Racial Disparities In Crime Statistics

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Years of statistics on crime rates and incarceration have indicated a profound and disparate differential in number of minorities incarcerated across the United States. Alix S. Winter and Mathew Clair’s Sentencing Reform in an Era of Radicalized Mass Incarceration (Nov. 2016) addresses the disparity in sentencing with minorities, consequences of such disparities, and recommendations to improve sentencing and incarceration disparities. The purpose of the study is to bring a data driven approach to recommendations within the judicial system in order to reduce the disparities in sentencing with minorities. The methodology for the study was based on a review and a meta-analysis of race and sentencing research designed to explaining the inconsistencies and disparities within Crime Statistics.

The study recognized an overall …show more content…

According to the report, the decrease in crime rates could be related to factors such as: a better economy and people generally securing their property better. The study on racial disparities of minorities sentenced to jail identified a correlation with an increased level of legal cynicism (defined as “a cultural orientation in which the law and the agents of its enforcement, such as the police and courts, are viewed as illegitimate, unresponsive, and ill equipped to ensure public safety”). Legal cynicism was identified as a catalyst for increased crime statistics in legal cynics were least likely to call police or assist in any type of police investigation. Also, some legal cynics would resort to taking justice into their own hands and thereby causing an increase in certain crime statistics. Disparity in sentencing minorities to harsh punishment has several civil consequences such as an increase in both mental and physical concerns and health outcomes. The article also cites the various forms of

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