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Examples Of Discrimination In Law Enforcement

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Pattern of Discrimination in Police Agencies

Discrimination in police agencies is a big problem in this country. This discrimination comes in different forms and names. The three mains types are Institutionalized discrimination, Contextual discrimination, and Individual acts of discrimination. These patterns of discrimination can occur because that’s the way it has always has been done or because of the situation. Ethnic groups pose problems for police agencies including language barriers and their prior contacts with law enforcement. Gang involvement and the location a person lives can also lead to discrimination. Illegal immigrants pose a different type of problem for law enforcement. Because they do not want to be deported, most times they …show more content…

These policies do not directly involve race. An example of this is more African Americans are sentenced to jail than Whites. This type of discrimination results from past practices that are put into law. In pure justice, all people would be sentenced based on the crimes committed, no matter the race even if there were extenuating circumstances, like self-defense. The person would still be sentenced for what they did.
Contextual discrimination
Contextual discrimination involves being discriminated against in particular cases or situations. An example of this is racial profiling in traffic enforcement. Another is when an African American is given the death penalty for killing a White person, but a White person is not given the death penalty for killing an African American. In pure justice, each case would be looked at, and a like punishment would be handed down based on the crime. This does not take into account the age of the offender or the reasons the crime was committed.
Individual acts of …show more content…

The three types of discrimination patterns which can be encountered by agencies include institutional, contextual, and individual types. These patterns are can occur because of prior practices, law changes or the individual situation. Ethnic groups pose problems for police department because of many reasons some of which are; language barriers, prior experiences with law enforcement, attitudes towards police, and culture. Language barriers and prior contacts are the two which have the biggest effect on encounters with ethnic groups. Gang involvement and where a person lives can also play a part in discrimination encountered by people. Illegal immigrants are more likely not to report any crimes for fear of deportation. Police agencies have enacted policies to reduce the liability placed on them because of incident of discrimination. These polices protect the department and they also help them with the relationships they have with their

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