Name: Title: Institution: Thesis Statement The modern American society comprise of people from all races, those from Latin America, Africa, Asian and of Arab origin. These races are central in building the vibrant community of which makes United States stand out of its diversity in terms of culture and values. However, prejudice on certain races based on their color or origin has been on rise in American criminal court systems. Laws and policies across many states in US that tend to link certain races as pioneers and a doer of crimes has escalated. These policies have not multiplied in light of crime rates or any experimental information that shows their viability hence has no basis in this century, and this has embroiled the authenticity …show more content…
Racial impressions created about crimes have even prompted the rise in the number of deaths of people of non-white color in the hands of some civilians and fierce police forces. Unique racial and ethnic results in the criminal equity frameworks. Huge exploration and consideration have concentrated on law enforcement units for example the way certain races are frisked at checkpoints is different from the other (Hurwitz & Peffley, 2010). A unique set of elements adds to the seriousness and selectivity of discipline in the United States, including fear about crimes and racial contrasts in the escalating rates of crimes across different states in US. The whites associate the blacks and Latin Americans with crimes and drugs, and this has trickled down to them being seen as inferior to the whites in social aspects and political affairs (Stolzenberg, D'Alessio, & Eitle, 2013). This behavior is witnessed all over the prisons the way the minority criminals are …show more content…
(2003). Greasers and gringos. New York: New York University Press. Hoffman, K. (2005). Book Review: Life Without Parole: Living in Prison Today. Teaching Sociology, 33(2), 229-231. Pinaire, B. (2012). Law and Order: The Politics of Crime and Punishment in America. Choice Reviews Online, 50(03), 407-420. Hurwitz, J. & Peffley, M. (2010). Justice for Some: Race, Crime, and Punishment in the US Criminal Justice System. Can J Pol Sci, 43(02), 457-479. Stolzenberg, L., D'Alessio, S., & Eitle, D. (2013). Race and Cumulative Discrimination in the Prosecution of Criminal Defendants. Race And Justice, 3(4), 275-299. Light, M. & Harris, C. (2012). Race, Space, and Violence: Exploring Spatial Dependence in Structural Covariates of White and Black Violent Crime in US Counties. Journal Of Quantitative Criminology, 28(4),
This racial discrimination has led to a discriminatory manner that punishes blacks who victimized whites more severely compared to whites who victimize blacks. Even though race has been abolished as a legally relevant factor in capital sentencings, there are still variations in capital sentencing patterns along racial lines. The author tries to answer the question of how a system that tries to design itself as a racially neutral system can still have racial variations in capital sentencing. The author argues that there is a link between race and empathy in mitigation. The author conducted a study that focused on juror race and receptivity to mitigation and defendant race.
When it comes to the perceptions of the criminal justice system and the role that the police play in society, blacks and whites live in different worlds. African Americans do not receive equal
Member of diverse ethnic and racial groups, particularly African Americans, believe that they are not treated with respect and believe that there is institutional racism in law enforcement. Institutionalized racism can be harmful to those impacted. For example, the use of pre-employment standardized tests claim that this kind of assessment could be biased toward people of a certain culture, so minorities tend to score lower (p. 48). Racism within law enforcement agencies has been documented for decades.
We live in a society where ethnic minorities are target for every minimal action and/or crimes, which is a cause to be sentenced up to 50 years in jail. African Americans and Latinos are the ethnic minorities with highest policing crimes. In chapter two of Michelle Alexander’s book, The Lockdown, we are exposed to the different “crimes” that affects African American and Latino minorities. The criminal justice system is a topic discussed in this chapter that argues the inequality that people of color as well as other Americans are exposed to not knowing their rights. Incarceration rates, unreasonable suspicions, and pre-texts used by officers are things that play a huge role in encountering the criminal justice system, which affects the way
However the differentiation does not end at census and collecting data, information it spills over to criminology. Data in crime reports is consistently separated by race, which is compiled in arrest report, intensifying the difference between in crimes committed by Blacks and whites, while neutralizing crimes committed by other minorities (Covington 549). However, criminologists question these results, as they claim that the large difference in the number of arrest between whites and people of colour is not a true reflection of the amount of crimes committed by each rate, but actually represents police bias (Covington 550). Furthermore with the increase in information racialization of crimes arises. Indicating and alienating violent crimes to people of black ethnicity, because they are more likely to retaliate as they value honor more than human life (Covington 552).
Racial disparities concerning sentencing have an adverse effect on the African American community. Racial profiling and plea bargaining are contributing factors that lead to overrepresentation of minorities in the judicial system. Data and statistics support the assumption that African Americans are disproportionately subjected to racial profiling, traffic stops which leads to searches and seizures that lead to minor offenses which can also lead to incarceration, rather than probation or rehabilitation (Kamalu, Coulson-Clark, & Kamalu, 2010). The existence of racial prejudice exists when African American defendants are more likely to be convicted and given harsher charges than their white counterparts that have received the same charge, but
Prisoners in 2005. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Karger, H. J., & Stoesz, D. (2010). American social welfare policy: A pluralist approach. Pearson Education.
Michelle Alexander, similarly, points out the same truth that African American men are targeted substantially by the criminal justice system due to the long history leading to racial bias and mass incarceration within her text “The New Jim Crow”. Both Martin Luther King Jr.’s and Michelle Alexander’s text exhibit the brutality and social injustice that the African American community experiences, which ultimately expedites the mass incarceration of African American men, reflecting the current flawed prison system in the U.S. The American prison system is flawed in numerous ways as both King and Alexander points out. A significant flaw that was identified is the injustice of specifically targeting African American men for crimes due to the racial stereotypes formed as a result of racial formation. Racial formation is the accumulation of racial identities and categories that are formed, reconstructed, and abrogated throughout history.
In her book, The Color of Crime, author Katheryn Russell-Brown analyzes the roles that race, gender, and ethnicity play on crime in the United States, particularly how African Americans are viewed and effected by the views held by law and policymakers, law enforcement officers, and judges. The second edition of Russell-Brown’s book is a revision of her first edition, originally published in 1998, which was updated to address modernity issues, topics, and cases. Throughout, Russell-Brown focused on the balancing of heavy in-depth statistical information with specific cases to exemplify her views. The first chapter addressed the historical and current inaccurate portrayal of race in the mass media, while the second chapter discussed the conversation
Minority groups are over-represented in both American Court Systems and Correctional Institutions. What role or actions should minority communities themselves play in reducing minority member’s criminal involvement with the justice system? Use current research or data to support your ideas. Studies have been around since the 1970s and 1980s that asked if African-Americans and Hispanics were sentenced more harshly than Whites. Newer research, including the study by Spohn (2013, p. 76), focuses on “identifying the circumstances under which or the contexts in which race matters.”
Despite claims by some that civil rights for racial minorities have been fully achieved in the United States, racial disparities in the criminal justice process remain and appear to be expanding (Leadership Conference on CivilRights,2001).Racialdisparitiesexistateachphaseofcriminaljustice processing, and it is the police who are the gatekeepers to that process (Barlow & Barlow, 2000; Chambliss, 2001; Cole, 1999; Mauer, 1999; Miller, 1996). As a result of decades of Supreme Court decisions limiting restrictions on law enforcement, police have tremendous discretion with respecttosearchandseizureinthecontextoftrafficstops(see,forexample, Maryland v. Wilson , 1997; NewYork v. Belton , 1981; Ohio v. Robinette , 1996; Pennsylvania v. Mimms , 1977; United States
One of the oldest topics of unrest concerning equality and justice is race. The recent spike in racially discriminatory actions taken by law enforcement agents in the United States has caused much controversy (Von Drehle 29). For the sake of establishing solid grounds for discussion, it is of utmost importance
Literature Review It’s hypothesized that Blacks and Hispanics residing in the United States are more likely to be incarcerated than whites. Vogel and Porter (2016) conducted a study to examine the relationship between race and incarceration in the US. This study draws on data from the Prisoners in 2010 report published by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and the 2010 decennial census, the BJS provides estimates of the total number of sentenced prisoners on December 31, 2010, by age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin (Guerino et al. 2012). The results demonstrated that race is not necessarily directly linked to high incarceration rates.
American Journal of Political Science. Hurwitz and Peffley write on how stereotypes about African Americans have an effect on people’s attitudes towards crime and policy. The authors discuss the link on race and crime and how the media has a lot to do with it. This work will be helpful to my research because of the stereotype linking blacks to crime. It will support my thesis on how race is spread throughout
So when public discourse dwells on offenders, what usually comes to mind are racially charged subtexts. For instance, while poor and black women became targets of the criminal justice system, middle- and upper-class women escaped scrutiny (). In other words, “crime” is more than the violation of a legalized social norm, and “justice” is more than the equal application of laws.