The Institutional Racism In The Criminal Justice System

Lawmakers and criminal justice personnel are meant to be guarded against discriminatory laws, policies and practices and to guarantee equal and effective protection of the law to everyone. However, the sad reality is that discrimination does exist in our criminal justice system. This paper emphasises to show how certain groups in society such as the aboriginals or indigenous people have been discriminated against in some form or another by the police or by the criminal justice system itself.

The study of racism has a profound potential to become an ambiguous sociological endeavor. Incidentally, accounting for the multitude of factors which encompass this subject appear to make it the very heart of the matter and consequently the most time consuming. Although, it is my belief that all three of the main sociological theories (Functionalism, Conflict Theory and Symbolic Interactionism) should be integrated in order to achieve a legitimate and quantifiable outcome, for obvious reasons the “Conflict Theory” logically renders the best possible method to obtain a valid micro analysis of specific agents in this case. The oxford dictionary defines racism as being:

Police brutality will be an issue until a solution is created. Many individuals are victims of this form of assault on daily basis. The liberties held by law enforcement are challenged each time they perform their duties. Police officers should abide by the same laws that each citizen is expected to abide by. Although police officers are granted with the right to determine laws as constitutional, civilians are sometimes treated in ways that are beyond unlawful.

Many individuals today have different point of views on how the United States of America became what it is today. For instance, point of views such as how society learned to function the way it does, the law and order in place, and ultimately, how circumstances have developed throughout history. Unfortunately, institutional/institutionalized racism, also known as systemic racism is also a concept that has settled and is grown to be quite predominant in the United States all through times past. Systemic racism continues to take place in settings such as banks, courts of law, government organizations, school systems, and the like. However, similar to any other challenge, there are steps to end systemic racism.

Racism has been a big epidemic since the early 1600’s and is still a problem throughout society today. According to Dictionary.com, racism is a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human racial groups determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to dominate others or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others. The Tortilla Curtain, by T.C. Boyle exemplifies racism and discrimination by the dividing of communities from the impoverished minorities and the superior majority. Boyle reveals how more fortunate people stereotype the way minorities and poverty live rather than acknowledging

As we reach the 21st century we would think that racial inequality has completely ended yet we continue to see much discrimination. Racial inequality continues to exist in the world and here in the United States it is a very controversial topic. Today, we watch the television and almost everyday we hear news about some type of crime or situation which regards race issues. In other words, racism is still a topic that we experience in a daily basis and continues to haunt this country. By analyzing some recent racial inequality news we can find out what continues to make this issue such a controversial topic. Two recent news regarding racial discrimination is the controversial Mr. Donald Trump and his comments regarding Mexicans and also a recent strike held at many Universities around the United States protesting about discrimination at their schools.

African Americans have systematically been deprived of equal opportunities and fundamental rights in America since the establishment of slavery. Although the Civil Rights Act banned the implementation of segregation and racial inequality over 40 years ago, the overall concept of racial and cultural hierarchy still lingers at the forefront of today’s society. White America’s history of racially oppressing, isolating, and segregating African Americans have led to present-day issues surrounding the political and economic forces that intentionally limits Blacks access to and opportunity from social, economic, educational, and political advancement through the institution of structural racism.

Taking all of the studies, background knowledge, and statistics into consideration, I do believe that there is an unproportionate amount of black men serving time in the criminal justice system. It has been proven that men of color are particularly likely to be imprisoned, in comparison to their non black counterparts. “African Americans serve virtually as much time in prison for a drug offense (58.7 months) as whites do for a violent offense (61.7 months). (Sentencing Project)” The sentencing of black men is commonly dealt with in a harsher manner, than with other races. There are specific laws and stereotypes that continue to be upheld by society, which specifically work against the favor of black men. The issue of predominantly black areas

There are numerous issues that deal with the American criminal justice system, but the two I found most prominant that occur on a daily basis is the abuse from police officers and clear racism shown by the American criminal justice system. To begin, racism as we know is a prejudice directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior. In the criminal justice system African Americans are directly targeted and punished in a higher more aggressive way, than say someone who is caucasian and committed the same exact crime. Racism is more often than not, the motive for official misconduct. There are examples of racism from every known region in the United States, spanning across centuries from slavery to

One example of institutionalized racism that was demonstrated in 13th is the mass incarcerations of minorities. I think it is a problem not only because there is a disproportionate amount of minorities but also because people do not realize this is happening. It is institutionalized racism because after being in prison these minorities cannot vote or get a job and therefore puts them at a disadvantage. I think getting people to realize this problem is the first step to address it but I am not sure what should happen next.

Racism and segregation has a mass history in the United States which impacted our society greatly. There were many riots, boycotts, and strikes which occurred throughout the 1900’s. Many people simply wanted peace and to bring everyone together no matter what race or color and others wanted to be separated from people with a different skin color and race. Whites and blacks were being separated from bathrooms and even restaurants. This resulted in conflict between our society which left many killed and injured. It took so much power to bring our society together as a whole. Riots after riots occurred all across the United States and one of the known on which happened in 1919 was the race riots in Chicago. This riot simply caused families to

Contrary to the expectations of many individuals in the United States, race and ethnicity are not the same. Although both race and ethnicity are connected in the fact that both are socially constructed in modern times, race and ethnicity did not originate under similar circumstances. Race is more concrete and not dynamic, ultimately causing one’s race to be solidified in an individual’s early stages of development in society. Race was originally created in order to oppress certain individual’s in society and allow one group of individuals to be seen as superior and other groups as inferior, thereby proliferating oppression and establishment of distinctions between the in-group and the out-group. Race was not created as a way to understand the

As police brutality against African Americans is increasing, it is very much reminding us of the civil rights movement. Black leaders risked their lives to ensure that all African Americans would live an equal life as white Americans. The racism and discrimination had been unapparent until recent events such as Donald Trump’s campaign being successful and the police brutality against African Americans. “Every 7 hours cops kill an American citizen”. Many times African Americans are targeted. In fact, Police killed 160 black people in 2016. Did black lives activists die for such a world, destroyed by discrimination and inequality?

“ According to the National Association of Social Workers Web site, racism is “the ideology or practice through demonstrated power or perceived superiority of one group over others by reasons of race, color, ethnicity, or cultural heritage....” The definition further goes on to note that “racism is manifested at the individual, group, and institutional level.” (Blank, 2013)

Racism is an ever growing issue in the world, and something we can’t hide behind. According to dictionary.com the defintion of racism is: “the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.” Race was created socially by how people perceive ideas and faces people are not used to yet. It is the “hatred” of one person to another individual, solely based on that person's belief that the person is inferior because of their language, birthplace and skin colour. Racism is an issue that has lasted throughout history, providing justification for a group’s dominance over another. In this essay the main focus will be looking at a wide array of perspectives, including local in Hong Kong, global in USA, some solutions, and my own personal perspective.