Crime and Punishment have been the main symbols of the existing racial disparities in the United States for a long time now. In the earlier days, the criminal justice systems mostly entailed executions, prosecutorial and judicial prejudice, and chain-gang style penal practices. The judicial systems saw the minority groups being tried in all white court rooms by all-white juries. The highest number of offenders consisted of individuals from the black communities who were subjected to harsh punishments. Blacks who victimized the whites faced harsh and racially discriminative sentences. For instance, according to the American Sociological Association (ASA) (2007), out of the 455 executions which were carried out between 1930 and 1972, 405 individuals …show more content…
Minorities still experience oppression from the time they are arrested up to the time they are sentenced, which includes capital punishment. Studies carried out in order to explain the differences in racial victimization and offending show that, violence and crime is highly facilitated by the lifestyle or routine activities that individuals engage in (ASA, 2007). the convergence of the minority groups, which mostly consist of the weak and informal communities has greatly motivated offenders and at the same time exposed various groups (including the minority) to the threat of being victimized. Scholars have explained causes of racial disparities as mainly, the high levels of inequalities. Inequalities have led to poverty among the minorities, leading to frustrations among the people, which later results in cases of …show more content…
The blacks engage in crimes as it seems to be their only source of income. Those engage in criminal activities also desire to have order in their neighborhoods. This results to formation of closer ties between the criminals and the non-criminals based on residential stability and high home ownership rates. The residents in these neighborhoods are also most likely to prevent any efforts by law enforcers to curb the existing crimes amongst them. Boys and girls in the neighborhoods, especially the street oriented, lack hopes for the future and tend to live their lives on the edge. They display lack of fear at any turn of events, which eventually lands them in prison. However, these young people view prison as a place where they can harden themselves up and enhance their street reputations. The persistence racism, hopelessness and alienation of the minority groups are the main factors that constitute to the violence they engage in. The negative feelings exhibited by Whites towards the minority groups are fully confirmed by the high crime rates. This in turn also legitimizes the perception by the street oriented individuals towards the street rules. This vicious cycle continues entrenching attitudes among both sides. The result of all these is escalated violence, which claims victims from both
Name: Instructor: Course: Date: Criminal Justice Stevenson through his book has provided various examples that show that people of color and low-income individuals are more likely to be presumed fully prior to presenting their cases. The author has stated that executions are a good example of how norms and policies are used for the purposes of punishing and controlling the people of color For instance, he argues that one in three black people are expected to be sent to jail in their lifetime. Further on, eighty percent of people on death row are black while 65 percent of homicide victims are black.
This article critically examines the racial disparities in sentencing during the late 20th century and highlights how biased judgments influenced judges' decision making processes. "Just Mercy" aligns with these findings by emphasizing how racial bias affects sentencing outcomes. The author Bryan Stevenson explores implicit bias and cultural stereotypes illustrating their impact on judges' perceptions and judgments of African American defendants. Through concrete examples. "Just Mercy" vividly exposes instances of racial bias within the criminal justice system and reveals the unjust consequences faced by people of color.
Yes, the Criminal Justice System is used for individuals of All races and cultural backgrounds. However, prisons within the United States are filled with mostly African Americans. Alexander believes that there is no coincidence between the amount of African Americans within the system and the racial issues that are constantly taking place in the U.S. The Author supports her beliefs by providing the reader with background information on when the increase in African American incarceration rates took place. In Addition, she uses real life examples to support the facts that she mentions throughout the
This essay will examine three types of disparities that happen under the United States sentencing today. Judges tend to look at the characteristics of the victim involved in the crime to determine the outcome of the sentence. Why should someone’s race, gender, or even religion effect the time they receive for their jail sentence? The 1984 Sentencing Reform Act (SRA) was created to eliminate disparities, basically explaining how one’s ethnicity, gender, and religion should not affect their sentencing. Even with this act existing, race and gender has still plays a huge part on unnecessary sentencing lengths.
To begin with, the most common inequality in modern society is the corrupted criminal justice system. Racial bias and profiling persuades judgments when sentencing minorities; especially African Americans. " African Americans make up 6.5% of the American population but 40.2% of the prison
Minorities such as blacks and Hispanics are more like to be charged with more serious crimes than whites(Peck). The reason being is because minorities may have more stains such as poverty, discrimination, and criminal victimization. These strains can leave a damper on the growth of one group of people when there is various amount of strains to keep a group from progressing. Often as a young minority, juveniles are taught by their environment or parents on how to survive in America. Which is not always positive and due to stereotypes set by society, it can become easier for a minority to be mistaken as a criminal and soon follow in the footsteps of a
As demonstrated in Trends in U.S. corrections, the U.S. has had the highest rates of incarceration as of 2011 adding up to more than seventy hundred thousand(The Sentencing Project 3). Race and class play an important role on who is punished for such crimes as well as who gets
Racial inequality in the criminal justice system can be found on many different levels, from policies, to policing, down to the study of crime itself. This can be seen with the policies that are passes into law especially in regards to punitive measures. Non-Hispanic Whites are more likely to be in favor of punitive measures which will affect the overwhelmingly black prison population (Drakulich). The inequality within the polices becomes greater when one looks at the civil restrictions placed on ex-convicts, without the ability to vote on said polices the whites have a greater say in what will happen to the blacks that are imprisoned, exacerbating the racial inequality (Wheelock).
George Woodworth once examined the death penalty rates among all death eligible defendants in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania between the years of 1983 and 1993. The results of their study proved that the odds of receiving the death penalty in Philadelphia increased by 38% when the accused was black. (“Race and the Death Penalty | American Civil Liberties Union”) This shows that the justice system is biased and proves that a black person is more likely to receive a death punishment for committing the same crime as a white person. Another example of discrimination is when death penalties are given to those that are poor and grow up in underprivileged backgrounds.
They are disadvantaged, live in higher rates of poverty, which often leads them to strain and commit crimes for survival. Statistically, they face higher jail time for the same crimes, which keeps them in that cycle. An African American or any underprivileged minority child most likely will not be able to achieve as much a white child from a high class family. The tension between the goals and the institutionalize means will cause unsatisfied aspiration, which has a higher chance to lead to crime. The reasons that there are higher rates of crime in lower social classes are easily explained by this theory.
The justice system bases the punishment of a person off the status of their race and
Bryan Stevenson negotiates the prejudice and intolerance within the criminal justice system, and the biases within based on economic and racial status. This book exposed myself to a deeper level of injustice inside our system than what I already had a conception of. Each story Bryan talks about hits on different subjects that opened my eyes to how our system truly treats minorities so coldly. Those of a different race, economic status, are treated far worse than we can imagine. Within the past few years racial injustices have began to gain more attention in the media, allowing awareness into the discrimination still present in our system.
Some got into many fights before prison, which is because of disrupted social bonds. The last key to this causal model is an increased drift into deviance. In this book, it was common to see these criminals progressively get worse through the years before incarceration. Many would start with light drug abuse then turn to the hard drugs and spend all their money on it. Along with this, gangs were also quite common in some of
Another issue that was discussed is the inequality of death penalty in practice. There have been serious issues with racial discrimination. For reference in cases with white victims and black defendants convictions occurred twenty two percent of the time while with black victims and white defendants with percentage dropped to a measly three
There are many phenomena that could cause or correlate with crime. In addition to this, there are many characteristics to these phenomena that cause/correlate with criminal behavior. Furthermore, these characteristics can be individual, sociological, or both that could have an effect on criminal behavior. This paper will take the educational avenue on crime.