It is a continuation paper. The rough draft is attached. I also need an outline for this assignment as well.

Racism in the US Criminal Justice

Jaunae Richardson

Institutional Affiliation

ENG 215

Professor Gail Dillard, Ph.D

Racism in the US Criminal Justice

Racism is a critical issue in the American criminal justice system that hinders reforms and the realization of justice for the people. The United States criminal justice system is said to be the largest in the world. In 2016, more than 6.7 million people were going through correctional control the U.S. The concerns on racism injustice get mostly raised as a result of increased prejudice for African-American and the other people of color. Given that white Americans are more in the United States as compared to people of color, the disparity in people under justice is significant between people of color and the whites Americans (The Sentencing Project, 2017). The way police carry on policing and other justice-related measures; discrimination based on a person's race get noted as guarding is undertaken. The paper examines these disparities in criminal justice and provides support evidence to support the allegation.

A report by the Prison Activist Resource Center illustrates the racial bias in the American justice system by focusing on the number of incarcerated African-Americans and Hispanics. Statistics indicate that African Americans make up less than 15% of the US population but compose over 40 percent of adult prisoners in the Federal prisons and those under the sentence of death (Free, 1996). Similarly, Hispanics account slightly over 11% of the US population but account for over 10% of drug traffickers and 22.5% of inmates convicted of a drug offense. Indeed, the ongoing fight against immigrants only focuses on specific individuals, mainly from Arabic countries, African, and Hispanic origins. In this effect, the role of the justice system in providing justice for the people has failed (Free, 1996). Therefore, the American justice system must address the inherent racial bias to ensure fairness for Americans.

The comprehensive statistics and size of the American criminal justice hide its systematic racial injustice. According to a report by the Sentencing Project (2018), African Americans are the most affected by these injustices. Although some of these practices relate to the increasing stereotypes and discrimination against African Americans, the criminal justice ought to lead by example by providing justice regardless of personal racial affiliation (Kerby, 2012). In a statement in the report, the author notes, “African-American adults are 5.9 times more likely to be incarcerated than whites and Hispanics are 3.1 times as likely.” Indeed, this illustrates a system that has criminalized race and established unofficial measures to dehumanize and oppress African Americans.

The policy of stop, questions, and frisk is another concern for criminal justice racism. Police contact when carrying out this policy differs for African Americans and Hispanic as compared to white Americans. There is the high contact with innocent people and increased levels of arrest for drug crimes. According to Louis Dekmar, the reason why minorities get stopped disproportionally is due to police seeing a violation in them (The Sentencing Project, 2017). Besides crime frequent in the minority areas than other places. However, people arrested because of drug law violation in 2015 are high for blacks even though the use of drugs rates does not differ for race and ethnicity. Also, people buy drugs from the people of the same race and ethnicity. In a recent study, it shows that drivers of color and Hispanic are stopped more on traffic as compared to white drivers and searched as well as arrested.

African-Americans are incarcerated in local jails and non-Hispanic whites as well. Pretrial for people of color and Hispanics differ for from that of white Americans. A significant percentage of pretrial release requires money bond which is a challenge for low-income earners. Blacks and Latinos get denied trial more likely than whites, and also they are most likely detained because they cannot afford to pay the bond. Moreover, imprisonment rates for Hispanic and African American are high as compared to white Americans. As a result of this, almost half of the population serving life sentence consists of African Americans and Latinos. The factors influencing these disparities include policies disadvantaging people of color, biases indiscretion and policies disadvantaging poor people. Lastly, Parole boards get influenced by race and also corrections officers’ biases affect parole outcomes.

References

Free, M. D. (1996). African Americans and the criminal justice system (Vol. 13). Taylor & Francis.

Kerby, S. (2012). The Top 10 Most Startling Facts About People of Color and Criminal Justice in the United States - Center for American Progress. Retrieved from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2012/03/13/11351/the-top-10-most-startling-facts-about-people-of-color-and-criminal-justice-in-the-united-states/

The Sentencing Project. (2017). Report to the United Nations on Racial Disparities in the U.S. Criminal Justice System. Retrieved from https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/un-report-on-racial-disparities/

Vera Institute of Justice. (2018). Research Confirms that Entrenched Racism Manifests in Disparate Treatment of Black Americans in Criminal Justice System | Vera Institute. Retrieved from https://www.vera.org/newsroom/press-releases/research-confirms-that-entrenched-racism-manifests-in-disparate-treatment-of-black-americans-in-criminal-justice-system