Racial Disparity In The Criminal Justice System Essay
Description of the Problem
America is the most diverse nation in the world. In this diverse nation one would assume that equality would exist. However it does not, especially in the Criminal Justice System. Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System results from the dissimilar treatment of similarly situated people based on race. The history of racial disparity in the Criminal Justice System in the U.S has been longstanding. With this country's shameful past of slavery, the Jim Crow laws, and numerous other racially based injustices, it seems obvious that race plays a factor in many facets of the criminal justice system, such as who is more likely to come in contact with it and who is more likely to be incarcerated.
Racist interests trying …show more content…
In New York City, where people of color make up about half of the population, 80% of the NYPD stops were of blacks and Latinos. When whites were stopped, only 8% were frisked. When blacks and Latinos are stopped 85% were frisked according to information provided by the NYPD.. Since 1970, drug arrests have skyrocketed rising from 320,000 to close to 1.6 million according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the U.S. Department of Justice. African Americans are arrested for drug offenses at rates 2 to 11 times higher than the rate for whites - according to a May 2009 report on disparity in drug arrests by Human Rights Watch. Usually when African Americans are arrested, they are more likely to stay in prison than a white man who was arrested for the same reason. Following the Rodney King incident, the report of the Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department (also called the Christopher Commission) (1991) found that there was excessive use of force by LAPD officers and that this was compounded by racism and bias. There has been a great issue in policing research with how police use their powers against minorities. There was a study conducted of race in Seattle, which involved drug-delivery arrests. The study revealed that most drugs, including powder cocaine and heroins are delivered by whites and blacks are the majority delivering only crack cocaine. About 64% of those arrested for delivering drugs were black. This study proved that white drug Markets in Seattle received less attention than the racially diverse markets. Overall it has been proven multiple times that Whites seemed to go unnoticed when it comes to committing
America is the most diverse nation in the world. In this diverse nation one would assume that equality would exist. However it does not, especially in the Criminal Justice System. Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System results from the dissimilar treatment of similarly situated people based on race. The history of racial disparity in the Criminal Justice System in the U.S has been longstanding. With this country's shameful past of slavery, the Jim Crow laws, and numerous other racially based injustices, it seems obvious that race plays a factor in many facets of the criminal justice system, such as who is more likely to come in contact with it and who is more likely to be incarcerated.
Racist interests trying …show more content…
In New York City, where people of color make up about half of the population, 80% of the NYPD stops were of blacks and Latinos. When whites were stopped, only 8% were frisked. When blacks and Latinos are stopped 85% were frisked according to information provided by the NYPD.. Since 1970, drug arrests have skyrocketed rising from 320,000 to close to 1.6 million according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the U.S. Department of Justice. African Americans are arrested for drug offenses at rates 2 to 11 times higher than the rate for whites - according to a May 2009 report on disparity in drug arrests by Human Rights Watch. Usually when African Americans are arrested, they are more likely to stay in prison than a white man who was arrested for the same reason. Following the Rodney King incident, the report of the Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department (also called the Christopher Commission) (1991) found that there was excessive use of force by LAPD officers and that this was compounded by racism and bias. There has been a great issue in policing research with how police use their powers against minorities. There was a study conducted of race in Seattle, which involved drug-delivery arrests. The study revealed that most drugs, including powder cocaine and heroins are delivered by whites and blacks are the majority delivering only crack cocaine. About 64% of those arrested for delivering drugs were black. This study proved that white drug Markets in Seattle received less attention than the racially diverse markets. Overall it has been proven multiple times that Whites seemed to go unnoticed when it comes to committing