Racial Disparity in America

Racial Disparity in America Criminal System
Leverd Nunn IV
ENG 122/ AXE1317D
Brandon Bond
May. 26, 2013

INTRO:

DMC is a big issue in our society! Disproportionate minority contact (DMC) is the overrepresentation of people of color in the nation’s criminal justice system. Black or African Americans make up only 12.6% of the US population and make up over 28% of all arrest, 40% of all inmates in prisons and in jails, and 42% of the population on death row. While whites who make up 67% of the US population, only constitute 40% of all inmates held in prisons of jails and 56% of the death row population. Other minorities like Hispanics and Native American are also over represented in the criminal system, this is not right. Back in the 70’s my parents and grandparents fought against many different disparities in America, and in today’s society most of them are gone. The disparities in our criminal justice system have lasted far too long. In no way am I saying we should be soft on crime, but we should be equal. Laws should be enforced the same in every community, Two people who commit the same crime should get the same sentencing no matter what color skin or heritage they may be. The United States has the second highest incarceration rate in the world second to Russia. Hispanics and black make up two-thirds of the US prison population. Almost one in every three black males on any given day is under some form of criminal supervision, weather that’s prison or jail, or probation or parole. What’s sad is that there are more young black men incarcerated than enrolled in college. For every 1 black male that graduates from college, there’s 100 black males arrested. Is it that minorities are violent people who commit crimes? Or is there some sort of injustice in our system? In this paper I intend to show you the disparities in our criminal justice system.

Race and the Police:
Whites and Minorities view police in two completely different lights. Race is the most noticeable predictors of attitude toward police and other criminal justice institutions. It’s not really clear, why racial differences exist in peoples view and relation with the police. Studies and many different surveys show that different races have different views on police. While white tend to view police favorably, minorities have a rather negative view on police.
Whites have a more favorable opinion of police, supportive of aggressive law enforcement, and are less likely to believe criticism of police. Many whites believe black are more likely to commit crimes or display violent behavior. A general social survey showed that 48 percent of whites believe black are “violent-prone”. Many whites believe intensifying law enforcement on minority individuals and communities is a primary way to control crime. They believe accepting the fact that minorities are mistreated by police would give reason to loosen laws and law enforcement which in-turn would threaten whites.
African Americans and Hispanics, view the police mistreatment as a “visible sign of majority domination” (Bayley and Mendelsohn 1969:195). This is not saying that minorities are anti-police, but they position as the less dominant races increase their chances of receiving police misconduct. Black and Hispanics, like white, favor more law enforcement, they just want it done in a way that lessens abuse.

Race and Prosecutorial Discretion:
It is no secret that the Federal system is known for its harsh and unequal treatment on people of color. In the Navy I’ve learned that before a big accident, like two ship colliding, happens there is at least five things that go wrong, so there was five different chances for someone to step up and prevent the accident. The same can be said for the unfair prosecution of minorities. It’s evident at every level of the criminal process from the first plea negotiation with the prosecutor to the prison sentence by the judge that prosecutorial preference is systematically used to the disadvantage of minorities. This is not to say that prosecutors are racist.
About 700,000 of California criminal cases from 1981 to 1990 were reviewed by San Jose Mercury News, and revealed significant inconsistencies at different stages of the criminal justice process. Their studies found that six percent of whites and only four percent of minorities received dismissals, where the prosecutor dropped their case entirely. I was also found that there is a big disparity in the treatment of whites verse non-whites at the pretrial negotiation stage of the criminal process. It was stated that during that period and white felony defendant with no criminal record had a thirty-three percent chance of getting the charges reduced to a misdemeanor or infraction, compared to twenty-five percent for a black or Hispanic American in the same situation.

Race, Sentencing and the “Tough on Crime Movement”:
There is discrimination in the criminal justice system, starting with the police on the beat, but including legislators and judges too. For example, critics point to the differential in sentencing for possession of crack cocaine vs. powdered cocaine. Whatever the end-use forms of the drug, cocaine is cocaine. Yet penalties for crack cocaine, used predominantly by inner city blacks, are more severe than the penalties for the powdered form that is more popular with white suburbanites. The Tough on Crime Movement has shown a rise in African American in prison. Tough on crime consist of a number of different polices like three strikes, mandatory sentencing, quality of life policing, zero tolerance, and other policies that result in longer and harsher sentences. Tough on crime policies have eliminated rehabilitation and cost tax paying citizen lots of money. The authors of the “Modern tough on crime movement” chapter of Defending Justice believes that the "tough on crime" movement was part of a larger effort to increase votes for the Republican Party, and more significantly, to redirect State policy away from social welfare toward social control. Politicians believed to get elected into office they had to be tough on crime and appeal to the voter’s thirst for safety. For about a generation, they considered private acts criminal and issued out hasher punishments. These laws were selectively enforced more on black and brown communities, and resulted in massive over populated prisons. Recent surveys show that 73 percent of people who have not been subject to violent crimes and 70 percent of people who have think there are too many people behind bars. 88 percent of these people believe we have too many low-risk, nonviolent offenders behind bars and support reentry programs like job training.

Willful Judicial Blindness:
It is very clear that there are some very big issues with our criminal system, but what’s shocking is that there has been little movement in the judicial system to correct these short comings. In the modern day, with mandatory guidelines and sentencing judges have very little if any power to affect the outcome of criminal cases. Judges however, have not only been unwilling to address disparities in law enforcement dealing with minorities, they have also made it hard for the excused to expose such flaws. The Mccleskey vs Kemp brought these issues to light. McCleskey, a black man, was convicted of two counts of armed robbery and one count of murder in the superior court of Fulton County, Georgia. McCleskey was sentenced to two life sentences for the armed robbery and the death penalty for the murder of a police officer. After being denied multiple petitions, McCleskey filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the federal district of the Northern District of Georgia. In this petition, he raised 18 claims, one of the claims was that the Georgia capital sentencing process is admisnistered in a racially discriminatory manner in violation of the eighth and fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution. To support his claim he used a statistical study done by Professors David C. Baldus, Charles Pulaski, and George Woodworth the Baldus study. The Baldus study examined over 2,000 murder cases in Georgia during the 1970s, and showed a disparity in death sentences based on the race of the victim and the race of the defendant. According to the Baldus study, The death penalty was assess in 22% of the cases black defendants and white victims and assess in only 3% of cases involving white defendants and black victims. Furthermore, it showed that the prosecutors sought the death penalty in 70% of cases with black defendants and white victims. It’s evident from the Baldus study that black defendants, like McCleskey, who kill white victims have a greater chance of receiving the death penalty.

Recommendations/Conclusion:
The Constitution of the United States of America, the supreme law of the United States, begins with “We the People”, not we the white people, not we the black people…We the people. The Declaration of Independence states…We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. So when did this all change? When did we decide to go against the foundation of what this country was built on? Minorities have fought for years to be treated equal and to have equal rights as white and the fight continues to this day.
Once again, I’m not saying we should be soft on crime, but fair is fair and we have to look at the effect this is having on minority communities. Blacks and Hispanics have lost a generation of young men, young men that could have contributed great things to their community and to the world. The doctor that would have found the cure to HIV and AIDS, or the man that would discover the solution for the homeless problem in America could be locked up in prison right now. Studies show that if we don’t make a change we will lose another generation.
I believe America has evolved from the 60’s and 70’s where racism was a very public thing to today’s society where it is not so much public anymore. Think about it …Who holds the power to make laws that effect our country?, politicians. How do we elect politician by voting. So, if you lock up minorities they can’t vote. If they can’t vote they don’t really get a say in the laws of this country. So, we silent the minorities and make laws to ensure they will never rise to a level where they will be equal with the white. That’s just my views after doing the research for this paper. You may share those views or disagree with them, but there’s no doubt that America has problems that need to be fixed.

Regardless of how strongly we choose to enforce our criminal laws, racial and ethnic equality is necessary. Should two similarly situated but racially or ethnically different individuals, whether they be two innocent motorists or two marijuana dealers, be treated the same regardless of the color of their skin or their ethnic background? Our Constitution says yes.

References

Bayley, David and Harold Mendelsohn. (1969). Minorities and the Police. New York: Free Press.
Bureau of Justice Statistics. (1999). Criminal Victimization and Perceptions of Community Safety in 12 Cities, 1998. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.
Carter, David. (1985). “Hispanic Perceptions of Police Performance.” Journal of Criminal Justice 13:487–500.
Chettiar, Inimai and Stamm, Alex. (2005) “Tough Crime No Longer American Mantra.” ACLU Center for Justice. Retrieved May 27, 2013 from World Wide Web: http://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform/tough-crime-no-longer-american-mantra Harris, David. (2002). Profiles in Injustice: Why Racial Profiling Cannot Work. New York: New Press.
Jacob, Herbert. (1971). “Black and White Perceptions of Justice in the City.” Law and Society Review 6:69–90.
Lu, L. (2007). Prosecutorial Discretion and Racial Disparities in Federal Sentencing: Some Views of Former U.S. Attorneys. Federal Sentencing Reporter, Vol. 19, No. 03, p. 1-11.
Shah, Palak. (2005) Defending Justice- Low Income Individuals/Activists.
University of Missouri. (2004). Race and Perceptions of Police Misconduct (p. 305-325). Retrieved May 1, 2013 from World Wide Web: http://web.missouri.edu/~jlfm89/Race%20Perceptions%20of%20Police%20Misconduct.pdf
Justice On Trial: Racial Disparities in the American Criminal Justice System. (2013). Retrieved May 1, 2013 from the World Wide Web: http://www.civilrights.org/publications/justice-on-trial/

References: Bayley, David and Harold Mendelsohn. (1969). Minorities and the Police. New York: Free Press. Bureau of Justice Statistics. (1999). Criminal Victimization and Perceptions of Community Safety in 12 Cities, 1998. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice. Carter, David. (1985). “Hispanic Perceptions of Police Performance.” Journal of Criminal Justice 13:487–500. Chettiar, Inimai and Stamm, Alex. (2005) “Tough Crime No Longer American Mantra.” ACLU Center for Justice. Retrieved May 27, 2013 from World Wide Web: http://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform/tough-crime-no-longer-american-mantra Harris, David. (2002). Profiles in Injustice: Why Racial Profiling Cannot Work. New York: New Press. Jacob, Herbert. (1971). “Black and White Perceptions of Justice in the City.” Law and Society Review 6:69–90. Lu, L. (2007). Prosecutorial Discretion and Racial Disparities in Federal Sentencing: Some Views of Former U.S. Attorneys. Federal Sentencing Reporter, Vol. 19, No. 03, p. 1-11. Shah, Palak. (2005) Defending Justice- Low Income Individuals/Activists.