The purposes of this research examine the interaction of educated or non-educated people within social diverse groups. I chose this topic because I wanted to understand people opinion and attitudes towards people convicted criminals and how the court system may influence this decision. I believe it is the first step to understand why people are prejudice, racist, and why they think of committing crime. The treatment of criminals is a very big issue in today 's society. Most Americans will encounter the court system in some shape or form in their lifetime. Our judicial system is not perfect. There are many problems with it and people are constantly complaining about everything from a parking ticket to the death penalty. Some Americans feel …show more content…
Fordyke. One of the things Fordyke stated in the book was “In human societies priestly groups always having tended to seize the high ground. Those who occupy such ground in modern times not only find it easier to continue their dominance, but come to act as "gate-keepers", the peer-reviewers who decide what the rest will be allowed to read and whose research will be funded. This has its dangers.” This means that most people will always want to be in power and assert their dominance. Although not everyone is a dominant personality. When you believe that you have power you feel that other people are beneath you. Reading Fordye book reminded me of Herbert Spencer’s survival of the fittest theory. In this theory of natural selection, individuals in a population who are well-adapted to a particular set of environmental conditions have an advantage over those who are not so well adapted. The advantage comes in the form of survival and reproductive success. “For example, those individuals who are better able to find and use a food resource will, on average, live longer and produce more offspring than those who are less successful at finding food. Inherited traits that increase individuals ' fitness are then passed to their offspring, thus giving the offspring the same advantages” from PBS writers. Both of these Fordye and Spencer theories are relate to my subject because, in
Crime has always been a hot topic in sociology. There are many different reasons for people to commit criminal acts. There is no way to pinpoint the source of crime. I am going to show the relationship between race and crime. More specifically, I will be discussing the higher chances of minorities being involved in the criminal justice system than the majority population, discrimination, racial profiling and the environment criminals live in.
Before proposing a reform to the American criminal justice system, we must first examine the problems that plague the process of justice on all levels. American society plays an important role in shaping the criminal justice system. Their beliefs and values determine the type of deviants and the consequences of the crimes. Often their beliefs contradict each other.
The diversity issue focused on in this paper will be racial disparity in sentencing. This paper will also focus on some of the reasons why racial disparity exists within sentencing. One of the research methods used in this paper will be case studies. In society today there are a diversity of citizens, of offenders, and leaders within in the court system. However, race still plays a big role in the Criminal Justice system especially during the sentencing portion. Although racial dynamics may have changed over time, race still exerts an undeniable presence in sentencing process. This ranges from disparate traffic stops due to racial profiling to imposition of the death penalty based on the race of
It has been brought up that certain race and ethic affects a person’s sentencing. Many studies have addressed the question are African Americans treated more severely than similarly situated whites? (Mitchell, 2005). Observers had indeed noted that black defendants get more severe sentencing than white defendants do (Spohn, 1981). For many years’ social scientist has examined this theory and came up with three explanations, racial discrimination, Wealth discrimination, and legal factors (Sellin, 1928). These three explanations all direct back to blacks because blacks are more likely to be poor, so they are wealth discriminated. Also, legal factors point to blacks because black defendants are more likely to have a serious charge or criminal record than whites do. Some researchers examine whether race has an impact on juveniles being convicted in the adult system (Howell, 2012) as well.
The United States criminal justice system have been known to be one of the most injustice system in the world. Criminal justice is known as the system of law enforcement, involving police, lawyers, courts, and corrections, used for all stages of criminal proceedings and punishment (Dictionary.com). One of the most heartbreaking things that happen in the United States every year is innocent people being condemned for crimes that
To understand how deeply embedded prejudice is in our criminal justice system we must acknowledge that it is influenced by our society which
The existence of racial disparity and structural inequality within the criminal justice system renders the concept of true justice for all unobtainable. The statistics of convictions and prison sentences by race definitely support the concept that discrimination is a problem in the justice system as well as the insignificantly number of minority judges and lawyers. There are a multitude of circumstances that influence these statistics according to the “Central Eight” criminogenic risk factors. The need for programs and methods to effectively deter those at risk individuals has never been greater and the lack of such programs is costing society in countless ways.
The racial stereotyping of minority groups is a prevalent problem within the United State’s criminal justice system. It is a regrettable issue which permeates American society. The young Black male, in particular, is often portrayed as a criminal based on incorrect assumptions regarding who perpetrates crime. There are several components contributing to the criminal stigma of Blacks. The way crime is conveyed by American culture is possibly as important as how crime actually functions. The widespread belief that Black males commit the majority of crime skews the view society’s perception of Blacks. Typifications of Black males include a violent, threatening, thug-like character. The connection between race and crime is so deeply seeded in
In the article “Race, wrongful conviction and exoneration” by Earl smith and Angela J. Hattery, these sociologist discuss the issues of racial discrimination and the amount of wrongful convictions within the American justice system. They also discuss the issues on the lack of exonerations based on race in our prison systems. As stated in the article “Approximately 75% [of citizens] in jail are members of minority groups and on average have spent 13 years in prison for crimes they did not commit.” (Smith) This heart breaking statistic shows the true facts that there is an increasing issue in the amount of people in jail for crimes they did not commit due to their race. The main focus of the article is to raise awareness about the issues within our countries justice system and to understand the reasons for these inequalities on a deeper level.
The United States Criminal Justice System has been what most citizens ask for a reform, but we’ve seen little to no change through the years. Currently, our country has less than 5 percent of the world’s population but almost 25 percent of the total prison population, meaning that we have the highest incarceration rates in the world and it’s been increasing through the past years. The United States of America in 1974 had 100 out of every 100,000 people incarcerated; today, roughly 700 out of the 100,000 people are prison (Madden, 2015, p,14). Mass incarceration has been one of the biggest problems in our Criminal Justice System and one of the biggest issues to be solved. American citizens have has several
As reported by the U.S. Justice Department, there has been significant increase in incarcerated African American males, in comparison to Hispanic and White males. It is believed that social interaction, area of residency, and social networks have major influence on the increasing crime and incarceration rates of African American males. A larger portion of White males hold more positions within the U.S. Judicial system than African American males who make up a larger population of prison inmates and less involvement in legislation. This coincides with data suggesting that African American’s have lower percentages of receiving or obtaining higher education, placing them in areas of low-income and less opportunities. Social inequality in the judicial system is questioned as well as demographics and economics will be researched in order to provide in depth analysis of these national percentages of African Americans. Additional research is conducted to investigate circumstances once an African American male enters the criminal judicial system, and a generational cycle of crime. There is more knowledge and potential opportunities within the prison system versus the lack of resources these prisoners would feel they would have upon their release.
One would be hard pressed to argue that the criminal justice system in America is perfect. Everyday, countless headlines can be seen nationwide about some perceived injustice within the courts. Our criminal justice system is no different than our society wherein special people get special consideration, men and women are held to different standards, and so forth and so on. As an American, I have accepted these facts of life. I am a father of two boys, a varsity baseball coach and a police veteran of 17 years. In my experience as a father, coach and police veteran, I have seen and heard it all.
In a research paper titled “The Interaction of Race, Gender, and Age in Criminal Sentencing: The Punishment Cost of Being Young, Black, and Male” three university researchers ask a series of question to determine if race, gender, and age have an effect on judicial sentencing, and how “these factors might contextualize on another”. The authors look at previous research to help in aiding what questions would be appropriate to ask for this study. They cite a number of different sources to help them achieve their goal of finding an answer to their questions.
“Americans have always had ambivalent feelings about crime and punishment” (71). Many say our American System of Justice is broken, for they believe the system is looking to just punish those who have done wrong and is not looking to rehabilitate them, especially for juveniles. Then there are some who say, the American System of Justice does not need to change for it already punishes criminals with due process, and rehabilitates them. The American System of Justice should change the way they punish criminals, because those who are incarcerated for nonviolent crimes are taking up space in our prison system, juveniles are being put in solitary confinement and coming out more damaged than they were, and lastly some offenders are serving to long for the crime they committed.
Darwin's survival of the fittest was a strong belief Roosevelt held and theorized all life followed the ideas of natural selection. Natural selection and survival of the fittest are theories that the strong will naturally survive by both, eliminating the weak and having greater likelyhood to pass on.