Discrimination is nearly universally accepted as unethical, whether done on a conscious or unconscious level. By prejudging a person’s ability to perform a given task based on incorrect or irrelevant information. In my opinion, conducting criminal background check is unethical. Despite the fact that at first glance this practice is useful and beneficial for the society, these checks have far-reaching negative consequences. First, if a person appears in the database of accused or convicted people, an immediate bias arises in an employer; and this prejudice, sometimes unconscious, leads to a conclusion that person with such past will not employed. Second, in the future, criminal backgrounds checks can result in emergence of the perception, which will make employers see employees as a name in a database, rather than a person. …show more content…
Besides, in the case of BMW and Dollar General, there is an obvious racial discrimination which illustrates that “non-whites are disproportionately represented among those with criminal records” (diversityinc.com, 2011). Additionally, it is morally wrong that it deprives the second chance for ex-offenders to come back their community as a good citizen and look for rejoin the society as a productive labor force. It makes them no longer have hope in the future; especially people who have financial and family burden such as some people with record are the sole bread winner in their
Questions about discrimination has shown to be hard to prove, and so it is difficult to decide if a criminal had a fair
The world sat by in silence, as crimes against humanity were being committed. “Every man for themselves,” is what the world responded, to those who were enslaved, tortured, and discriminated against. The book, “Night” by Elie Wiesel, recalls the details of the torture he endured. Elie lost his family, friends, faith, and will to live, in a matter of 2 years. Imagine how others, who were in the same position as Elie, felt.
However, a number of African Americans, who were convicted of a felony, are disproportionately high nowadays. Michelle Alexander considers that It has led to the creation of “a new racial undercaste” (2010). Actually, in our time, discrimination affects every aspect of political, economic, and social life of the people who was charged with a serious criminal offence. In this regard, she mentions the law “banning drug felons from public housing …and denying them basic public benefits for life” (2010). We live in a “colorblind society” that pretends the racial disparity and discrimination do not exist.
I have to agree with Alexander (2012) that being labeled a felon condemned individuals to second-class citizenship perpetuate the cycle of criminal behavior. I have seen firsthand individuals being released from prison as a felon back into society and how Jim Crow practices outcast them from society. For example, newly released individuals from prison are indeed released with a financial debt owed to the Criminal Justice System. Many of the individuals often have to pay restitution to victims, court costs/attorney fees, and fees owed to the Probation department. Individual parolees are required to pay money to their probation officers every visit and some parolees may be required to visit their probation officer every month.
In the article “The impact of Racial Disparities in the U.S. Criminal Justice System” found on sentencingproject.org states that racial disparity in criminal justice system has lead to mass incarceration of minorities. Such disparities are deeper and more systemic than explicit racial discrimination. Disparity and discrimination in the criminal justice system causes lack of equality based on the certain individual’s color of skin and background. We live in a world where discrimination and disparities should no longer exist but unfortunately they do. People around us are the ones who make the world what it is today therefore discriminating someone for the way they look and not looking deeper into one's personality is very immoral and unethical.
The Bill of Rights is something the American people hold close to them, especially their right to bear arms. Recently there has been a lot of debate over implementing gun regulations without infringing on the rights of the people. While a position of this is expressed in Wayne LaPierre’s “Universal Background Checks Mean Gun Registration, Gun Bans and Confiscation”, Jeffrey Toobin’s “So You Think You Know the Second Amendment” provides a more valid position evaluating the issue of gun control. Universal background checks are a big discussion lately in our country’s current climate.
The political debate for and against felon disenfranchisement has compelling arguments on both sides. In the US, over 6 million felons are barred from voting due to laws that prevent felons with a sentence to vote (Chung). The number of imprisoned has been growing over the past 40 years, as the increasing number of imprisoned felons is directly correlated with an increasing number of disenfranchised felons. However, a more jarring statistic reveals that most disenfranchised felons in the United States are of a racial or ethnic minority. Based on information from the 2010 US Census Bureau, about 36 percent of disenfranchised felons are African American.
Racial profiling is morally wrong: I cannot stress this point enough racial profiling is morally and ethically wrong. It degrades the American psyche by treating its citizens as second class citizens. It generalizes,it paints with broad strokes that minorities are criminals and worthy of profiling. Not to mention that profiling by The United States is Hypocritical a country that promotes liberty,freedom and ideals of justice should not violate it 's citizens civil liberties,such as racial profiling does. Now,i will give a now famous example about racial profiling gone bad.
The practice of racial profiling victimizes minority persons to support a White hegemonic structure that promotes White values and beliefs as superior. The harmful effects of racial profiling
A study conducted by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services undertaking claims of sentencing disparities studies the felony sentencing outcomes particularly in New York courts between the years 1990 and 1992. Astonishingly, the study concluded that approximately one-third of minorities sentenced to prison would have received a shorter sentence with the possibility of a non-incarcerative penalty if they had been treated similarly to their white counterparts. Consequently, other sentencing data is consistent with the results of this study’s findings. On a national scale, black males specifically, who were convicted of drug felonies in state courts 52 percent of the time, while white males typically receive prison sentencing approximately 34 percent of the time. In addition, these figures are not constrained to gender given the similar ratio among black and white women as well.
James Forman Jr. composed an article called Arrested Development which questions the conservative stance on racial profiling. Conservatives general principles assert the less emphasis on race and that with “equal right, come equal responsibilities.(25)” He targets this piece towards conservatives who oppose racial profiling to indicate that conservatives should be against racial profiling because it profoundly violates core conservative values. The conservative ethos about work and responsibility demanded that American citizens take charge for their own lives and not become dependent on the government.
Racial profiling has become a national issue starting in 2015 (“Racial”). Judging someone for their race has been a problem ever since a minority group has been noticed. Racial profiling has spread over all over the world. Racial profiling has been a problem through the years, if the human race can learn what racial profiling is, advantages of the profiling, and the disadvantages.
People of all different races and ethnicities are locked behind bars because they have been convicted of committing a crime and they are paying for the consequences. When looking at the racial composition of a prison in the United States, it does not mimic the population. This is because some races and ethnicities are over represented in the correctional system in the U.S. (Walker, Spohn, & DeLone, 2018). According Walker et al. (2018), African-Americans/Blacks make up less than fifteen percent of the U.S. population, while this race has around thirty-seven percent of the population in the correctional system today.
There are many reasons to why racial profiling is wrong. It doesn’t work, it causes death and injuries to innocent people, and it’s just humiliating and offensive to the people. Many people everyday are affected by racial profiling. Even though
The United States has a larger percent of its population incarcerated than any other country. America is responsible for a quarter of the world’s inmates, and its incarceration rate is growing exponentially. The expense generated by these overcrowded prisons cost the country a substantial amount of money every year. While people are incarcerated for several reasons, the country’s prisons are focused on punishment rather than reform, and the result is a misguided system that fails to rehabilitate criminals or discourage crime. This literature review will discuss the ineffectiveness of the United States’ criminal justice system and how mass incarceration of non-violent offenders, racial profiling, and a high rate of recidivism has become a problem.