Criminal Justice Reflection

Introduction

In the criminal justice system the goal is justice. To protect the people and punish and hopefully reform the people that have shown to threaten the greater good of society. Many people unwillingly become a part of the system. In the United States we have the largest incarceration rate compared to all developed countries. The national rate of incarceration for countries similar in size to the United States tends be around 100 prisoners per 100,000 population or 0.1 percent. The U.S. rate is 500 prisoners per 100,000 residents, 0.5 percent. Which was about 1.6 million prisoners in 2010, according to the latest available data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). 1.6 million People –American citizens- locked behind bars. The

Growing up I of course knew of the stereotypes that African American males are always in prison. I went to a small high school, with little to no racial diversity. However I knew of these stereotypes I did not recognize them as fact. It wasn’t until I took my Cultural Awareness class that I truly saw the staggering information that sadly supports the stereotypes. However this was only the beginning of my awakening, as the class continued I was in awe of the injustices that African Americans face in the criminal justice system. It was around this time that I first saw the Rodney King beating along with the LA riots. I was in disbelieve of the entire situation.

In this paper we will be looking into the racial disparity in prison sentencing. Young, African American and Latino males -especially if unemployed- are subject to particularly harsh sentencing compared to other offender populations. African American and Latino defendants are at an unfair disadvantage when compared to whites in regard to legal process. African American defendants convicted of harming white victims face harsher punishments than African Americans who commit crimes against other African Americans or white defendants who harm other whites

There are multiple definitions of the Discrimination- Disparity Continuum and one does not necessarily involve discrimination. The Discrimination- Disparity Continuum can be described systematically, institutionally, and contextually. The systematic definition states that discrimination occurs in all stages, all times, and all places. According to this definition there is discrimination in all stages of the criminal justice system: arrests, prosecution, and sentencing. Institutional impacts people of poverty more than wealth. Meaning that a person’s level of income has an impact on how discriminated they are. Sadly African Americans are often on the lower side of the income scale due to racism that remains in our economic and educational system they are not offered the same chances for improvement as their white counterparts