Race Discrimination Justice
Discrimination
RACE DISCIMINATION CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Race and Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System
Racial inequality has long been an issue in the American society. Despite making substantial progress in creating a more racially equal society, there are still many issues involving race and discrimination that can be found today. The criminal justice system was designed to treat all individuals equally under the law. However, covert racism and discrimination still plague the system and many minorities are adversely impacted and are not treated equally under the law. While most judges and public officials profess a strong dedication to remaining racially impartial, the evidence suggests otherwise. This literature review will focus on various points that indicate that there is a substantial amount of inequality to found within the criminal justice system in our modern society.
Background
Racial differences in the criminal justice system have been important topics since the inception of the modern criminal justice system. However, whether or not there are meaningful racial disparities in the criminal justice system has been given increased attention by various disciplines in the social sciences since the 1960s (Crutchfield, Fernandes, & Martinez, 2010). Many have studied the overall trends regarding this topic from the early American antebellum period to modern sentencing practices and imprisonment statistics.
A number of empirical studies concerned with ethic differences in the adult criminal justice system argue that evidence for obvious discrimination or racial and ethnic bias has not been established based on the statistics on arrests, pretrial processing procedures, trials, and sentencing decisions (Crutchfield, Fernandes, & Martinez, 2010). Much of the disparity among race is attributed to high crime areas that are primarily populated by minority populations (Gross, 1997). In urban areas with high rates of minority populations as well as high crime rates can explain at least a portion of the inequality in the unequal prison populations.
However, many alternative theories also exist. Some research offers alternative explanations of racial incarceration disparity present in the U.S. society. Marxist or economic theories of racial incarceration disparity propose that the real bias in incarceration is not race, but economic class (Yates, 1997). Such research indicates that because of historical disadvantages, blacks are disproportionately represented in the underprivileged class. Furthermore, economic elites use the criminal justice system to control the "problem" segment of society as blacks are urban poverty-stricken and unemployed. Therefore, blacks are disproportionately incarcerated not because of the racial bias but because of their lack of resources and their low socioeconomic status. Racial-discrimination theories hold that racial incarceration disparity is caused by the discriminatory actions of racially biased actors in the criminal justice system. Generally, discrimination theories assert that whites perceive blacks as a social threat, have negative attitudes toward them, and, consequently, engage in discriminatory actions against them.
However, the problem cannot be isolated to economic explanations alone. On July 16th, 2009, Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. Of Harvard University returned to his home after a trip in Africa only to find that he had misplaced the key to his home in Cambridge, MA (Staples, 2009). Dr. Gates is a successful professor at a prestigious university who is also a African-American. When Dr. Gates realized that he could not open the front door to his house he asked his limousine driver, who happened to be Africa American as well, to help him with the door. Some neighbors assumed that the two black men were attempting to break into the Dr. Gates residence based on their racial profiles and called the police. The police subsequently arrested Dr. Gates for challenging his authority because they did not respect the professor's
race & arrest rates? Black arrests vs. white arrests The higher frequency of black arrests has been taken to a whole new level as Criminal Justice System is deemed predisposed towards minorities. Primary focus is on two questions here: Is the high frequency of black arrests directly related to unfair and prejudiced organizational practices? Is the higher frequency of black arrests related to their involvement in crimes? (Walker, et al., 1997) The most logical
Arrest Rates Against Race Is there a relationship between race and arrest rates? Is there a relationship between race and arrests Rates? For over a century, the disproportionate arrests and conviction rates continues to raise controversial debates within the western nations. The prevalence of higher black arrests than the whites has been raising controversial concerns about the question on whether the criminal justice systems have been getting biased towards the minority groups. A
Arrest Rates The possibility of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system warrants attention from researchers, in order to encourage evidence-based policy change. Prior research has shown a clear connection between race and rates of arrest, but it is unclear whether the relationship is due to bias in the criminal justice system or bias in public perception of crime, leading to the belief that blacks are more dangerous than whites. This
Moreover, many people in my neighborhood are able to have people come into their homes and provide services, such as housecleaning and lawn maintenance. Overwhelmingly, the providers of these resources are Hispanic, and the majority of them are illegal immigrants to the United States. Therefore, the hypocrisy of people is alarming; many people in my community are content to live a more comfortable lifestyle using the labor of illegal
Race and Incarceration Prison The American Penal System has gone through various changes but the most profound changes have been studied in relation the race inequality. Going to jail has become the norm for most of the African-American men. This inequality through incarceration is visible not only in men but in women also. There was a 78% increase in the criminal justice control rates for black women. It was studied that between
Race and Community Your Community The community in which I have lived for the past several years of my life is Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a relatively agricultural community that combines some major metropolitan features with a distinctive suburban flair. Traditionally, this community has not been noted for its racial diversity, as the vast majority of its residents are Caucasian. According to the United States Census Bureau's information as of 2009, 87.9%
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