Ethnic Disparity In Criminal Justice Essay

Is our justice system corrupted, racist or is it perfect? Did you know African Americans now constitute for nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population? This is probably the case because Blacks are incarcerated six times the rate of whites. African Americans are directly targeted and punished in a much more aggressive way than white people. I believe race, ethnicity and gender disparities play a large role in how our system is executed. To support my claims I will be talking about incarceration, pullover rates & situations and police training in great detail.

In 2010, the U.S. Sentencing Commission reported that African Americans receive 10% longer sentences than whites through the federal system for the same crimes. In the 19th and early 20th century, that percentage was higher. Many people think that the US 's legal system truly provides justice for all people unlike back in the early 1900s, but the fact written above could be very easily compared to what racism was like in the 1930s. Although the United States’ legal system has improved some over the past 60 years through the Great Depression and many other hardships, this country’s legal system is still failing at providing justice for all people.

Race, social class, or gender are disparities that determine the outcome of being sentenced to jail or prison. In reality, there are some measures we can take to reduce biased sentencing towards offenders. From my point of view, a solution would be to offer the offender determinate sentencing schemes which is, a judge will sentence an offender to a punishment for an X number of months or years of incarnation, probation, and so forth. This would help reduce biased sentencing, recidivism, and help the offenders rehabilitate the offender of the

Indeed, minorities represent a far greater population of prisoners than majorities. Currently, people of color make up 60% of the United States prison system, though they represent only 12% of the total population (Hagler). The mass incarceration of minorities is a crisis sweeping the nation, tearing multitudes of minorities from their homes and jobs. “More than two million African Americans are currently under the control of the criminal-justice system—in prison or jail, on probation or parole. During the past few decades, millions more have cycled in and out of the system; indeed, nearly 70 percent of people released from prison are rearrested within three years” ( Alexander). Minorities are also much more likely to be arrested, experts estimate that at the rate of current trends 1 in 3 black men will be arrested in their lifetime compared to 1 in 17 white men (Hagler). The obvious disparities in these statistics reveal just how far deep racial discrimination runs in the criminal justice system. Minorities are discriminated against in every stage of their prosecution: from stop-and-frisk, to arrest, to sentencing and

According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, departments that serve less than 2,500 people are 84.4% white and departments that serve millions are 53.4% white (as cited in Fifield, 2016). Notably, Over the years, a lack of diversity within law enforcement has become a pertinent issue. Notably, the underrepresentation of minorities within law enforcement influences the relationship between communities and law enforcement by engendering distrust with law enforcement. To say nothing of, underrepresentation of minorities have had many people question whether departments mirror a diverse community. Nevertheless, with that being said, underrepresentation of minorities have generated tension and distrust between communities and law enforcement and many believe that police department need to mirror the race composition within their cities. Although some people may challenge that diversifying police officers will not make a difference in the relationship with communities, police departments mirroring the diversity of communities may mend tension.

Buehler, J. W. (2017). Racial/ethnic disparities in the use of lethal force by US police, 2010-2014. American Journal of Public Health, 107 (2), 295-297.

Assurance in equal justice remains as an overwhelming political principle of American culture. Yet withstanding unbelief exists among numerous racial and ethnic minorities. Their doubt comes as no surprise, given a past filled with differential treatment in the arrangement of criminal equity, an issue particularly clear in police misconduct. Researchers have investigated police responses to racial and ethnic minorities for quite some time, offering sufficient confirmation of minority burden on account of police. These examinations raise doubt about different police techniques of coercive control, maybe none more so than police brutality. Its use exemplifies the pressures between police and minorities that exist in America today.

Coker, D. (2003). Addressing the real world of racial injustice in the criminal justice system. The

The intention of my research is to expose the racist tactics in the criminal justice system that have been camouflaged. I am prepared to explain how racism contributes to the vast number of incarcerated African Americans, and other minorities. The criminal justice system has created and perpetuated racial hierarchy in the United States, and has done so throughout history. I propose the question: Are minorities being targeted within the Criminal Justice System? African Americans are criminalized and targeted because of their skin color, and it is not fair. This argument connects to the theory of Law in the Book vs. Law in Action, and relates to how this type of discrimination from the law affects society. In particular, the way the Law is written in codes, statutes, judicial opinions that supposedly support the righteousness of justice, is a far cry from the way the Law actually operates. Despite substantial progress in recent years, racial discrimination remains a significant problem in the United States. I will prove this argument with the help of various peer-reviewed articles, and non-scholarly article that examine this unequal behavior.

Fast forward to the present day, we have the Ferguson, Mike Brown of Emmitt Till’s still occurring in our justice system. A person must view the criminal justice threw a godly telescope to see the inequalities that exit, and need to come to the forefront of our government, and the population worldwide. Sentencingproject.org statistically show that African American men, women, and juvenile are arrested more often than any other races across the nations. This report will prove, and argues that racial disparity in the justice system is at large in our system. This research paper will further explain, and presents evidence that display the presence of racial bias in the criminal justice system in America.

In addition, many will claim that if black people want to make it ‘better for themselves’, that they must work harder to stay out the prison system. While that could apply, the reason that the prison system is overflowing with black bodies is that the system was designed to target black people in the first place. Often enough, cops are targeting poorer neighborhoods that are at capacity with people, most of them usually being people of color. Because of this, as stated previously, more of the arrests are of people of color. To battle this system that keeps minorities down, it must be reconstructed, eliminating racial bias throughout the court and judicial system, police officers and many others. It is a difficult task but it is an imperative task if the war on mass incarceration wants to make

Through the years, the world has made substantial progress towards ensuring equal treatment under law for all citizens. However, the cycle continues, as disparities within the justice decision making process is growing at each level of the criminal justice system. Although the drug policies and sentencing guidelines that are put into place by our legislators are said to be “race neutral,” they have actually shown to be pervasively biased, affecting both innocent as well as guilty minority citizens.

An institutional racism still faced both past and present can be found in incarceration and racial profiling. Our prison populations have skyrocketed since the 80 's and there is a disproportionate amount of black and Latino individuals who are incarcerated. Between New York’s stop and frisk policies and the insurmountable amounts of unarmed black and Latino men who are shot by police the discrimination by the police and law enforcement is clearly evident. Although black and Latino drivers are less likely than white to be carrying drug and other contraband the majority of car pulled over are the cars of black and Latino divers. The racial profiling is just one reason for the disproportionate black and Latino prison population. Another reason

The bad treatment of minorities in the United States legal system starts at the beginning of that system, the investigation of suspected criminal activity by law enforcement agents. Police departments target minorities as criminal suspects more often than they target non minority groups of people. This then skewing the data between arrested racial groups, putting minorities higher, because they are targeted more. This is more commonly referred to in our society as racial

We 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