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Disparities In Criminal Justice Essay

618 Words3 Pages

Courts are a major evaluative stage of the criminal justice system and we rely on these courts to determine our outcomes based on the crime that was committed. Today, there is more diversity of leadership in the court system but, race still plays a role in the outcome of the offender. This could range from petty crimes being committed like traffic infractions or facing the death penalty based on the race of the offender or victim. This paper will examine the three types of disparities that cause biased sentencing in the courts. The three types of disparities are race, social class, and gender and these all play a huge factor when making a decision based off an offender. The role of race plays a critical role in the criminal justice system because the anticipation of a racially discriminatory process violates the laws of the system. So, if there a sentencing difference based off whether you are white, Hispanic, or black then there is a problem with the criminal justice system at evaluating offenders fairly. For example; "some studies, however, have reported that Hispanic adult offenders are punished more harshly than both Blacks and Whites, although Blacks are typically sentenced more severely than Whites" (Johnson, 2003; Kramer & Ulmer, 2002; Steffensmeier & Demuth, 2000, 2001). This …show more content…

Race, social class, or gender are disparities that determine the outcome of being sentenced to jail or prison. In reality, there are some measures we can take to reduce biased sentencing towards offenders. From my point of view, a solution would be to offer the offender determinate sentencing schemes which is, a judge will sentence an offender to a punishment for an X number of months or years of incarnation, probation, and so forth. This would help reduce biased sentencing, recidivism, and help the offenders rehabilitate the offender of the

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