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Racial Profiling

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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

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