Black Lives Matter Case Report

Discrimination in our justice system has been discussed frequently in the last few decades. The Black Lives Matter movement was initially fueled by the murder of a Black teenager, Trayvon Martin, whose White murderer, George Zimmerman, was acquitted of all charges. Since that incident, the Black Lives Matter movement has encompassed injustices endured by the Black population in regards to police brutality and other instances of white privilege. With the rising use of social media, certain cases of white privilege in the courts have quickly become viral and widespread throughout the world. What I aim to uncover is whether the cases are sporadic and infrequent, or if they are representative of a larger problem present in our justice system. This

Data has indicated that certain races are more prone to be convicted of specific crimes (Bales & Piquero 2012, Spohn 2013, Winnick & Bodkin 2009). Bales and Piquero (2012) found that “Hispanics are more likely to be convicted of murder/manslaughter, other violent crimes, and burglary and equal with Whites for…[sex crimes]. Blacks are more likely to be sentenced for robbery, drug, and weapons offenses, and Whites more likely for property and other crimes” (2012:757). These statistics show a racial divide either in the types of crimes certain races commit or the types of crimes that are targeting racial

Blacks receive higher bond amounts and are more likely to stay detained.
“Black offenders were nearly two-and-a-half times more likely than white offenders…to be detained prior to adjudication” (Spohn 91-92)
“African Americans eligible for bond were slapped with higher bond amounts than bond-eligible whites” (Wooldredge 2012:54). Even though Wooldredge’s didn’t specifically state that they were charged heavier, Black male offenders had a harder chance in comparison to White male offenders to be released from