Criminal Justice System: Article Analysis

The purpose of this article is to discuss how discrimination and implicit bias exist in the criminal justice system. In short, it talks about how people have a kind of “programmed” bias within themselves that they are unaware of. Even though discrimination is not accepted anymore, people still participate in it. The article discusses racial profiling, shooting- how blacks are more likely to be shot, and sentencing – how blacks have a higher chance of being convicted of murder. This text also explains how police officers are more likely to categorize blacks as criminals and they are more likely to be violent with them. This source is credible, as the writer has done research on implicit bias in order to draw conclusions from the study. The

It further explains in more detail about how gender and race play a role and are affected by this major rise. The War On Drugs, in essence, elevated the conviction rates for minorities even though for Whites, the conviction rates didn’t rise at all. When the war on drugs era started, America started to have this tough on crime tactic that attributed to the high incarceration rates. The author makes extreme connections between slavery and imprisonment in terms of African Americans. He calls it new form of colonialism” and how “controlling crime has become an industry”. This article also reveals how there is a correlation between class and race when it comes to criminal activity. This source is credible as the author is a professor at the department of criminal justice at the University of Nevada. He gets his information from other professionals like Michelle Alexander- who wrote a well-known book about the war on drugs. This article will help support my argument in giving an example of the racial injustice faced by African Americans and how the war on drugs in some ways was a way to incarcerate minorities- although it might sound extreme. I can also use this as an example of how the justice system has become an “industry” in the way that

The outrageous number of prisons has caused Economic and social consequences. According to the National Institute of Justice, the government spend about 22,000 per year per inmate and the federal prison budget is just over 1 billion which excludes budgets per state. In addition, the money spent that should go to education, social concerns and facilities go towards prisons. In terms of social consequences, this extraordinary increase in prisoners has had detrimental effects on African Americans as children’s fathers are being locked up because of drug related crimes. This in turn impacts the child’s development because they do not have a parent figure around. Additionally, these families that are fatherless or motherless face financial difficulties because both parent are not there to work to make money. Children then, can not grown up to excel and eventually stabilize themselves financially so they fall back into the same patterns as their parents. The writer explains that high recidivism rates exist as of result of a lack of rehabilitation programs for drug offenders. Plus, they are not taught any integrative skills so they do not know how to go back into society. In addition, ex prisoners cannot get a job because of the question: “Have you committed a felony?” that they have to answer yes to. The author