Examples Of Inequalities In The Criminal Justice System
Inequality of the Justice System
In the world today, there is evidence of inequality in the criminal justice systems. Many African Americans and those of Hispanic descent are the most convicted criminals in the states. According to the U.S Justice Department in 2003 about 10.4% of all African American men between ages 25 to 29 were incarcerated, as compared to 2.4% of Hispanic men and 1.2% of Non-Hispanic men. What are the driving factors towards the male Africans involvement in the many criminal activities? Perhaps the most important question with respect of race and ethnicity is whether racial discrimination in the justice system exists. It has also been a question to ask if the African American is treated fairly in the justice systems. Are minorities well represented in the Justice system? After conducting a vigorous research case, all these questions should be answered accordingly. It is a significant move to research and discover if the African American are indeed committing more crimes than everybody else. It is also necessary to determine whether racism in the justice systems has more effects than we could even imagine. There has been a lot of progress, and much is still being done on the history regarding the laws on equality.
Factors leading to crime
Poverty
Even when they are arrested with no convictions, the …show more content…
black Americans will still pass through the consequences associated with the crimes. Their problems are ranging from lack of education, hard times when looking for a job, difficulty in getting a house and challenges when it comes to benefits from the government. One of the most likely causes of poverty in a family is the absence of a father in that family. Households raised by single mothers are prone to poverty. Poverty, which goes along with unemployment, can be a very big influence on the behavior of a criminal. Even though there has not been enough research to substantiate the effects of poverty and race, it appears that crime mostly affects the poor in society. Society has put so much emphasis on American obtaining the “American” dream of success that sociologist Robert Merton created the theory of strain to explain how social structures within society may drive people to commit crimes. Poor Americans may have a greater risk of falling into deviant ways. In 2009, according to Lee (2009) “Median white household wealth was about $113,000. For black families it was about $5,700. And median Latino household wealth was $6,300.” Merton’s theory can assist to explain the relation between crime and social status. Innovators fall into a group in which in order to achieve success per society’s standards tuning to deviant crimes may be the way out.
Racial Profiling Civil right groups allege that police officers target minorities for crimes. The roots of the perceived problem are said to be the racial profiling. Harvey & Allard (2012, p. 77) defines racial profiling as the use of race alone as the criteria by police officers to stop and detained someone for suspected crimes. Racial minorities have a greater risk to being stopped and questioned, and shot and killed by the police. The Federal Bureau of Investigation put out a report of the arrests made in the year 2002. With African Americans making 12 percent of the population that year, 41 percent of the arrests that were made fell merely upon “suspicion” in comparison to arrests for violent crimes, drug law violation, and vagrancy. Recent current events in the news have also shown Americans the brutality of police officers against minorities. Cases such as the Trayvon vs Zimmerman and the newest video of a police officer shooting a black male have once again raised questions regarding brutality against minorities. Racial profiling can occur in at least three contexts; being out of place, crackdown in crime and the war on drugs; the latter one being one of the most common reason for crime.
Drug War
The war on drugs in America is considered the war on the minorities and the poor. Some reports have disclosed that close to sixty-two percent of the population of the African American male in the United States are sent to prison on more drug-related charges. The rate of those imprisoned for this offense is said to be around thirteen times higher than that of the whites. The number of black Americans male who are sent to prison is ten times more that of the white males convicted on the same grounds. Out of the arrests made in 1997 on drug charges, 33% of the offenders were Black in comparison to 25% of White and 41% Hispanic. (Walker et al, 2007, p. 188). It is a fact that male black Americans are seen to spend more time in custody on a drug related issue as compared to the time the whites spend in jail for violent crimes. An average sentence for a drug related charge is 65 months for a White American; Blacks will spend an average 95 months and Hispanics will spend 65 months in jail for the same crime. According to research and sources, there is no concrete evidence that African American use or sell drugs more than the whites, however they are arrested more frequently and sentenced longer.
Family support
There is a variety of factors that can lead the people to commit a crime. The African Americans, Hispanics who are seen as the minorities in this case, and the whites are driven into the drug saga by some factors. Some of the factors are family related issues. When Americans are asked what factors contribute to crime, one of the main factors is always attributed to parent-child rearing methods. A family can be involved in the saga due to poor parental model, criminal parents, family violence or even child abuse. From birth to the time children grow up, they will at all-time need the attachment and bond from their parents. It will be an essential thing that they get the parental love that they deserve. With the absence of these factors, a child can be found to grow in a sophisticated manner that will obviously lead them astray. In 2008 President Obama made a speech at a church on Father’s Day. President Obama went on to say “children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of schools and 20 times more likely to end up in prison" (Garry, 2008). These children will not find the appropriate guidance and counseling from their parents or their elders. The result of the lack of guidance will be involvement in bad company including drug-related gang members. Gangs become a fill-in for the lack of family support secondary to parents working to survive.
Education
The lack of education in America makes it difficult to secure jobs. Having a good job in the United States will lower the chances of a person getting involved in the drug schemes. Dropouts from school can make people make very poor decisions of their lifetime. The Bureau of Justice (2012) reported the percentage of prisoners with lower than a high school education. The percentage of African Americans amounted to 49.5% of the total of the convicted offender population with less than a high school degree, in comparison to some college education (15.2%) and college education (5.5%). Where does the school system fall out? Harvey & Allard (2012) points out that Black children have unequal educational experiences; “the differences were found in school facilities, textbooks, curriculum and teacher qualifications” (p. 76). Research has also shown that schools in where the majority of the population is Black or Hispanic tend to have lower test scores. High school dropouts can resort to joining gang teams; do business with illicit drugs or join violent gang members and go around terrorizing the state. In real life sense, people with good education and those who are seen to be having adequate and reliable jobs will have a lot to lose when involved in criminal acts.
Community
In the life set today, the community can act as the other parent to a child.
Children will in most cases emulate what they see happening around them. If the child grows to find drugs, weapons, or violence being the order of the day, they are most likely to follow suit. In these communities, drugs and alcohol are the primary causes of criminal activities. According to the newspapers and other media channels, those who are found guilty or criminal activities are in most times under the influence of drug or alcohol. The impact of neighborhoods can help explain why so many inmates come from similar backgrounds and
communities.
Sentencing and Incarceration
Can the color of skin really have an effect on length of sentencing and incarceration? The rates by which the black men were incarcerated were found to be seven times higher than that of the whites (Warde, 2013). From the statistics of the survey companies, the number of the African Americans male who were arrested of criminal activities is much bigger than that of the Hispanic and the white men. The statistics suggest that out of every one million black male in the United States, three thousands of them were arrested and convicted of criminal cases. A report by the sentencing project voices out that, one out of every three black American is expected to spend time in prison if at all the trend was to continue. If you were to visit a prison in the United States of America, you could expect nearly three half’s of the population to be African Americans.
According to Palazzolo (2013), sentences in 2005 served by black males were 20% longer than those of White males. Statistics have come to show that sentences imposed on African Americans and Hispanics are harsher and longer. Per the Bureau of Justice Statistics in the year 2012, the average sentence term served by a White male with a weapon offense was 65.6 months. An African American male with the same charge was sentenced for 92.8 months and Hispanic males served an average 58.5 months. Walker et al (2007, p. 18) suggested explanation as to why they might be racial disparities in sentencing. Three of the four suggestions included reasons such as the conceived idea that African American and Hispanic males committing more serious crimes and having prior criminal records. The second reason included poverty associated with not being able to afford a private lawyer and being held for pretrial. Third reason had to do with simple bias from judges to minorities. All these reasons only come to prove the existence of institutional or contextual discrimination in the justice system.
Once in custody, the African Americans still suffer in the courts and prisons under the issue of race. The black men who are convicted serve longer terms in the jails that the white male who are convicted of the same criminal acts. Regardless of the type of crime, the sentence for the African American men is always ten times more server that that of the whites. While in custody, the blacks in trial await for a public defender longer than the whites. While in the courtroom, most blacks are seen to plead guilty without understanding their rights. They are not given any explanations on their rights, and thus they don’t know anything they can use to their defense. The fact that African Americans lack a reliable defense in the American courts has raised questions about how many innocent African American men are on the death row but find themselves pleading guilty (Weenink, 2009).
Make up of Justice System
In 1931, a group on nine African American boys were convicted by an all-White jury of raping two white females. As cited on Walker et al (2007, p. 175), “In the early 1930s, one of the defendants in the Scottsboro case described the courtroom where he was convicted and sentenced to death as “one big smiling white face” (Carter, 1969, p. 302). Although the situation of the justice system has changed, minorities continue to make up a small proportion of the American justice system. Lervin (2010) wrote an article on the New York Times looking into the law admissions among minorities. The report revealed that minority entry into the law profession have stalled and that minorities face obstacles to become lawyers. As a result of this, the American justice system continues to be predominantly White. The percentage of working minority judges, magistrates and other judicial workers account for only 18.9% of the total employed (total 53); leaving 81.1% to be of White descent (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014). Statistics just come to show that minorities are still underrepresented in the justice system.
Conclusion
In the research study, it is seen that inequality in the justice systems is likely to become a persistent problem. In America, the issue is found to be against the civil rights but no much action is being taken. African Americans are the most targeted people for any humiliation series in the United States. The humiliation is seen in the courtrooms and outside the courts suggesting that the blacks are in no way going to live a peaceful life in America.
In the world today, there is evidence of inequality in the criminal justice systems. Many African Americans and those of Hispanic descent are the most convicted criminals in the states. According to the U.S Justice Department in 2003 about 10.4% of all African American men between ages 25 to 29 were incarcerated, as compared to 2.4% of Hispanic men and 1.2% of Non-Hispanic men. What are the driving factors towards the male Africans involvement in the many criminal activities? Perhaps the most important question with respect of race and ethnicity is whether racial discrimination in the justice system exists. It has also been a question to ask if the African American is treated fairly in the justice systems. Are minorities well represented in the Justice system? After conducting a vigorous research case, all these questions should be answered accordingly. It is a significant move to research and discover if the African American are indeed committing more crimes than everybody else. It is also necessary to determine whether racism in the justice systems has more effects than we could even imagine. There has been a lot of progress, and much is still being done on the history regarding the laws on equality.
Factors leading to crime
Poverty
Even when they are arrested with no convictions, the …show more content…
black Americans will still pass through the consequences associated with the crimes. Their problems are ranging from lack of education, hard times when looking for a job, difficulty in getting a house and challenges when it comes to benefits from the government. One of the most likely causes of poverty in a family is the absence of a father in that family. Households raised by single mothers are prone to poverty. Poverty, which goes along with unemployment, can be a very big influence on the behavior of a criminal. Even though there has not been enough research to substantiate the effects of poverty and race, it appears that crime mostly affects the poor in society. Society has put so much emphasis on American obtaining the “American” dream of success that sociologist Robert Merton created the theory of strain to explain how social structures within society may drive people to commit crimes. Poor Americans may have a greater risk of falling into deviant ways. In 2009, according to Lee (2009) “Median white household wealth was about $113,000. For black families it was about $5,700. And median Latino household wealth was $6,300.” Merton’s theory can assist to explain the relation between crime and social status. Innovators fall into a group in which in order to achieve success per society’s standards tuning to deviant crimes may be the way out.
Racial Profiling Civil right groups allege that police officers target minorities for crimes. The roots of the perceived problem are said to be the racial profiling. Harvey & Allard (2012, p. 77) defines racial profiling as the use of race alone as the criteria by police officers to stop and detained someone for suspected crimes. Racial minorities have a greater risk to being stopped and questioned, and shot and killed by the police. The Federal Bureau of Investigation put out a report of the arrests made in the year 2002. With African Americans making 12 percent of the population that year, 41 percent of the arrests that were made fell merely upon “suspicion” in comparison to arrests for violent crimes, drug law violation, and vagrancy. Recent current events in the news have also shown Americans the brutality of police officers against minorities. Cases such as the Trayvon vs Zimmerman and the newest video of a police officer shooting a black male have once again raised questions regarding brutality against minorities. Racial profiling can occur in at least three contexts; being out of place, crackdown in crime and the war on drugs; the latter one being one of the most common reason for crime.
Drug War
The war on drugs in America is considered the war on the minorities and the poor. Some reports have disclosed that close to sixty-two percent of the population of the African American male in the United States are sent to prison on more drug-related charges. The rate of those imprisoned for this offense is said to be around thirteen times higher than that of the whites. The number of black Americans male who are sent to prison is ten times more that of the white males convicted on the same grounds. Out of the arrests made in 1997 on drug charges, 33% of the offenders were Black in comparison to 25% of White and 41% Hispanic. (Walker et al, 2007, p. 188). It is a fact that male black Americans are seen to spend more time in custody on a drug related issue as compared to the time the whites spend in jail for violent crimes. An average sentence for a drug related charge is 65 months for a White American; Blacks will spend an average 95 months and Hispanics will spend 65 months in jail for the same crime. According to research and sources, there is no concrete evidence that African American use or sell drugs more than the whites, however they are arrested more frequently and sentenced longer.
Family support
There is a variety of factors that can lead the people to commit a crime. The African Americans, Hispanics who are seen as the minorities in this case, and the whites are driven into the drug saga by some factors. Some of the factors are family related issues. When Americans are asked what factors contribute to crime, one of the main factors is always attributed to parent-child rearing methods. A family can be involved in the saga due to poor parental model, criminal parents, family violence or even child abuse. From birth to the time children grow up, they will at all-time need the attachment and bond from their parents. It will be an essential thing that they get the parental love that they deserve. With the absence of these factors, a child can be found to grow in a sophisticated manner that will obviously lead them astray. In 2008 President Obama made a speech at a church on Father’s Day. President Obama went on to say “children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of schools and 20 times more likely to end up in prison" (Garry, 2008). These children will not find the appropriate guidance and counseling from their parents or their elders. The result of the lack of guidance will be involvement in bad company including drug-related gang members. Gangs become a fill-in for the lack of family support secondary to parents working to survive.
Education
The lack of education in America makes it difficult to secure jobs. Having a good job in the United States will lower the chances of a person getting involved in the drug schemes. Dropouts from school can make people make very poor decisions of their lifetime. The Bureau of Justice (2012) reported the percentage of prisoners with lower than a high school education. The percentage of African Americans amounted to 49.5% of the total of the convicted offender population with less than a high school degree, in comparison to some college education (15.2%) and college education (5.5%). Where does the school system fall out? Harvey & Allard (2012) points out that Black children have unequal educational experiences; “the differences were found in school facilities, textbooks, curriculum and teacher qualifications” (p. 76). Research has also shown that schools in where the majority of the population is Black or Hispanic tend to have lower test scores. High school dropouts can resort to joining gang teams; do business with illicit drugs or join violent gang members and go around terrorizing the state. In real life sense, people with good education and those who are seen to be having adequate and reliable jobs will have a lot to lose when involved in criminal acts.
Community
In the life set today, the community can act as the other parent to a child.
Children will in most cases emulate what they see happening around them. If the child grows to find drugs, weapons, or violence being the order of the day, they are most likely to follow suit. In these communities, drugs and alcohol are the primary causes of criminal activities. According to the newspapers and other media channels, those who are found guilty or criminal activities are in most times under the influence of drug or alcohol. The impact of neighborhoods can help explain why so many inmates come from similar backgrounds and
communities.
Sentencing and Incarceration
Can the color of skin really have an effect on length of sentencing and incarceration? The rates by which the black men were incarcerated were found to be seven times higher than that of the whites (Warde, 2013). From the statistics of the survey companies, the number of the African Americans male who were arrested of criminal activities is much bigger than that of the Hispanic and the white men. The statistics suggest that out of every one million black male in the United States, three thousands of them were arrested and convicted of criminal cases. A report by the sentencing project voices out that, one out of every three black American is expected to spend time in prison if at all the trend was to continue. If you were to visit a prison in the United States of America, you could expect nearly three half’s of the population to be African Americans.
According to Palazzolo (2013), sentences in 2005 served by black males were 20% longer than those of White males. Statistics have come to show that sentences imposed on African Americans and Hispanics are harsher and longer. Per the Bureau of Justice Statistics in the year 2012, the average sentence term served by a White male with a weapon offense was 65.6 months. An African American male with the same charge was sentenced for 92.8 months and Hispanic males served an average 58.5 months. Walker et al (2007, p. 18) suggested explanation as to why they might be racial disparities in sentencing. Three of the four suggestions included reasons such as the conceived idea that African American and Hispanic males committing more serious crimes and having prior criminal records. The second reason included poverty associated with not being able to afford a private lawyer and being held for pretrial. Third reason had to do with simple bias from judges to minorities. All these reasons only come to prove the existence of institutional or contextual discrimination in the justice system.
Once in custody, the African Americans still suffer in the courts and prisons under the issue of race. The black men who are convicted serve longer terms in the jails that the white male who are convicted of the same criminal acts. Regardless of the type of crime, the sentence for the African American men is always ten times more server that that of the whites. While in custody, the blacks in trial await for a public defender longer than the whites. While in the courtroom, most blacks are seen to plead guilty without understanding their rights. They are not given any explanations on their rights, and thus they don’t know anything they can use to their defense. The fact that African Americans lack a reliable defense in the American courts has raised questions about how many innocent African American men are on the death row but find themselves pleading guilty (Weenink, 2009).
Make up of Justice System
In 1931, a group on nine African American boys were convicted by an all-White jury of raping two white females. As cited on Walker et al (2007, p. 175), “In the early 1930s, one of the defendants in the Scottsboro case described the courtroom where he was convicted and sentenced to death as “one big smiling white face” (Carter, 1969, p. 302). Although the situation of the justice system has changed, minorities continue to make up a small proportion of the American justice system. Lervin (2010) wrote an article on the New York Times looking into the law admissions among minorities. The report revealed that minority entry into the law profession have stalled and that minorities face obstacles to become lawyers. As a result of this, the American justice system continues to be predominantly White. The percentage of working minority judges, magistrates and other judicial workers account for only 18.9% of the total employed (total 53); leaving 81.1% to be of White descent (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014). Statistics just come to show that minorities are still underrepresented in the justice system.
Conclusion
In the research study, it is seen that inequality in the justice systems is likely to become a persistent problem. In America, the issue is found to be against the civil rights but no much action is being taken. African Americans are the most targeted people for any humiliation series in the United States. The humiliation is seen in the courtrooms and outside the courts suggesting that the blacks are in no way going to live a peaceful life in America.