predictor of attitude toward the police. A study in Cincinnati found that black drivers had longer stops and higher search rates than white drivers. (www.nij.gov)There are 2.2 million people behind bars in the nation’s prisons and jails today. This is a 500% increase in the last 40 years, prisons are becoming overcrowded and it is only getting worse. Today, people of color make up 37% of the U.S population but make up 67% of the prison population. African American men are six times more likely to be incarcerated and hispanic males are more than twice as likely to be incarcerated than white males. Even white males commit the same crimes, and they still do not get the same amount of time as blacks and hispanics do. This raises questions, is our justice system fair? Is the criminal justice system operated to target people of color? The risk that African Americans are unfairly targeted should be a special concern for the U.S supreme court which it seems to not be. The color of someone 's skin should not be taken into consideration in the justice system, it is unfair to the person being charged, it is unjustifiable and it is

In most states, African Americans see a much higher incarceration rate than other races. In all five states that I found Blacks and Hispanics see more incarceration than Whites do. On top of that, African Americans see 4 to 5 times more incarceration than Whites (Nellis 2014). A big problem is that a higher percentage of blacks are arrested than whites when they commit the same crime. There are many factors as to why blacks are incarcerated more than others. One of these factor is hard drug laws. Blacks are 4 times as likely to be arrested for drug offenses and 2.5 times more likely to be arrested for drug possession (Nellis 2014). The problem arises when one realizes that blacks and whites use drugs at the same rate. Research found that race

In 2009 the imprisonment ratio for African American men in state and federal jails was 6.7 times more than the ratio for white men (4,749 versus 708, respectively, per 100,000). The imprisonment rate for Hispanic American men was 2.6 times higher than for white men (1,822 per 100,000). There were likewise variations in the imprisonment of white and African American females, however not as terrific when it comes to males (BJS, 2010).

The Criminal justice system is an institution that is suppose to uphold social control, manage crime, and enforcing penalties for violations in society. What are some of the racial disparities among African Americans in the Criminal Justice system today? The criminal justice system has been around for decades supporting and facilitating the cities of crime. So why is it that most of our prisons and jails hold a substantial amount of people of color? People of color have come a long way from slavery by becoming their own storeowners, buying their own homes, and even attending schools with other people of race. African American’s struggle with a wealth gap in today’s society; which puts them in situations that could influence to sell or deal drugs for money to support their families. The officer official’s then would use this bias toward African Americans to pull them over with no cause, other to see if they are transporting drugs. The criminal justice system has more inmates of color in the prisons and jails systems then white and other minorities combined, so this should be a red flag that our system is picking on one type of culture. In this paper, after discussing the wealth gap, racial profiling, and the institutions system will become clear why things need to change and a new system of none racial bias needs to come into play.

Current crime statistics data showing percentages of imprisoned minorities is an example of the inequalities that are occurring in our justice system with African Americans make up 58% of the prison population. There is a generational existence of bias in the justice system and many social institutions due to inequality created by avoiding or ignoring the problem. What was once determined as the norm in reference to higher criminal rates within racial and socioeconomic classes has now

The struggle of black communities and individuals can be observed in many aspects of contemporary society. Studies by the Department of Justice have found in past reports that black and latino American’s were not only more likely to be ticketed and searched by police, but also twice as likely to be met with force when confronted by police officers (Gallagher, 2003). Also two-thirds of convicted individuals on drug charges were black, regardless of the equivalency of drug use by white and black Americans (Gallagher, 2003). The key point to take away with criminal activity convictions is the higher percentage of black’s being charged then their white counterparts regardless of the equal frequencies of the activity in question. However, there are many more examples of modern discrimination, such as the housing market and city

People like to call America the land of the free which is ironic given that as a country it has the largest percentage of incarcerated citizens; this in itself is already a significant problem and is indicative of deep and pernicious influences that are warping American society. the severity of this problem notwithstanding, the blatant racial inequality in the incarceration rates between white and black individuals is heinous crime -- on par with if not more deplorable than slavery itself. In particular young black men seem particularly vulnerable to this disparity. In contrast to the challenges of investigating and understanding this issue, given its complexity and how deeply it is interwoven in our society, the motivation for this research is easy to understand. This inequality is harmful. It is harmful to the ones who get imprisoned, it is harmful to the communities they leave behind, and it is harmful to our nation as a whole due to the deep rifts it creates between fellow citizens. Ultimately this paper was written to shed light upon the continuing institutional racism against the black community that leads to serious health concerns; as well as expose the mechanisms that drive it, in the hope of contributing to creating a nation truly free of the legacies of slavery.