Racial Discrimination in Criminal Justice: Injustices and Inequalities

In the work 'Racial Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System Essays' we will research who is most discriminated against and why. Through events that have occurred throughout history and the present day, it is clear to see that there is an issue of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system. This issue of racial discrimination causes a great impact on the minorities of society, specifically the African American, Hispanic, and Native American communities. The minorities mentioned face great disparities in many aspects but to pertain to the topic at hand, the disparities they face are greatly emphasized throughout the criminal justice system. These disparities that minorities suffer include grossly disproportionate sentences, being repeatedly mistreated with excessive force, racial profiling, and being confined in prison at a higher rate than other races. In this paper, I will provide insight into the role that the race of minorities plays in the discrimination established in the criminal justice system by providing information such as research, statistics, and events that have occurred and been collected over the years.

It is no secret that there is a racial hierarchy and those that are considered to be at the bottom of the system are treated completely differently and unfairly than those that are on the top. The minorities are the individuals that are considered to be the people at the bottom of the racial hierarchy. And the statement recognizing that those at the bottom of the hierarchy are treated unfairly is supported by the immensely evident discrimination African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans have faced, being the minorities of society. The tragic crimes done against the minority community have recently started an outrage in society. After multiple incidents where African American men were treated harshly with excessive force and repeatedly killed by police while being unarmed, society has started to show their desire for change in many different ways. The ways that society has started to show their desire for change include protesting, rioting, expressing their wants through social media and governmental meetings, and demanding to be heard while implementing many other ways. But another very important activity that has sparked since the multiple problematic encounters between minorities and the police/prison system is the analysis and studies of these issues which I will now speak on.

The Beginning of Analysis

As mentioned, the studies and analysis of the discriminative actions done to the African American, Hispanic, and Native American communities have started to take place upon the multiple occurrences of unfair treatment seeming to be done because of racial discrimination. Though the analysis is being done it has been recognized that bias and discriminative acts that were done subtly can cause inaccurate inspection. I do not believe this statement to be completely accurate because any form of discriminative or unfair behavior done can easily be detected and accurately assessed. But besides the subtle expressions of bias, there is plenty of accounts where bias and discriminatory behavior have been demonstrated and were recognizable without a doubt.

Corrupt System

Even while setting aside subtle forms of bias we have enough evidence of blatant racially discriminative behavior to clearly recognize racial bias being implemented throughout the criminal justice system. A great example would be one that is brought out in the science journal article “The Changing Forms of Racial/Ethnic Biases in Sentencing”. This example explains how during a juvenile court trial in the case of a Chicano boy the judge of the trial, Judge Chargin uttered a series of disgustingly insensitive statements to the boy. During the trial, the judge openly expressed racially prejudiced statements revealing that he views the juveniles kind to be below animals, and believes that the defendant does not belong in society but should be in Mexico and prison. The fact that there are officials elected that feel confident, strong, and entitled enough to say such vial things freely in the office is terrible. An official that has the power over an individual’s fate such as a judge should be evaluated and assessed to confirm they are a fair and not a biased individual. This should be done to ensure unprejudiced sentencing is not taking place and to be sure the defendants’ rights are taken into consideration. This is emphasized in the article “The Politics of Racial Disparity Reform: Racial Inequality and Criminal Justice Policymaking in the States'. In this piece, it is revealed that administrators in office grow ethnic discrepancy characteristics due to the support of prejudiced interests. This fact exhibits major issues of the racially discriminative corrupt system we face. Yet there are thousands of more cases and aspects that reveal this precise fact.

Targeting Minorities Young and old

To exhibit more issues of racial disparities revealing that race plays a big role in the criminal justice system one can look at how minorities are targeted. The racial disparities of minorities in the system do not discriminate against age. We can see racial discrimination being targeted towards minorities even when they are juveniles. Both the young and the old suffer from being overrepresented in the juvenile and criminal justice system. Piquero explains how minority youth are disproportionately represented in the juvenile justice system in the United States. We can see this when examining the school-to-prison pipeline system. As described by. Hispanic and African American students were observed by teachers more than Caucasian students and were more likely to be disciplined. Upon the ethnic students being disciplined, they received harsh forms of punishment in most cases being directed to law enforcement. Those that were disciplined more severely were noted to become more likely to get entangled with the criminal justice system. As the youth are targeted through the school to the prison pipeline system, the adults are targeted through everyday actions.

As mentioned, both juveniles and adults are targeted by the system. African Americans and Hispanics are stereotyped to usually be involved with crime and this stereotype can be associated with either violent or non-violent crimes. But due to this stereotype, these minorities are targeted by the system even while carrying out everyday activities. It has been found that African Americans are the main victims of getting targeted for traffic stops. But not only are African Americans more likely to be stopped, but they are also more likely to be pulled over for their track record to be checked and are most of the time not told the reasoning behind their traffic stop being implemented. With African Americans and Hispanics being the race more likely to be stopped and targeted by authorities even while carrying out everyday activities, minorities have higher rates of encounters with law enforcement. Given that minorities have the highest rate of encounters with law enforcement, minorities also have a high rate of violent encounters, mistreatment, harsh sentences, and disproportionate representation in the criminal justice system which can be statistically proven.

Statistics: Statistics have proven by research to bring enlightenment to the drastic racially discriminative criminal justice system which I will now explicate. Statistically proven African Americans and Hispanics make up over half of the population of inmates imprisoned in the United States federal and state prisons. These minorities make up a staggering 57% of inmates in the United States correctional institutions. A statistical point that truly exhibits the extreme disproportionate representation of African Americans in the criminal justice system is the fact that in the year 2015 this ethnic group made up 35% of the country’s almost 1.5 million number of inmates, while only making up less than 15% of the inhabitants in the United States. This reality is tragic and heartbreaking. It only further proves the role race has in the establishment of discrimination in the criminal justice system. Especially when Caucasians make up more of the United States population sitting at a 76.3 percentage rate but only make up 29% of the population of inmates in prison. There is no accurate reason to justify the drastic difference and disproportionate representation between these two different ethnic groups pertaining to the population in prison and society other than racial disparities in the system. Yet this is not the only statistic that proves the issue of racial discrimination in the system. The fact that there are countless incidents of minorities being treated harshly and unlawfully while there are far fewer accounts of this happening to other races validates this claim as well.

Minorities, specifically African Americans and Hispanics are treated severely and immorally by authorities. A science journal article by Bonsignore, Chambliss, and Seidman, conveyed how law enforcers in some cases are allowed to implement harsh sentences which greatly and mostly impact minorities making them the likely target to receive harsher sentences due to their lack of ability to get an attorney that will aid their case and situation. It is statistically proven that African Americans and Hispanics receive more severe sentences than any other ethnic group. Fischman statistically lists in his article how African Americans and Hispanics have a lower rate of withdrawal from prison, a higher percentage rate to be given extended sentences, and also a higher percentage rate to be convicted to carry out a sentence of the required minimum of an offense than Caucasians. To show in depth the percentage rates, African Americans statistically receive a more prolonged sentence of about 21% while Hispanics receive about 16% more lengthy penitentiary sentences. That's why in my opinion, the topic 'racism in criminal justice system essay' is very relevant.

References

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