Extent Race Plays a Role in the Different Sentencing Ranges Applicable to Different Crimes

¶ … race plays a role in the different sentencing ranges applicable to different crimes.

Race and Sentencing Guidelines

Race has been a consideration in sentencing guidelines for quite some time. Many individuals believe that those who are not Caucasian receive sentences that are harsher and punishment that is stricter than others

Because of this, there is concern that perhaps the sentencing guidelines and the entire criminal justice system is racially biased. This is evidenced not only by individuals of other races who feel that they have been treated unfairly but by statistics which indicate the number of non-Caucasian individuals on death row and within the prison system in general.

The purpose of this paper will be to show that there is disparity between the sentencing guidelines that are given to Caucasians and to non-Caucasians and to look at the extent race plays a part in the prosecution for different crimes. This is not only the case for small crimes or large crimes, but for all crimes across the spectrum. In an effort to be fair, opposing views will be discussed and the problems and proposed solutions will be discussed as well. By discussing all of these issues it can be seen that individuals who are of minority races often meet with harsher punishments than others who come into the criminal justice system.

There are many reasons that this happens, and one of those could potentially be the fact that many of these minority individuals do not have the finances to hire good lawyers

. Many of these individuals end up with public defenders and while public defenders do the best for their clients they are often overworked and underpaid. Because of this, individuals that require public defenders often do not get as good of a chance at being paroled or having a lighter sentence than those that can afford high-priced attorneys. There are many more minorities in the prison system and on death row than there are Caucasian individuals, and there are more men than women. For the purposes of this paper the gender differences will not be an issue. Whether they are male or female will be irrelevant; the only concern will be with what race they belong to. According to the Supreme Court, there should be equal treatment for all individuals who are found to the guilty of an infraction of the law

. This should be true regardless of the race of the individuals but sadly there seems to be loopholes in the criminal justice system which cause many of these individuals to fall into difficulty with the law and then to have trouble getting out of this cycle of scrutiny and arrest

There are Caucasian individuals in this country that would argue that minority races have more crime and that they are not as good of individuals as those of Caucasian ancestry. However, this does not necessarily mean that this observation is accurate. One must consider the possibility that those that are of minority race in this country are not committing crimes at a higher rate, but that they are being targeted at a higher rate and therefore the crimes that they do commit are being discovered more than the crimes that are committed by Caucasian individuals

. Many of these crimes relate to drugs and so the main focus of this paper will be on the issue of drug crimes. However, other crimes will be considered in order to show that this is something that travels across the entire criminal spectrum and is not limited to one area of crime. This is important to understand because it indicates the racial biases that individuals in this country hold are not related to the particular type of crime and are tied only to the race of the individual in question.

It is not so much the particular police officers that cause any type of issue but it is the criminal justice system itself. The court system and the lawyers that these individuals get are often biased, or at least seemingly so, against individuals of minority races and therefore much of what they attempt to do to help Caucasian individuals they will not do to help minority individuals

. They must operate within the confines of the law, but there are many loopholes and much room for discretion on the part of many judges. A judge who wishes to make an example out of an individual who has committed a particular crime can easily pick someone who is of minority race and get away with this idea because the judge has indicated that this person is being used as an example. In this way, this person can be punished more harshly than would normally happen but the judge will not have any concerns over being questioned about his bias on that individual's race.

It is also true that most individuals who operate the court systems are Caucasian males and therefore it is quite likely that there is much bias against those of other races. While it is difficult to prove much of this there is enough evidence given in studies and various articles that will be discussed in this document to lend some credibility to this opinion. Because individuals of minority races are troubled by criminal activity and harsher sentences more often than those of Caucasian origin, these individuals often argue that authorities are targeting them and that Caucasian individuals committing the same crime would go free or receive a lighter sentence

. As has been mentioned, this is very difficult to prove because judges and lawyers as well as police officers who obviously and blatantly allow this kind of thing to happen would receive difficulty from many others who would believe that this is not the proper way to do things. However, because there are so many various ways where individuals can to get by with punishing someone differently than they have punished someone else there is no real way to say that these individuals are doing anything wrong and prove it with any type of means that would require them to stop and rethink what they are doing.

For example, if sentencing guidelines for a particular crime are between 5 and 10 years there is no reason why a judge cannot give a white man five years and a black man nine years. Even for people that might say that this was unduly biased or racist in some way toward the minority individual, there is no way for the judge to end up in any kind of trouble for doing this because he followed the sentencing guidelines that were available and stayed within the limits offered to him to sentence each individual. There are many ways that work to make it sound as though one person did something worse than another, and this can greatly affect their sentencing. This can have to do with the type of weapon that an individual may have had, the intent that the individual is believed to have had at the time, and whether he had a prior record of any type of arrests

Because there is an opinion in this country that black and other minority individuals are targeted more often the white individuals, it is quite possible that minority individuals will have an arrest record. This is not due to the fact that he has committed more crimes than a Caucasian individual, but has to do with the fact that authority figures appear to be more willing to arrest and prosecute someone who is of minority descent

. It is clear that something needs to be done about this issue because many individuals who are being punished unfairly are being required to suffer with the consequences of a corrupt criminal justice system

. This does not mean to imply that individuals in the system are all this way or that there are no minority individuals in the higher levels of the criminal justice system. However, there are a majority of Caucasian individuals in this system and many of them appear to have biases in the way that they sentence individuals who are not of their race.

Is It Discrimination?

It is difficult to say exactly what should be done about this, however, because it is a problem that is far-reaching and has such a wide range that it would be very difficult to correct it in all areas of the country and with all judges that may feel this way. Naturally, it is wrong for these individuals to treat someone of one race differently than they treat someone of another race. Constitutional measures and all other information that these judges are to go by specifically prohibits them from treating someone different based on their race

. This is discrimination of a very strong form and it is something that people insist that they do not tolerate in this country.

However, despite the insistence that this is not tolerated it goes on every day in this country when individuals argue that blacks are treated less fairly in the criminal justice system that Caucasian individuals. The same is true for Hispanics and other individuals who are of different cultures and races. Supreme Court decisions often travel around in circular patterns and make the actual understanding of the ruling very unclear

. There is much confusion when trying to read these types of document and the court often goes on for many pages before they actually get to the point of the matter. By the time they have talked on so many issues it is quite possible that race has come into the picture and has gone unnoticed or has been categorized under some other term that would not cause offense

. It is difficult to read these Supreme Court opinions and understand what they have to say without becoming lost by all of the legalese that is used in these documents.

Courts, Judges, and the Real World

They often speak of a world that does not seem overly realistic when compared with the world that we actually live in . They talk of justice and they talk of everyone being equal but they do not treat these individuals in such a way as to indicate that they actually believe that. When they deal with race they discuss it in such a way that they appear to say that it is neutral. In other words, they state that police officers do not profile individuals based on race, that those who conduct searches and seizures would not be that likely to search an individual who is of a minority race, and that everyone has an understanding of when they can refuse a police search and when they cannot

In reality, the world is very different from this and most people are not aware of being able to refuse this type of search. Most people who come upon a police officer requesting a search of their person or property will comply because they feel that they will get into much more trouble if they do not agree

. They may believe, like most individuals in this country seem to, that refusing a search admits some form of guilt. This is not necessarily the case, as many individuals who have done nothing wrong take offense to having their privacy intruded upon and will not want an officer searching their person or their property for any reason. However, when individuals resist this type of search officers tend to believe that they have guilt and that they are hiding something. When these people are of minority race officers tend to be more believing of the idea that these individuals are hiding something and this is why they do not wish to consent to a search

. This is often not the case, but because of racial profiling and the attitudes that many individuals have about others of minority race in this country it often becomes a problem for many.

The Burden of Proof and Suspicion

Another problem that exists with the court is burden of proof

. There have been many allegations brought by individuals in the past that an officer has treated them unfairly based only on their race. However, the burden of proof that these individuals have in the court system is so difficult that most cannot meet it

. When they cannot meet this burden they are often found to be guilty and many individuals argue that the burden is excessive and unfair to these individuals. When the burden is unable to be met by these individuals they look as though they are lying or trying to slander the officers who arrested them. This could not be farther from the truth in most cases but it does happen and because the Supreme Court has such a strong burden of proof placed on these individuals that are very few that are ever able to meet it and prove that an officer treated them unfairly simply because of their race

Part of the reason that this is so hard to meet is largely due to the fact that, even if an officer did treat them unfairly based on their race, there are usually many other reasons that an officer can come up with that he or she can use to state that an individual was treated differently than another. These can include the use of a weapon, what type of attitude the individual displayed, whether or not they resisted arrested originally, and countless other factors

. Because so many different things can be utilized to make these individuals look as though they have done something wrong, it is much easier for the officers to prove that this person was not treated unfairly and that the accused was not treated differently simply because of the race that they belong to.

The court also uses a reasonable suspicion test which sometimes allows officers too much discretion where race is concerned

. This is due to the fact that, even though racial profiling is not allegedly allowed, many officers use the way someone is acting and the neighborhood that they are in for reasonable suspicion of guilt

. Many minorities live in neighborhoods that are poor and do not have the higher quality of life that is enjoyed by many Caucasians in this country. This is not always the case, but it is a stereotypical generalization that also happens to be reasonably accurate. Because of this, many individuals who live in these types of communities are deemed as suspicious even though they have likely not committed any crime

. Even though the suspicion is warranted in some cases, it also would appear that these individuals are targeted as being suspicious simply based on where they live. Because a large number of minorities live in these types of areas, and because suspicious people are considered to be living in these kinds of areas, those who are of a different and minority race are often targeted for arrests and surveillance

Officers can claim that this was done because they lived in a particular neighborhood, but all individuals who realize that only a particular minority lives in that neighborhood will see this suspicion as racial profiling

. However, it is quite likely that the court will not see things the same way and therefore will not understand that this issue dealt with race, or will understand it and choose to ignore it based on the test of suspicion

. This paper will deal with the empirical evidence that shows that individuals of minority races, specifically African-Americans and Latinos, are treated unfairly based on their race. This is particularly true where drug crimes have occurred. There is a great deal of overwhelming evidence that indicates that these individuals are treated differently and more harshly by the court system than their Caucasian counterparts who have committed the same offenses.

Minorities and the Law

Large and disproportionate numbers of African-Americans are often arrested based on the drugs laws

. These include both men and women, and this is also why there is a disproportionately large number of African-American individuals awaiting a death sentence

. Even the attorney general will concede that there are more African-Americans on death row than Caucasians and that the drug crime laws that are utilized in this country today are the primary reason for that

. Also discussed will be the aforementioned issue of the courts and how they look coldly on those who attempt to say that they have been treated unfairly based on their race. The burden of proof in these cases will be discussed and it will be seen that the bar has been set so high that these individuals cannot possibly meet it. Because these individuals must prove that they were treated differently than white individuals who were similarly situated this becomes a very tricky thing to do

This is largely because the definition of similarly situated can be argued upon in many different ways and all individuals who discuss it would come to a different understanding of the issue

. Courts who are not convinced that a white individual has been similarly situated will find many ways in which they can find that individual dissimilar. This is very problematic for those who are attempting to push this claim through the courts and prove that they were treated unfairly

. It also becomes an issue if the prosecutor is the only one with the similarly situated information that is available, or if there are no Caucasian individuals who have been similarly situated for the courts to draw upon this particular information. It is important that the standard of proof is set high, because there is no need for unnecessary claims that clog up the court system more than what it already is

However, it is much easier to prove discrimination cases than it is to prove these types of cases in which individuals were treated wrongly by the justice system because of their race. The same burden of proof, it seems, should exist for both types of cases as both involve discrimination in one form or another

. It is for this reason that it is important to discuss these issues and suggest possible solutions to many of them. Even if it appears that solutions cannot be found, it is necessary to make individuals in this country unaware of the issues that are occurring so that perhaps solutions can be sought and even previously unsolvable problems can be solved if enough individuals look toward ways to address them.

Another issue to be considered is that individuals who discuss the drug crime issue claim that most of the gangs that they target are African-American

. Because there is a large membership of African-American individuals in these gangs this is why it appears that African-Americans are being targeted simply because of their race

. It is argued that this is not accurate and that race does not play an issue. What plays an issue is the fact that there are more African-Americans involved in gangs and drug crimes than Caucasians. Since this is statistically the case, prosecutors argue that race does not even come into the picture and that it would not matter if these gangs were largely Caucasians, they would be targeted regardless of this

. Whether this is true or not is a matter of conjecture and opinion. There are many who will say that this makes logical sense, and others who will say that it is only the government's desire to cover up much of the wrongdoing and injustices that they have been heaping upon African-Americans since the days of slavery.

While this last statement might be going a little far, there are individuals who will feel this way. Very likely, however, individuals of minority race will feel that they are being unfairly targeted because Caucasians tend to have the majority of money and power in this country and those of other races who do not have these things are not considered as important. Therefore, the criminal justice system deals with these individuals more harshly than they would with those that might have the ways and means to provide for their lawyers and an accurate defense for themselves

. This issue of gang membership and the large amount of African-Americans that have become incarcerated because of drug-related issues has not been found to be entirely accurate, even though it appears to be what the attorney general states when asked why so many African-Americans are being incarcerated and if this has anything to do with racial profiling on the part of the criminal justice system

Even though the court system and the criminal justice system still hold the opinion that this is why these individuals are incarcerated at a higher rate, studies have indicated that most individuals who are on death row have not only not been violent offenders, but that they are not actually affiliated with any type of gang or criminal organization

. It appears that they are only guilty of a "crime" of being a race other than Caucasian. When this is the consideration for these individuals and punishment that they have received for their crimes it becomes a matter of racial profiling and discrimination which the court system insists is illegal

The Justice Department has done research into the disparity that has been noted in the justice system and how many more individuals are incarcerated on death row if they are African-American or another race

. The research that the government has done will also be examined here in light of the fact that much of it appears to not clearly explain many of the issues that surround it. While the research that the government has done into this appears to look good on the surface, the scope of the research is actually very narrow and therefore it seems odd and uncomfortably inaccurate to say that this research actually deals with what the government planned on studying

. One is left to wonder if this was designed this way or whether it is simply the way it worked out when the government asked questions and collected data. Whatever the case may be on this issue, the research will be examined in order to point out many of the flaws in the government's idea of research and how it affects those of minority descent that have been incarcerated for drug crimes and other issues.

There is also discussion about African-American individuals being incarcerated at higher rates because they are usually members of street gangs and therefore involved in a great deal of drug trafficking

. This only serves to emphasize the way that the court can get around the issue of similarly situated white individuals. There are very few, if any, white individuals who would be similarly situated or would be considered so by the court. Because of this, it is easy to see that an example such as this can show how strong the burden of proof is and how difficult it is for any individual to meet it

There is some potential for change in the way that the court system and criminal justice system operates in regard to race. This issue will also be examined as there is much interest on the part of many individuals as to what could be done to correct this injustice. Much of the work that needs to be done in this area has to come from the community

. While it is important that neighborhoods who have high minority populations understand this and work with others to get the legislation changed and adjusted so that they will be protected from this type of problem, it is also important that white individuals become involved in his effort

. This is largely due to the fact that many white individuals have perceptions about crime and criminals. In short, many of them have racial biases when they think of crime and they assume that Hispanics and African-Americans will commit crimes at a much higher rate than their own Caucasian counterparts. This is not always the case, but even when it is the case it is still unfair to judge individuals based on what some individuals in their particular race has done

This is a form of discrimination and prejudice that has apparently not died out in this country. That is tragic for those individuals who have committed only small time crimes or have committed no crime at all, but have been punished very harshly simply because they were what was considered the "wrong" race. Most white individuals see Caucasians as being somewhat above African-American individuals when it comes to being upstanding citizens and not breaking the law. Because of this, there appears to be much misperception about African-Americans and other minority races. There is also the issue that most Caucasians see discrimination and bias only as something that is deliberately done and out in the open

They do not realize that it is just as easy to be bigoted toward a particular race and find ways to undermine that race very quietly, instead of making a large production of the way that one feels about a particular individual or group of individuals based on their race or color

. Another common misperception made by many white individuals is that they do not realize how much privilege they have in the criminal justice system simply by being white. Because they do not realize how much better they are treated that many other individuals, they seem to form the opinion that an individual who is treated poorly has somehow been deserving of this or has done something so heinous that there is a good and valid reason behind why they are treated the way they are

This is usually far from accurate, but it is a misperception that is shared by many white individuals in this country, and even those who do not believe that they have any prejudice toward any other individuals of different races still do not realize much of the privilege that they have when it comes to individuals of different races

. Many the current sentencing guidelines, especially those that deal with drug enforcement policies, affect African-American and other minority individuals in the inner city neighborhoods

. These policies are harmful to individuals who engage in criminal behavior, which is a good thing, but they are also very harmful to individuals who have done nothing wrong and are simply living in a neighborhood that officers and others may deem suspicious

. These people are judged harshly because of where they live and who they are, it and it does not matter their gender or age. The only thing that appears to matter in this data is their race.

African-American individuals make up approximately 12% of the population of this nation, but they represent almost 50% of individuals who have been incarcerated for various crimes

. This is a shocking statistic and can be verified with data that backs up this information. In 2002, African-American men who were between the ages of 20 and 34 years old were in jail at an alarming rate

. Twelve percent of these individuals were incarcerated in either prisons or jails

. One point six percent of white individuals of the same age group were incarcerated

. The bureau of justice statistics has researchers to estimate that at some point throughout their life, almost 30% of African-American men in this country will be in jail or prison

Drugs Laws and Minorities

Another study, this one conducted by The Sentencing Project, deals with the amount of supervision that many of these African-American individuals have to deal with . Men who are African-American in race and between the ages of 20 and 29 are under the supervision of one part or another of the criminal justice system at a rate of over 32% on any specific day

. The war on drugs that has become so popular is important, but many of the lower-level dealers that live in inner city neighborhoods are being targeted in this war, and this makes up a lot of the racial disparity that is seen in prisons. There is a 100 to 1 sentencing disparity in federal prisons between crack and powder cocaine, and this is coupled with a serious focus on crack offense by federal law enforcement individuals

. This also works to play very significant role in much of what creates the disparity.

Drug offenses have a higher rate of incarceration, but available data would suggest that there is no more drug use among African-American individuals that there are among Caucasian individuals. In 2001, the national household survey on drug abuse found a 7.4% illicit drug use rate among African-Americans, a 7.2% illicit drug use rate among Caucasians, and a 6.4% illicit drug use rate among Hispanics

. Even with these statistics being so close to each other in nature, African-American individuals represent almost 60% of the individuals that are incarcerated in state prisons based on drug offenses

. Unfortunately, this is not limited to only African-American men. African-American women have been incarcerated in numbers that have risen very rapidly, and much of this has also been based on policies related to drug enforcement

. The number of women in prison is growing at a huge rate, and much faster than the rate of men that are being incarcerated. Much of this deals with African-American women and drug crimes.

Because of federal mandatory sentencing laws and drug enforcement policies, African-American women charged with drug crimes are dealt with very harshly. This is partially because many of the women that have been convicted on drug offenses have played very minor roles in drug transactions. It has generally been their partner who was one of the major individuals in these transactions

. Because of mandatory sentencing, however, any other leniency that these women might have been afforded due to these reasons has been eliminated. What is also ironic is that many of these women are unable to provide information that might help to reduce their sentence

. This is largely due to the fact that they are offered deals if they will give information on others in the same drug circles, but because they are such minor players and know so little there is no information that they can provide that authorities will find useful. Because of this, they are often deemed uncooperative and they are sentenced at a harsher level than they would have been had they been able to provide information that the individuals wanted. As a result of this, they often end up with sentences that are a lot harsher and longer than the males who were involved in the same crime

It is also true that many of the courts do not recognize the problems that domestic violence plays in many of these cases. Many of the African-American women arrested for drug crimes are sentenced unfairly and treated harshly, but they often are engaged in these types of crimes due to men in their lives and the fear of violence if they do not comply with what is requested of them

. Unfortunately, the duress doctrine is not able to be applied when one considers women who have been battered and coerced into committing drug offenses. Because of this, courts that determine sentencing for these women have not been interested in allowing this type of defense to get a lighter sentence

. Much of the problem with this comes with defense lawyers.

They may be unaware of the fact that these women have been battered and beaten into doing what their men have requested, and they may also be unsympathetic to many of the plights that these women have had to deal with. Because of this, they do not use this information in order to attempt to receive a lighter sentence for their clients

. It would appear that many of them do not believe that their client needs a lighter sentence because of this, and that being coerced or battered into something is no excuse for any of these women to commit crimes that they have committed. Prosecutors, when they are disclosing evidence to the defense, often do not see battering or other violent behavior as important enough to mention. Because of this, the lawyers who would be sympathetic to this type of issue are often never made aware of it and therefore cannot use it to their clients' advantage

It is also true that many African-American women are perceived to be very strong-willed and therefore are not seen as helpless battered women who would need the protection of the courts to stop the men in their lives from harming them and forcing them into illegal activities

. This is, however, a stereotype and not entirely accurate, as many women are battered in this county every year and there is no accurate reason to believe that African-American women can fend for themselves any better than Caucasian or Hispanic women. Much of the current incarceration of these individuals has to do with the enforcement procedures that officers utilize. African-Americans are far more likely to be stopped for a traffic infraction, and once they have been stopped officers quite often take more time to examine them and search their property and person than they would with a Caucasian individual

. One study done in 2001 in San Diego showed that a driver who was African-American had a chance of being stopped that was 60% greater than Caucasians

. Drivers who were Hispanic had a 37% higher chance. Once these individuals were stopped, African-Americans were far more likely to have to submit to search of their vehicle than Caucasians

This does not mean that these individuals commit more crimes, but it does allow officers and law-enforcement greater opportunity to discover crimes that these individuals may have committed. This is one of the reasons believed to be behind the very significantly disproportionate rate of African-Americans and Hispanics that are arrested and charged with various criminal activities. There are some, however, that argue that racial profiling is a good idea. These individuals believe that since a larger percentage of African-Americans commit crimes, it makes more sense to be more suspicious of these individuals

. This argument, while seemingly compelling on the surface, is rather inaccurate. Studies have indicated that officers who stop individuals based on race actually have less success in uncovering crimes and other problems

. If they do not look at individuals in a racially biased way then the searches are usually much more productive and they tend to find more issues and problems than they would if they based their stops on race alone.

Another issue that deals with drug offenses and racial profiling pertains to search warrants. In San Diego, a study of search warrants dealing with narcotics was conducted and there was a definite racial disparity in the way that these were issued

. Only 6% of the population of San Diego County is African-American, but 20% of the search warrants issued in that county in that year were for African-Americans

. Twenty-four percent of the population were Hispanic, but made up 43% of the search warrants

. The 61% of Caucasian individuals living in the county were subjected to any type of search in only 35% of the cases

. Many of the warrants that were issued were in neighborhoods that were considered nonwhite and were mostly in the inner city. Even in areas that were mostly populated with white individuals, however, racial disparity still existed in the percentage of search warrants that were utilized based on the percentage of the population that was a particular race

There were also different tactics taken to get search warrants and carry them out. Eighty percent of the search warrants that were issued in Hispanic and African-American neighborhoods relied on confidential informants

. In the neighborhoods that were mostly white, these were not often used. Many of these confidential informants utilized in the inner city, nonwhite neighborhoods were individuals who had been caught by the law for some particular drug crime or another and had chosen to turn against those who provided them with the drugs in order to actually receive a lighter sentence and better treatment

. Some studies have shown that individuals who use drugs are much more likely to purchase those drugs from an individual that is of their same race

. If this is accurate, it would logically follow that the racial disparity involved in the search warrants would be increased as well as the pattern of searches conducted on traffic stops.

Even with low success rates, large disparities based on race in the issuance of search warrants would also result in these same disparities in the arrests and incarceration of these individuals. Also found in the study was that search warrants that were issued for Hispanic and African-American individuals were much less successful at actually locating drugs on the premises that were search warrants for white individuals

. Search warrants that were issued in drug-related cases for white individuals were successful 53% of the time

. The number was 36% for those of Hispanic descent, and only 28% for the search warrants that specifically targeted African-Americans

. Even when controls were built into the study for the different types of drugs, the racial differences remained prevalent

. This would indicate that while white individuals are found to have drugs on their person in more cases where a search warrant is issued, more search warrants are still issued for African-American and Hispanic individuals. This would strongly indicate a prevalence of racial profiling and a continued harassment of individuals who were not Caucasian.

Minorities, the Death Penalty, and the Community

Interestingly enough, of those leading the death penalty in federal cases, only 43% are African-American, and 55% are Caucasian

. This contrasts very sharply to the death penalty data of many states. Even when further data had been collected based on the cases in which the defendant had been eligible for the death penalty but it had not been imposed, the racial disparities that were found in the federal system still remained. A survey conducted in 2001 works to include an additional 291 cases, bringing the total cases study to 973

. Of these 973 defendants, only 17% of them were white, 42% African-American, and 36% Hispanic

. This contrasts with available information that others would use to assume that more individuals of African-American descent would have been sentenced to the death penalty. These individuals in this survey had been either charged with an offense that made them eligible for the death penalty, or had exhibited some conduct that could have been used to charge them with a crime that would have made them eligible for the death penalty

Unfortunately, many of the negative effects that this racial disparity has is not only limited to the individuals that are searched, arrested, and incarcerated. The impact spreads out to the entire community at large. It becomes necessary to re-examine many of the current drug enforcement policies and law-enforcement policies today because the community effects are so great and are actually unfair to many individuals who have done nothing wrong. Consider the issues that come about what a family member is arrested for some offense. That person's income is lost to the rest of the family, and additional expense is acquired because many of these individuals work to maintain contact with this incarcerated member. When individuals are incarcerated and they have families and children, the burden falls to the parent who retains his or her freedom to make up for the lack of income and to provide what is needed for the children of the union.

This makes it very difficult not only on the incarcerated individual but on all of those who have relied on that person's support for love in their life, because they must now fend for themselves and do not any longer enjoy the closeness that they had with this particular individual and many of the material needs that this person may have met in their lives. Many of the neighborhoods that these individuals come from already have a great deal of troubles and they are poorly organized and often dangerous. Long-term incarceration costs are added to this and individuals who cannot afford these types of issues in their families sink into greater despair and have even more difficulty surviving than they previously did. This can lead some of these individuals to commit crimes as well so that they can have money to feed their children or so that they can end up in jail where they will have meals every day and a warm bed to sleep in. It is not unheard of for individuals to commit petty crimes simply so that they can be arrested and have a place to sleep

When something like this occurs, children are sent to live with relatives who are also poor and disadvantaged, or are sent to orphanages or foster homes where they languish for many years and often times never get adopted. Many of these children go on to lead lives of crime as well because they do not know anything different from what they have grown up with. A study performed recently in New York deals with policing procedures and shows much of the nature of these specific harms that individuals can come to . Those that authored the study discovered much of the incarceration that came about for individuals in New York was largely concentrated in minority neighborhoods that were the poorest in the city

. This started a cycle which made the community disorganization worse and actually increased the incarceration rates in an area where this was already problematic

Most businesses do not want to hire those who have been in prison, and individuals who are not willing to disclose this information are often fired when it is discovered. This stops many of these individuals from having legitimate employment, and adds to their money problems and other issues that can continue to lead them in a cycle of incarceration. The entire neighborhood is also affected by this because individuals who cannot get a job because they are ex-inmates are often seen to live in a particular area of town. The problem with this becomes such that individuals who are law-abiding and live in this area of town are often not hired because employers held a prejudice about individuals who live in this area and believe that all individuals who come from this part of town will be problematic or have been incarcerated at some point

. It puts a stigma on individuals from this area and not only keeps them from getting jobs in other areas but will also keep businesses from moving into that area due to the fear of crime and lack of quality employees to work in their stores

Because many adults in these areas cannot get jobs and there is not much money to go around the social structure that these individuals would normally enjoy weakens and adolescents and children turn to criminal behavior or other problematic issues. Mothers are then left attempting to do everything and they often do not have any kind of social support or enough money for childcare so that they can work. Not only do some of these individuals end up being incarcerated, but they often go on welfare and cannot afford to have anything other than the very basic necessities. Another issue with drug enforcement policies is that many of the individuals who are incarcerated for such offenses cannot get the treatment that they need while in prison

. If they were able to get the treatment that was necessary for them, it is likely that at least some of them would not go back to this kind of life when they are released from prison.

However, classes and help for these individuals in prison or when they have been newly released from prison are few and far between, and therefore most individuals who are re-released into society after they have committed drug-related crimes will go on to commit others because they do not know any other way of life. Another way that this affects the community is that many individuals in this type of neighborhood will not get the help of the police even when they need it