Racial Disparities in the U.S. Criminal Justice System
Walking down the street is an everyday task, there is nothing to it. But for African Americans, it is a tough thing to do. Every time a car passes, thoughts of being judged arise. When a police car passes, anxiety rises at the thought of being searched based on skin color. Walking routes are often altered due to the fear of being stigmatised. Walking with friends can make people associate the group with “gangs”. The freedom of feeling safe is snatched away. Instances of African Americans being discriminated against by law enforcement and the court system are recurrent, causing the majority of the African American community to feel unsafe. Many times, law enforcement officers and jurors
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For instance, in To Kill a Mockingbird, a panel of white jurors decided the fate of an African American, but included prejudice: “The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box” (Lee 295). If the jurors rolled a die to see who is guilty, somehow it would land on the African American every time. The fact that white jurors use their “best judgement” against African Americans time and time again overemphasizes just how unfair the justice system is towards the black community. Somehow, no matter the facts, jurors will alter the facts in their minds, convincing themselves that the African American is guilty when they may not be. The Department of Psychology at Tufts University found that white jurors are harsher to the outgroup of people, versus the ingroup, meaning they are harsher to the African Americans (Legal and Criminological 172-173). The black community is lied to. They are told they are receiving a fair trial, but in reality, they are judged by jurors much more harshly, forcing the trial to be unfair. Time and time again, African Americans’ opportunity to a fair trial is being snatched away, due to jurors carrying prejudices with them as they enter the
This essay was written in the mindset of an African American male as he examines how his skin color affects how people react to him when he is in public spaces. He feels as if the sidewalks get narrower the closer he gets to others. He knows that the by passers fear him due to the stereotypical views society
When our parents tell us to “address the police by sir or ma’am, sit up straight, and don’t move too quickly, we ask ourselves why? It is in that moment we realize it is because that the world does not love us and wants us dead. This epiphany hardens us and strips us of our innocence and ability to float through the world. We are weighed down by the weight of hatred towards blacks. Our only chance of being able to free our minds is to live without fear of judgement, and without fear of persecution. Because if we do, we will always be looking behind our backs, overanalysing everything that is said to us, second guessing the work that we do, and never truly be able to trust the
According to West’s Encyclopedia of American Law, a study in Maryland revealed that “70 percent of those stopped and searched on a stretch of I-95 were African American- despite the the fact that they represented only 17 percent of drivers on the road.” In light of this confounding statistic, it can be seen that racism and racial profiling was, and still is, an issue in society. Even so, in his essay “Just Walk on By”, Brent Staples apprises of his story as a young, black man growing up in a large city and him facing racial profiling on the city streets. Furthermore, Staples shows his message that many people are willing to judge a person and assume what that person might have done and will do by their outside appearance by using a strong
Diabetes Programs: The Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute Experience. Curr Diab Rep Current Diabetes Reports, 14(2). Doi:10.1007/s11892-013-0462-0
1. What is the difference between a. and a. Inequality became instrumental in privileging white society early in the creation of American society. The white society disadvantaged American Indians by taking their land and established a system of rights fixed in the principle that equality in society depended on the inequality of the Indians. This means that for white society to become privileged, they must deprive the American Indians of what was theirs to begin with. Different institutions such as the social institution, political, economical, and education have all been affected by race.
Many people claim that racism no longer exists; however, the minorities’ struggle with injustice is ubiquitous. Since there is a mass incarceration of African Americans, it is believed that African Americans are the cause of the severe increase of crimes. This belief has been sent out implicitly by the ruling class through the media. The media send out coded messages that are framed in abstract neutral language that play on white resentment that targets minorities. Disproportionate arrest is the result of racial disparities in the criminal justice system rather than disproportion in offenders. The disparities in the sentencing procedure are ascribed to racial discrimination. Because police officers are also biased, people of color are more likely to be investigated than whites. Police officers practice racial profiling to arrest African Americans under situations when they would not arrest white suspects, and they are more likely to stop African Americans and see them as suspicious (Alexander 150-176). In the “Anything Can Happen With Police Around”: Urban Youth Evaluate Strategies of Surveillance in Public Places,” Michelle Fine and her comrades were inspired to conduct a survey over one of the major social issues - how authority figures use a person’s racial identity as a key factor in determining how to enforce laws and how the surveillance is problematic in public space. Fine believes it is critical to draw attention to the reality in why African Americans are being arrested at a much higher rate. This article reflects the ongoing racial issue by focusing on the injustice in treatment by police officers and the youth of color who are victims. This article is successful in being persuasive about the ongoing racial iss...
The criminal justice system is full of inequality and disparities among race, gender, and class. From policing neighborhoods, and the ongoing war on drugs, to sentencing, there are underlying biases and discriminatory practices in the criminal justice system that impacts minority communities and groups. Fueled by stereotypes and generalizations, it is important to identify and discuss what crimes take place and who actually makes it up.
A study of race and jury trials in Florida published last year in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, found that “conviction rates for black and white defendants are similar when there is at least some representation of blacks in the jury pool.” But all-white juries are a very different story—they convict blacks 16% more often than they convict whites (2).
For the past 400 year African Americans have suffered severe forms of oppression, hatred and racism. Even though America has made great strides to eliminate the practice of hatful ideologies and discrimination the residue of inhuman treatment still resides in our society. Racial violence and institutional racism is still in full effect and receiving media coverage like never before. Controversy has arisen due to lives of many African Americans being taken by law enforcement. The African American community has been in an uproar as they feel injustice has occurred being that many of those law enforcement officers have been acquitted of all charges. Birthed from this pain was a chapter-based national organization
Racism is a common and ancient social problem in the U.S.. African Americans spend many years on solving the problem. From the Emancipation Proclamation to the Civil Rights Movements, they consistently fought against racism and gradually gained the justice and rights. During that time, many famous people were born, such as Martin Luther King. Because of their efforts, nowadays, even the president of the US, Barack Obama, has African American blood. However, racism becomes a headline in the news again recently. In the past few months, protests have happened in many big cities like New York and Washington. African Americans went on the street protesting against the discipline of the police department. They claimed that they
While we dance in the streets and pat ourselves on the back for being a nation great enough to reach beyond racial divides to elect our first African-American president, let us not forget that we remain a nation still proudly practicing prejudice.
Crime is not a homogenous action. Criminals hail from a hodgepodge of backgrounds, socioeconomic classes, and demographics. Patterns, however, have been observed across the spectrum of offenders that predict those most likely to become culprits. These patterns often come in the form of disparities between social, racial, and gender groups. The racial, socioeconomic, and gender disparities inherent in the United States criminal justice system are particularly manifested in the courts, policing methods, and prisons. Examining the policies of foreign countries’ criminal justice systems can paint a picture of reform that spells an end to unequal treatment of America’s delinquents.
Read Chapter 3 Ethnicity: p. 31-47. Familiarize yourself with the vocabulary for Chapter 3 and use these words in your discussion board and in your writing.
Pregnancy outcomes are affected by racism and chronic stress due to many life’s factors such as social and economic. Studies have proven that the majority of African American babies are born premature and with weight problems in comparison to white American babies, and it is no a coincidence that these race is the one most affected by discrimination. Racism could be the answer to this dilemma because it is an issue people have been dealing with for decades, which has increase people worries to the point of becoming a chronic stress. A century ago, the average American lived only about 48 years, but as living conditions and medical care improve, people began living longer as mention of the “In Sickness and in Wealth” video. The society made possible for living conditions to improved, but still was not able to fight racism. For example, in the 1930’s the new social programs prevented an economic crisis from becoming an even worse health crisis by providing services that protected children and good health. The same happened when the returning veterans got the GI bill, offering them home...
Prejudice and discrimination have both been prevalent throughout human history. Prejudice deals with the inflexible and irrational attitudes and opinions that are held by others of one group against those of another. Discrimination on the other hand refers to the behaviors directed against another group. Prejudiced individuals have preconceived beliefs about groups of people or cultural practices. There are both positive and negative forms of prejudice, however, the negative form of prejudice leads to discrimination. Individuals that practice discrimination do so to protect opportunities for themselves, by denying access to those whom they believe do not deserve the same treatment as everyone else. An example of discrimination based on prejudice involves the Jews. “Biased sentiments and negative stereotypes of Jews have been a part of Western tradition for centuries and, in fact, have been stronger and more vicious in Europe than in the United States. For nearly two millennia, European Jews have been chastised and persecuted as the “killers of Christ” and stereotyped as materialistic moneylenders and crafty business owners (Healey, p.65). The prejudice against these groups led to the discrimination against them.