It is no surprise that most of America’s black, hispanic and other minority populations do not trust the criminal justice system. There is little debate on the fact that the system is racially biased. The facts are undeniable. African-American and Hispanic youth learn early on that they are often not given the same opportunities and privileges as whites. Even when charged with the same offense as whites, they are more likely to receive longer sentences, be tried as adults, be locked in correctional facilities, etc. According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics, the chance of a black male born in 2001 of going to jail is 32% or one in three. Latino males have a 17% chance. White males have only a 6% chance. In other words, Latino boys are …show more content…
Although it may be more difficult to illustrate and prove, the Justice System is not immune to racial profiling. Maybe the best example of racial profiling, especially lately, is that which is done by police officers. When looking at New York City, a study conducted showed that 80% of those who are stopped NYPD were black and Latino. Of these, 85% were frisked. When whites were stopped, only 8% were frisked. Also, in California it was found that blacks are three times more likely to be stopped than whites. Furthermore, in Boston from 2007 to 2010 blacks accounted for more than 3 of 5 observations, field interrogations, frisks and/or searches, even though blacks represented less than 1 in 4 residents. These unwarranted, racial profiling stops have been known to become dangerous and in some cases even …show more content…
An excellent example of this is a study conducted in 2003 by Harvard economics professor Sendhil Mullainathan and Marianne Bertrand, an economist at the University of Chicago. As a part of their study they sent out thousands of résumés to employers with job openings. The résumés were statistically identical, but they used stereotypical African-American names on some and stereotypically white names on others. The résumé with a “white” name was roughly 50% more likely to result in a callback for an interview. These discrepancies, because the résumés were nearly identical, can only be attributed to the names. Startling results like these were found in other areas as well. When asked to make judgements about two patient’s heart procedure, one clack and one white, doctors gave different recommendations for treatment. Most doctors were much less likely to recommend a helpful cardiac procedure, catheterization, to black patients that whites. Furthermore, when whites and blacks were sent to bargain for a used car, blacks were offered initial prices roughly $700 higher. Even when selling an iPod online where the photos had white hands in some and African-American hands in others, the phone with the white had received 21 percent more offers than the black
One major problem with the Justice System is that law enforcement use racial profiling affecting many people of color on a daily basis. Racial profiling is when law enforcement believe that certain groups are more likely to commit a crime rather than other groups. This is a major problem because in many cases there are very tragic incidents and as NAACP stated, “ Mr. Garner’s tragic death shows that for communities of color, including women and LGBT people of color, immigrants and low income communities, racial profiling has been and continues to be a constant reality of life, often with tragic and deadly consequences,” (45) Explains how racial profiling has become an everyday basis to minorities affecting them in many ways and unfortunately ends with death occasionally. Racial profiling is a huge dilemma
Racial Profiling has been around for many decades, but over the past few years it has gotten even worse. It has gotten to the point where children are supposed to be the most comfortable and open. Also, it has gotten to the point where even children's sports games are having a racial issue. Children shouldn’t feel like outsiders, just because of the color of their skin. Lastly, they shouldn’t they should stop doing what they love the most just because someone out there is making a racial or racist statement.
What makes America? Is it the freedoms granted to any American citizen? Is it the way the founding fathers fought for their own freedom against Britain? Is it instead the racial history behind this nation? America, since its origins has been a country of immigrants and for immigrants, yet since its origins, there has been discriminatory laws against blacks, Latinos, Asians, and every other race that is not considered white or Caucasian. Has this country that has been based upon racial profiling, that has fought wars as one nation (and even against themselves at one point), and has triumphed through the Civil Rights movement finally succumbed to justice or is racial profiling just as prominent today? Racial profiling still exists in America because ____________________, ___________________, and _____________________. (3 reasons stated in thesis)
The lack of trust that has been established between law enforcement and black communities is in-part due to unfair
Over the last twenty years the issue of racial profiling has become extremely combative with regards to law enforcement practices. A common misconception begins as some people are unaware of what racial profiling actually is. Racial profiling typically deals with incarceration, miss education, and to certain extent slavery. The topic of slavery is relevant in the conversation of racial profiling because like slavery, African Americans have suffered just due their own identity. Profiling is essentially the selection of an individual and categorizing them due to a specific racial group. The ever growing issue of racial profiling has become more evident to the public with the increasing number of instances that have been reported regarding
In New York City’s police department report in December 1999, the stop and frisk practices showed to be greatly based on race. In NYC, blacks make up 25.6% of the city’s population, Hispanics 23.7% and whites are 43.4% of NYC population. However, according to the report, 50.6% of all persons stopped were black, 33% were Hispanic, and only 12.9% were white. As you can see, more than half of the individuals who were stopped were black, 62.7% to be exact (ACLU, 2013). In Orange County, California Latinos, Asians and African Americans were more than 90% of the 20,221 men and women in the Gang Reporting Evaluation and Tracking System (ACLU, 2013). Clearly this database record shows racial profiling occurred when the total population in the database made up less than half of Orange County’s population. This is when the California Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the ACLU stepped in. One other instance of racial profiling I’d like to discuss occurred in Maricopa County, Arizona. A court ruled in May 2013 that “sheriff Joe Arpaio’s routine handling of people of Latino descent amounted to racial and ethnic profiling”; according to CNN, the sheriff’s office had a history of targeting vehicles with those having darker skin, examining them more strictly and taking them into custody more often than others (CNN, 2014). Judge Murray Snow ordered a monitor to oversee retraining in this
At the prosecution stage, African Americans are subject to racially biased charges and plea agreements (TLC, 2011). African Americans are less likely to have their charges dismissed or reduced or to receive any kind of alternate sentencing than their white counterparts (TLC, 2011). In the last stage, the finding of guilt and sentencing, the decisions of jurors may be affected by race (Toth et al, 2008) African Americans receive racially discriminatory sentences from judges (TLC, 2011). A New York study from 1990 to 1992 revealed one-third of minorities would have receive a lesser sentence if they were treated the same as white and there would have been a 5 percent decrease in African Americans sent to prison during that time period if they had received the same probation privileges (TLC, 2011). African Americans receive death sentences more than whites who have committed similar crimes (Toth et al, 2008). Because of the unfair treatment from the beginning to the end of the justice system there is an over represented amount of African Americans in prison (Toth et al, 2008). Some of the problems faced by African Americans in prison are gangs, racial preferences given to whites, and unfair treatment by prison guards (Toth et al, 2008).
This paper discusses the racial inequities of the United States criminal justice system, especially pertaining to the African American male. Incarcerated African American males out number incarcerated White males by 6 times the United States national average (The Sentencing project, 2013). Racial disparities start with the first steps of being detained by law enforcement in the community. Disparity treatment progresses throughout the arrest, the investigation, interrogation, the trial process, representation of the arrested party, the sentencing process, and post release effects. Some factors will be provided to show some of the reasons as to why African American males and other minorities are
Racial grouping and categories can be effective and not effective. In the article “Racial Formation in the United States” by Michael Omi and Howard Winant they discuss their views of racial groups in the U.S and their effectiveness on people. In the article “How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says about Race in America” by Karen Brodkin she discusses how in the past time Jews were considered something other than white, but now they are considered as very much white. Brodkin’s article supports Omi and Winant by addressing the same issues in a more detailed and specific way, they both talk about these racial categories and how it affects
Racial Profiling occurs in every region of the world. Everybody will judge you based on your race and ethnicity. Racial profiling happens in our daily life, just like in the film “Us Against the World”. The film showed how the people from Knott County did not accept the players from Cordia since they came from another place and people were against them because of their race. Racial profiling is a huge problem in our society and we should treat everybody equally. Racial profiling affects our everyday life by showing how different people are being judged base on their background, skin tone, race and ethnicity.
Research shows that African Americans and Latinos have been the victims of racial profiling by the criminal justice system. African Americans and Latinos are at a higher risk of being arrested, prosecuted and sentenced that Whites. The main cause of racial disparities occurs because law enforcement agencies believe that African Americans and Latinos are at high risk of engaging in crime and violence. During prosecutions and court hearings, the jury and judges give harsher sentences to minority groups. As a result, minorities view the criminal justice system as unjust since it favors whites. This research paper reviews relevant literature to show white privileges and racial disparities in the criminal justice system. Additionally, the paper provides linkages between racial disparities in the United States criminal justice system and the law. In this regard, the main objective of the research paper is to give detailed insights on racial discriminations in the criminal justice system.
It is controversial that since King’s speech things have prospered and some stayed the same. In the past years, there have been issues like police brutality and racial profiling that show that nothing has changed. The black and white people can argue that racism and segregation haven’t gone away. If everyone stopped judging others according to their race, the world would be a better place. The government needs to do more like having laws that say ask questions before shooting. Even though MLK speech helped us to get somewhere in today’s society, the black people still go through racial profiling and segregation.
The Mass Incarceration in the United States is a major topic of discussion in our society and has raised many questions about our criminal justice system. There are few topics disputed as much in criminal justice as the relationship between race, ethnicity, and criminal outcomes. Specifically, the large disparities that minorities face regarding incarceration in our country. Minorities such as Hispanics and African Americans are sentenced at far higher rates than their white counterparts. There are multiple factors that influence this such as the judicial system, racial profiling by law enforcement, and historical biases (Kamula, Clark-Coulson, Kamula, 2010). Additionally, the defendants race was found to be highly associated with either a jail or prison sentence; with the “odds increasing 29 percent for black defendants, and 44 percent for Hispanic defendants” (King, Johnson, McGeever, 2010).
Racial profiling of minorities is the primary independent variable that will be focused on in this study. Race also plays an essential role in the independent variable. The attributes of race are white, black, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, Asian and other. I proposed that the variable race will be recoded into 7 different categories: blacks, whites, Hispanics, Middle Eastern, Asian and other. However I will more or so likely not be examining the category of other in my proposal.
Racial profiling is of present interest because of the increasing demand for security around the world. (Racial) Profiling is practiced especially at airports at the moment, or at least that is where the critique is.