Executive Summary: Being Black In The Criminal Justice System

Three Trails of Officers Acquitted in the fatal shooting of African Americans Shootings of African Americans by police in the USA is inflating. Officers involved in shootings are being discharged from trials. While people who advocate officers seem to be convinced with guiltless conclusions, victims’ families and others who defend them, call the trails as “implicit bias” against minorities. The three trails of the officers Jeronimo Yanez, Ray Tensing and Dominique Heaggan- Brown support such situation. Officer Ray Tensing’s trial ended in a mistrial and other two were found not guilty.

Although people claim that our society is all good and nobody is racist our society is falling down and lately we have found lots of racist issues with our justice system. When the fourteenth amendment was established in 1886 it stated that all men would be equal for some reason the justice system has forgotten about this amendment, that many people have fought for like Martin L. King, and Alice Paul. There have been a lot of issues

This says that at almost every level of the Criminal Justice System there is racial discrimination against Black Americans. The Criminal Justice System is racially biased. The Criminal Justice System is even prejudice from the very beginning of the imprisonment process.

In the reading “The Consequences of the Criminal Justice Pipeline on Black and Latino Masculinity by. Victor M. Rios an assistant professor of sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is a former gang member and juvenile ward. In the text it was mentioned that people become who they are based on how they are expected to be in society based on their gender. Such as being a male and being tuff, emotionless etc.

The presence of this hidden practice of the police is also prevalent in African American communities and has shaped African Americans’ perception of the police. One quote that explains the temperament of African Americans towards the police is, “One of the most reliable findings in research on attitudes toward police is that citizen distrust is more widespread among African-Americans than whites” (Brunson 2007:73). “African Americans have had to deal with aggressive policing associated with racial profiling and other direct experiences with racial discrimination that lead to lasting adverse effects on individual perceptions of the police. For example, in predominantly black neighborhoods they are always pat down for drugs no matter where they go” (Brunson 2007:76). “If they see us every five

Racism is an ongoing issue which had been taking place for centuries. Racism can take various forms, direct, indirect, individual or institutional. Institutional racism however, has been questioned frequently recently in light of criminal justice system, especially and more noticeably in the US now, where many believe the police is treating/handling black people unfairly comparing to other ethnic groups. According to Macpherson (1999) institutional racism is where organisation does not provide appropriate service due to someone’s colour, culture or ethnic origin, and can take form of racial discrimination in forms of attitudes, behaviours and processes. Macpherson developed this definition when undertaking an inquiry of Stephen Lawrence, a black child who was murdered

One case that relates to this flaw in the criminal justice system would be the Floyd v. City of New York. The date that this case was filed was on January 31, 2008 by David Floyd, David Ourlicht, Lalit Clarkson and Deon Dennis. This case challenged the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) practices of racial profiling and seeing whether or not the stop and frisk policy is unconstitutional. The clients represents thousands of black and Hispanic New Yorkers who have been stopped for no reason (according to the clients).

Is this the role of race in criminal justice system? Is it really designed to entrap, discriminate, arrest, and imprison a mass number of the minority. To be stereotyped and “tagged” as a criminal, degrades the young community and hinders their chances of progression.

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.

The racial disparity can be accounted for through the mass incarceration of black offenders in terms of sentencing with mention of a racial caste in place, not allowing those of color to move from their position. As such, mass incarceration has led to prisons being filled with an overpopulation of those who are black than any other race. Interesting enough, it has been proven through surveys that those who are white are more likely to engage in drug crime rather than those who are black. I found this to be an interesting point to discuss as it raises the question as to just why are more people of color incarcerated at a growing rate than

Before choosing criminal justice as my major, I wanted to be an art major. The dream was to work as a comic book artist, but I soon realized that it was virtually impossible for me to achieve that dream. Eventually, I became interested in the criminal justice system and all of the aspects that exist in the system, specifically the court aspect. When I told my family that I wanted to be a criminal justice major, my father told me outright that I could not be a police officer or work in corrections, so law school was the only option, but I morphed that expectation into my own with the desire to become a civil rights attorney. Moreover, I have always been interested in politics and political movements that involved civil rights and human rights.

1.The theory/concept of intersectionality is a theory centered around oppression, domination and discrimination through various mediums from the social and cultural elements of society. The theory can be applied in many ways toward women as well as their involvement in the criminal justice system. Some forms of discrimination that is more prevalent in perceiving the individual is using a woman's status, race, sexual orientation, ability and age, however there can be more added to this list. The wiki article said “The theory proposes that we should think of each element or trait of a person as inextricably linked with all of the other elements in order to fully understand one's identity.”

Ever since the 1930s, racism has been seen in all aspects of society. Simple things such as bathrooms, buses, school, and even court systems were all racist for years. In modern times, buildings are no longer segregated and racism is not as obvious as it was earlier, but racism is still seen in the court system. Whenever the defendant is on trial, they have a jury of their peers to advocate and vote fairly for them. However, white people have a more fair jury than people of color do.

Annotated Bibliography Alexander, M. (2010). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. New York: The New Press. Alexander opens up on the history of the criminal justice system, disciplinary crime policy and race in the U.S. detailing the ways in which crime policy and mass incarceration have worked together to continue the reduction and defeat of black Americans.

According to the article Racism and Police Brutality in America, “Whites believe that Blacks are disproportionately inclined to engage in criminal behavior and are the deserving on harsh treatment by the criminal justice system” (Chaney 484). The justice system has unfortunately followed this idea. The African American race has been a minority in the legal system in the past; however, it has been much worse as of 2015. Some individuals assume it is acceptable to refrain from acknowledging this fact. Racism is an issue in the midst of police brutality, and it should be resolved.