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Racial Inequality In The Correctional System

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When one examines the racial inequality in the American correctional system you must first understand the historical event of slavery. Many Criminologist has ignored the idea that American history of slavery has any effect on the reason why African Americans make a big portion of the correctional system. The ideal of institutional racism seems foreign and almost seems as a myth to those in corrections or the legal system. That fact remains that institutional racism effect minorities because they are targeted and incarcerated more than their white counterparts. The institutional racism theory believes that racism occurs whenever there are laws, regulations, and bias that have an intentional and unequal impact on racial minorities (Whisner, 2015). Historically institutional racism in the United States has been directed primarily towards nonwhite protestant males that come from different countries. This lead to whites singling out minority groups for differential and unequal treatment wither it comes in social, political and economically. Institutional racism also acknowledge that minorities have been denied equal opportunities in areas such as housing, employment, education, and criminal justice.
African slaves were brought to America as …show more content…

Lynching was a tool used to enforce segregationist ideologies and devalue the lives of African Americans (Feliks Garcia). Many African Americans could not trust the police, judges and politics because of the fear of being sent to jail or killed. There was no justice for African Americans and nobody could protect them from being lynched or beaten. This created a distrust between the legal system and the African American community which can still be seen today. These horrific historical facts created the institutionalize ideology that makes racial disparity so unfair when it comes to African American

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