Unit 7 DB 1 Introduction Today conflict theory is a significant theoretic custom within the field of sociology. It asserts that certain segments of society benefit excessively from proven economic and social arrangements, which leads them to hire the state 's coercive force in upholding that imbalance. However this conception of disadvantage and power was initially a purely economic viewpoint, ethnic and racial identities have turn out to be an integral share of conflict theory as they are discussed today. It reflects the piece of information that poverty, crime and race are indissolubly connected within American society, and when we look at the bigger picture of imbalance which is an important step to understanding the repressive ends for which the state power may be exerted. We will take a look at this research that takes a look at the study of the relationship between revenue and the number of homicides that are committed by LEOs (law enforcement officers in major US cities between 2000 and 2015, while also taking into consideration the racialized socioeconomic lines which threat is frequently perceived by ascendant groups and converted into increased levels of strong-arm type of social control. Literature Review The utilization of resources and state power is a matter of great importance in our society, and for sociologists who have created two key competing viewpoints on these types of governmental decisions. Cohn, Barkan, and Halteman (1991); Shelden (2001) stated
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.
Conflict theory maintains that the privileged, acting on the perception of threat, will use the crime control apparatus of the state to restrain and limit those who threaten their interests. Practically, this means that one should expect more aggressive law enforcement practices in areas with greater percentages of poor and non-White citizens. This ‘threat hypothesis’ has been tested in several areas of American policing. (M. Petrocelli/ Journal of Criminal Justice 31)
Chapter 4 in The Color of Justice: Race, ethnicity, and crime in America, was about the relations between society and law enforcement officers. This has been a major topic, especially in the United States for a long time. The unfortunate statistic that minorities are more likely to encounter being killed, arrested, and victimized by excessive physical force; has been a real issue even in today’s society. However, police departments are trying to combat the way police officers interact with the community; especially those of color. Although steps have been takes there are still some instances where police aggression happens. With all of the issues that arise between certain minority populated community’s police it is evident that conflict
With so many news stories and incidents surrounding the topic of race and the police these days, it is not surprising for people to come to the conclusion that racism may exist within the criminal justice system. We will be taking a deeper look into the problem to find out what other possible determinants may play a role in deciding how an officer makes an arrest or stop and continue to analyze what is happening in those contexts. The issues surrounding the topic of race is like the two faces of the same coin as there are usually two sides that we have to consider: reality and media portrayals. The reality side of situations is always there at the time, but it is so subtly hidden from society that nobody understands it unless they witness it firsthand and with the media spreading filtered information, it becomes even harder for us to identify the key issue; this is especially the case when dealing with the police and racial profiling. If you turn on the news and flip to a channel where it is reporting on the police and their arrests, you will most likely see more arrests pertaining to minorities than other ethnicities. In the news, we can often see a misrepresentation of ethnic minorities, usually African-Americans, being arrested when compared to others and this has caused problems around societies countless times. For this essay topic, I will be discussing the different issues surrounding race within the parameters of criminal justice and inequality; furthermore I will be
In this article, Robert, April, and Jorge (2010) acknowledges previous research reports on this topic and reveals that race, and racial patterns have found their way in involvement of crime. However, Robert, April, and Jorge (2010) argue that there is no significant proof that there are meaningful racial disparities in the legal systems. Although some literatures provide research on the existence of racial profiling by police, in imprisonment, and sentencing, other researchers report no significant racial disparities in the legal systems (Black and Reiss, 1970; Pilivian and Briar, 1964). However, other researchers report on ample racial disparities based on race. These researches are controversial because the size of the differences in such reports tends to bring up the question of meaningfulness of the differences observed (Wilbanks, 1987).
A large reason for the writing of this book is that there is currently not much research concerning or call for a criminal justice reform. According to Alexander, the main goal of the book is to “stimulate a much-needed conversation about the role of the criminal justice system in creating and perpetuating racial hierarchy in the United States” (2012:16). Another premise for this research is that it is no longer socially correct to use race to discriminate against people, so Alexander argues that society as a whole is now
Law enforcement and minorities have long been the focus of the criminal justice injustice within the United States. African Americans, Arab Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic and Latino Americans are a number of communities in the United States along with Caucasian or non-minorities as a whole, which make up a large portion of the United States. Racial discrimination has been a large factor the criminal justice system has been plagued with for many years. In the book Just Mercy, authored by Bryan Stevenson, Stevenson details his life’s work to help those who were wrongfully convicted and biased towards in sentencing. A big part of the book is related to racial discrimination among officers. Analytically I will be looking at the question of whether the relations between the police and minority and non-minority communities differ. I will look at number of factors related to traffic enforcement practices, use of force and arrest of minorities and non-minorities in determining if there is any differences among police community relations.
Another factor in conflicts with this nation’s police force is the differences in races between American neighborhoods and their police force. In order to reduce the presence of racism in law enforcement, the race and ethnicities of the police force must be representative of the population they are responsible
Blalock’s threat curve (4) is used to visually show the differences between police expenditures and the percent of blacks living in the cities. The threat curve is a graph to find the majority group’s inclination to protect the certain areas that they live in (Jackson, 4, 1989). The threat curve is used to show the correlation between the white population’s capability to exercise police expenditures based on the visibility of minority groups in a particular area. The idea that with the increasing presence of minority groups in a mainly white area that the police expenditures in that area will also increase. Once the minority group becomes the majority, more than 50%, then the police expenditures will start to decrease. The idea is based on the social context of a given city and the social control of the majority group will disturb the curve.
While both sides of this deeply entrenched controversy substantiate meaningful claims, neither of their arguments is exhaustive, although Walker, Spohn, and DeLone’s case is much more convincing. African American arrest statistics are best understood as the convergence of both a somewhat higher incidence of crime as well as racial discrimination in the criminal justice system. Although higher incidence of crime may initially appear to justify higher arrest rates, there is significant evidence demonstrating that not only is African American crime exaggerated by a racially discriminatory criminal justice system (one of the products of which is disparate arrest rates), the greater crime rates in and of themselves are a result of economic inequality.
A number of problems arise from race and ethnicity issues in policing practices. From the department’s perspective, issues with race and ethnicity, create negative consequences. For example, if a police department fails properly to resolve situational conflicts, this can cause loss of productivity, tension among officers of different race and backgrounds, enhanced suspicion of other officers, and increased isolation of staff member. The department will suffer tremendously if it fails
The police violence cases have gained popularity in the recent years with some of the community members terming the scenarios as post-racial experiences (Gilmore, 2004). Arguments have been established suggesting that the society lives or exists in two nations. One of the nations is perceived to consist of the blacks and the rest being the whites. The various views concerning the citizens in the US contributed to the members of the community initiating a program to assist in curbing injustices existing concerning the racial differences. The directive of this report is to identify the issues contributing to the increased racial segregation and police brutality in the society.
Conflict Theory focuses on inequality and how factors such as race keep people oppressed. Specifically, the article claims the reason why the victims were targeted was because they were not white and we have an inequality of races in the United States. Furthermore, the article includes quotes from individuals who believe that the inequality of races in the United States caused a disparity in police responding. For instance, one member of the Austin community questioned the integrity of the Austin Police Department by asking "What are you doing to make sure your officers are sharp and not targeting black and brown
This demonstrates the government’s role in initiating and prolonging racial suppression and provides the explanation for police brutality to become a federal crime(Black Radical Congress, In history, racist violence, police brutality, has been used to suppress the racial blacks and to preserve power and privileges for the white race. This was done for five primary purposes. First, it has forced black people into slavery or low wage situations. Secondly, to steal land and other resources. A 3rd was to maintain social control. A fourth purpose was to eliminate conflict in politics, social life, and employment. Lastly, the fifth purpose was to unite white people across the ethnic, class, and gender boundaries.
Over the years, there has been a rise witnessed cases of hate crimes, either caused by police brutality and/or by our own government officials. It has become a controversial topic among black and white communities that have seen police brutality take place in front of their homes to their own families and friends which sometimes result in life being lost. In the article this demonstrates the government's role in "initiating and prolonging racial suppression and provides the explanation for police brutality to become a federal