Examples Of Disparities And Discrimination In The US Criminal Justice System
Disparities and Discrimination in US Criminal Justice System The US justice system is marred with instances of high degree discrimination and disparities and these stems from unprecedented poor management of the civil law in the country. Judging by the nature of historical injustices that have defined the criminal justice system, it goes without mentioning that, the confusion’s genesis is in the law itself and racial incarceration of the minority colored groups by the majority whites. Definition of the two terms is based on differences but the deviations are based on either legal terms or social, economic and political basis for the other. The degree of difference is highly unrecognizable but then it is clear that where disparity exists discrimination …show more content…
For instance, when a police officer killed unarmed Michael Brown in Ferguson, it led to high degree protests in Missouri and this led to American Civil Liberties Union and other units of justice to agitate for discrimination against the black minority during arrest by the white law enforcing agents. In sentencing period, disparity was evident during the Kimbrough vs. US case of 2007 where the defendant faced five years jail term due to the statutes present in the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 that, give a powder holder less jail time than a crack offender (Robinson & Williams, 2009). The statutes give a ratio of 100-1 in terms of jailing an offender found with crack than powder and it is evident that white people are the ones more likely to be found with powder than the blacks are (Robinson & Williams, …show more content…
B. (2001). Racial, ethnic, and gender disparities in sentencing: Evidence from the US. Federal Courts. Journal of Law and Economics, XLIV: 285-314. Retrieved from: http://thebattleofrightvswrong.blogspot.co.ke/2012/01/disparity-vs- discrimination.html
Olison, C. (2012). Disparity vs. Discrimination. Retrieved from: http://thebattleofrightvswrong.blogspot.co.ke/2012/01/disparity-vs- discrimination.html
Robinson, M. & Williams, M. (2009). The myth of a fair criminal justice system. Justice Policy Journal, 6(1):1-53. Retrieved from: http://www.cjcj.org/uploads/cjcj/documents/the_myth.pdf
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (2016). Discrimination in the criminal justice system. Civilrights.org. Retrieved from: http://www.civilrights.org/publications/reports/cerd-report-falling-further- behind/discrimination-in-the.html
Walker, S., Spohn, C. & DeLone, M. (2012). The color of justice: Race, ethnicity and crime in America (5th ed.). Belmont, CA:
Furman V. Gerogia Case Analysis
1766 Words | 8 PagesThis racial discrimination has led to a discriminatory manner that punishes blacks who victimized whites more severely compared to whites who victimize blacks. Even though race has been abolished as a legally relevant factor in capital sentencings, there are still variations in capital sentencing patterns along racial lines. The author tries to answer the question of how a system that tries to design itself as a racially neutral system can still have racial variations in capital sentencing. The author argues that there is a link between race and empathy in mitigation. The author conducted a study that focused on juror race and receptivity to mitigation and defendant race.
Emmett Till Case Study
1692 Words | 7 PagesThroughout history the differences found in human beings have created multitude of problems in society. Today, problems are directed towards a person’s race and ethnicity. People of different color, race, and ethnicity are often discriminated towards, and result in the segregation of culture groups. There are many examples of this found throughout case trials since the twentieth century and beyond. The Emmett Till case, for example, demonstrates the outcome of having a jury that is all from the same ethnicity, and allows common people to understand the effect this has on the justice system.
Baldus Case
661 Words | 3 PagesThe biggest disparity that was found was when a death penalty case involved a white victim and a black defendant. After reviewing the death penalty cases, there was an indication that “twenty-two percent of cases received the death penalty when a black defendant and white victim were involved….compared to only three percent when there was a black victim and white defendant involved.” The study broke this data down further and looked at the percentages of when a prosecutor seeks the death penalty. The study found that prosecutors sought the death penalty in “seventy percent of cases that involved white victims and black defendants and only nineteen percent when the roles were reversed.”
The New Jim Crow Summary
978 Words | 4 PagesYes, the Criminal Justice System is used for individuals of All races and cultural backgrounds. However, prisons within the United States are filled with mostly African Americans. Alexander believes that there is no coincidence between the amount of African Americans within the system and the racial issues that are constantly taking place in the U.S. The Author supports her beliefs by providing the reader with background information on when the increase in African American incarceration rates took place. In Addition, she uses real life examples to support the facts that she mentions throughout the
Annotated Bibliography For The New Jim Crow
990 Words | 4 PagesThe author’s studies indicate that the criminal justice system choose majority of their targets and suspects predominantly by race. According to studies conducted by the U. S Department of Justice, the imprisonment rate by race per 100,000 residents over 3,000 black males were imprisoned in the year 2000 compared to white males imprisonment rate of less than 500. This shows that conviction of crime, robbery, murder, and other violence and drug related crimes has a clear discrepancy across racial groups.
Review Of Mass Incarceration In The Age Of Colorblindness By Michelle Alexander
983 Words | 4 PagesANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY Alexander, M. (2012). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (Rev. ed.). New York, NY: The New Press. Michelle Alexander in her book, "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" argues that law enforcement officials routinely racially profile minorities to deny them socially, politically, and economically as was accustomed in the Jim Crow era.
Michelle Alexander The Lockdown Analysis
718 Words | 3 PagesWe live in a society where ethnic minorities are target for every minimal action and/or crimes, which is a cause to be sentenced up to 50 years in jail. African Americans and Latinos are the ethnic minorities with highest policing crimes. In chapter two of Michelle Alexander’s book, The Lockdown, we are exposed to the different “crimes” that affects African American and Latino minorities. The criminal justice system is a topic discussed in this chapter that argues the inequality that people of color as well as other Americans are exposed to not knowing their rights. Incarceration rates, unreasonable suspicions, and pre-texts used by officers are things that play a huge role in encountering the criminal justice system, which affects the way
Essay On Gender Disparities In The Criminal Justice System
570 Words | 3 PagesTo support my claims I will be talking about incarceration, pullover rates & situations and police training in great detail. When it comes to the sentencing of convicted criminals, there are racial, ethnic and gender disparities. In 1984 the Sentencing Guidelines and Policy Statements of the Sentencing Reform Act, or short for SRA, was designed to eliminate sentencing disparities and states clearly that race, gender, ethnicity, and
Essay On African American Incarceration
343 Words | 2 PagesIs it fair that an African American man is sentenced up to life in prison for possession of drugs when Brock Turner is sentenced to only 14 years, later to be reduced to six months for sexually assaulting an unconscious women. The judiciary system are believed to have a high african american incarceration rate as a result of discrimination. At a presidential debate on Martin Luther King Day, President Barack Obama said that “Blacks and whites are arrested at very different rates, are convicted at very different rates, and receive very different sentences… for the same crime.” Hillary Clinton said the “disgrace of a criminal-justice system that incarcerates so many more african americans proportionately than whites.”
The New Jim Crow Mass Incarceration
983 Words | 4 PagesIn her book, The New Jim Crow Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander who was a civil rights lawyer and legal scholar, reveals many of America’s harsh truths regarding race within the criminal justice system. Though the Jim Crow laws have long been abolished, a new form has surfaced, a contemporary system of racial control through mass incarceration. In this book, mass incarceration not only refers to the criminal justice system, but also a bigger picture, which controls criminals both in and out of prison through laws, rules, policies and customs. The New Jim Crow that Alexander speaks of has redesigned the racial caste system, by putting millions of mainly blacks, as well as Hispanics and some whites, behind bars
Disparities In Prisons
1642 Words | 7 PagesUnfortunately, there are racial disparities in the United States in the legal system. Prison sentences imposed on African American males in the federal system are nearly 20 percent longer than white males convicted of similar crimes. The 1994 Crime Bill signed by President Clinton established mandatory minimum sentences. African American and Latino offenders sentenced in state and federal courts face greater odds of incarceration than white offenders who are in similar situations and receive longer sentences than whites in some jurisdictions. Research has shown that race plays a significant role in determination on which homicide cases resulted in death sentences.
Tough On Crime Policy Analysis
784 Words | 4 PagesA study conducted by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services undertaking claims of sentencing disparities studies the felony sentencing outcomes particularly in New York courts between the years 1990 and 1992. Astonishingly, the study concluded that approximately one-third of minorities sentenced to prison would have received a shorter sentence with the possibility of a non-incarcerative penalty if they had been treated similarly to their white counterparts. Consequently, other sentencing data is consistent with the results of this study’s findings. On a national scale, black males specifically, who were convicted of drug felonies in state courts 52 percent of the time, while white males typically receive prison sentencing approximately 34 percent of the time. In addition, these figures are not constrained to gender given the similar ratio among black and white women as well.
Michelle Alexander The New Jim Crow Summary
1075 Words | 5 PagesIn The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in The Era of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, she begins by points out the underlying problem in our Criminal Justice system. The problem being prioritizing the control of those in this racial caste rather than focusing on reasonable punishment and efforts to deter crime. Alexander begins by speaking of her experience as a civil rights lawyer and what soon became her priority after seeing a poster that mentioned how the war on drugs is the new jim crow when it comes to the application and outcome of it. As Alexander points out the correlation between the war on drugs and it being the new jim crow, she discusses the mass incarceration that is prevalent in our society and the number of African American
Annotated Bibliography: The New Jim Crow
1343 Words | 6 PagesCoker gives great evidence that supports racial injustice in the criminal justice system. She discusses on the Supreme Court’s rulings and accusations of racial preference in the system. This article is helpful because it supports my thesis on race playing a role on the system of criminal justice. Hurwitz, J., & Peffley, M. (1997). Public perceptions of race and crime: The role of racial stereotypes.
Essay On Racism In The Criminal Justice System
1109 Words | 5 PagesFor years now there has been a lot of controversy involving the looming question: Is the criminal justice system racist? Racism is prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one 's own race is superior. Ever since the Trayvon Martin case of 2012, the justice system has been in a complete downfall including all of the police brutality cases since then also. According to sources, 1 of every 4 African American males born this decade are expected to go to prison in their lifetime. Census Bureau reports that the U.S. is 13 percent percent black, 61 percent white, and 17 percent latino.
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