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Is The Criminal Justice System Racist By Heather Donald Summary

508 Words3 Pages

According to Heather Donald’s article Is the Criminal Justice System Racist? “About one in 33 black men was in prison, compared with one in 205 white men”. The number of black men in jail is appalling enough on its own, but when it is compared to the number of white men in jail it is beyond outrageous. Why are there more Black Americans in jail than White Americans? As stated in What It’s Like to Be Black in the Criminal Justice System “Social science research shows striking racial disparities at nearly every level .” This says that at almost every level of the Criminal Justice System there is racial discrimination against Black Americans. The Criminal Justice System is racially biased. The Criminal Justice System is even prejudice from the very beginning of the imprisonment process. It is stated in the article What It’s Like to Be Black in the Criminal Justice System that “black drivers are also more likely to be pulled over and less likely to receive a reason for being stopped” . It is the police's job to protect all American people, meaning no matter what skin color, and many are abusing the power they are given to do that by specifically going after Black Americans …show more content…

According to the text, “police arrest Black Americans for drug crimes at twice the rate of whites.” As stated in the first excerpt, White Americans use and sell drugs at higher rates than Black Americans. Therefor with that information along with information from the second excerpt one can conclude that racism clearly exists in our Justice

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Did you know that White Americans have a higher chance to be frisked than to be shot? That is the opposite for African Americans. They have a higher chance of being shot before being frisked. But to push this farther, cops are trained on reaction. If you quickly put your hand in your pocket and you don’t do as told, police may think you have a dangerous item in your pocket, so you end up wounded or tazered.

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After reading the book, “Race, Gender, and Punishment: From Colonialism to the War on Terror” by Mary Bosworth and Jeanne Flavin, they discuss what they feel are the four “sociohistorical processes (Bosworth, Flavin: 2)” of social control, these being colonialism, slavery, immigration, and globalization. The authors separate each of these into their own chapter for a certain reason, to show the treatment of colonized people. The book focuses on how “colonialism, like each of the factors that underpin this collection, operates both structurally…and ideologically through culture, and the construction of the imaginary. (Bosworth, Flavin: 3).” Stepping back to the days of slavery, race has been the worldwide pyramid of power, in which white/Caucasian

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After reading the Chapter 5 and 6 it is evident that racism is present throughout the court system. Although the racism is generally paired with law enforcement, the court system has a major issue as well; especially when looking at the jury selection process. When thinking about the court process the jury selection does not really become an issue or brought to the public's attention unless it is a major case. The U.S. Supreme Court has also stated the jury is "an inestimable safeguard against the corrupt or overzealous prosecutor and against the compliant, biased, or eccentric judge" (Pp. 255.) The jury plays a vital role in the criminal justice system.

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ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY Alexander, M. (2012). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (Rev. ed.). New York, NY: The New Press. Michelle Alexander in her book, "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" argues that law enforcement officials routinely racially profile minorities to deny them socially, politically, and economically as was accustomed in the Jim Crow era.

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Police officers are more likely to stop and arrest African Americans, compared to other ethnic groups in America, and this has to do with stereotypes. Mainstream media portrays black men as violent, thugs or drug sellers which shapes the perceptions majority of Americans have towards African Americans (Hurwitz & Peffley, 2005). Therefore, these stereotypes become a method to dehumanize and make it acceptable for black people to be treated in a certain way in the criminal justice system. Also, there is a big gap when it comes to how to black people and white people view the criminal justice system because they experience it differently. Whites are significantly more likely to approve police aggression compared to their black counterparts, because they are not subjected to violence from Criminal Justice system (Hadden, Tolliver, Snowden, & Brown, 2016).

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Coker gives great evidence that supports racial injustice in the criminal justice system. She discusses on the Supreme Court’s rulings and accusations of racial preference in the system. This article is helpful because it supports my thesis on race playing a role on the system of criminal justice. Hurwitz, J., & Peffley, M. (1997). Public perceptions of race and crime: The role of racial stereotypes.

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The black community is in an uproar protesting that the shooting death of Michael Brown is racist because Wilson is white and Brown is black. The people of Ferguson feel that Officer Wilson targeted Michael Brown because statistics show that it is what the police in Fergus intend to do. The African-American population makes up 67% of the people in Ferguson between 2012 and 20 14 93% of the people arrested were African-Americans one man claimed racism because he was given a ticket for having an expired license and not processing a license at all this caused him to lose his job as a contractor (Reifowitz). If most of the crimes leading to arrests are committed by African-Americans it does not mean it is from racist cops. It does not mean the people arrested are innocent.

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1449 Words | 6 Pages

Like in the Mississippi trial, minorities of today are often treated unfairly in trial. According to the NAACP, in their article, Criminal Justice Facts Sheet, “About 14 million Whites and 2.6 million African-Americans report using an illicit drug. 5 times as many Whites are using drugs as Africa-Americans, yet African-Americans are sent to prison for drug offenses at 10 times the rate of Whites”. This would mean that for the same drug offences, African-Americans are being put in jail at 10 time the rate of whites. The fact that African-Americans are being incarcerated at 10 times the rate of whites for the same offences, proves that there is racial injustice in the US judicial system.

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Blacks (I use this word because I am speaking about the black community as a whole, not only African Americans) face racial discrimination from the criminal justice system as well. Treyvon Martin was gun down because of a hoodie he was wearing. When George Zimmerman went on trial for his actions, he was “innocent” and he said it was in self defense. “The Justice Department announced today that the independent federal investigation found insufficient evidence to pursue federal criminal civil rights charges against George Zimmerman for the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida” (justice.gov) . This was very devastating for the black community as a whole.

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They think that the racism that is described only occurs during the arrest and does not carry on through the person’s trial. This viewpoint is expressed by author John Perazzo in his article “There Is No Evidence of Racial Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System”. Perazzo expresses “there is no evidence of racial discrimination at any of these decision points. Black overrepresentation is almost entirely at the arrest stage—reflecting the simple fact that the "average" black breaks the law more frequently than the "average" white.” In this statement, Perazzo fails to mention that according to the FBI’s crime statistics from 2013, the same year he wrote this article, white people made up 68.9% of criminal arrests while black people only made up 28.3% of arrests in 2013.

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908 Words | 4 Pages

The Huffington Post says, “The U.S. incarcerates nearly seven times as many people, measured as a share of population, as Canada does. People of color are disproportionately represented in the American prison population and are typically punished more severely than white peers for the same crimes” (Daniel Marans). Racism against people of color has caused them to be represented poorly in society as potential criminals, especially black. MIT informs its viewers that “according to the United States census Bureau, blacks are twice as likely to be poor compared to other races, and eight times as likely to be imprisoned. Blacks are also three times more likely to be convicted of drug violations than whites.

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According to the Bureau of Justice, weapon arrests are 5 times greater for blacks compared to whites; numbers reading 69 for whites and 430 for blacks. Progressives will argue that the disparity reflects on the institutional racism in the criminal justice system. Others say the disparity is due to the fact that black people are disproportionately more likely to commit such crimes. There 's truth to both, yet there 's no disputing the figures. Much of it comes down to professional discretion.

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671 Words | 3 Pages

Racial inequality in the criminal justice system can be found on many different levels, from policies, to policing, down to the study of crime itself. This can be seen with the policies that are passes into law especially in regards to punitive measures. Non-Hispanic Whites are more likely to be in favor of punitive measures which will affect the overwhelmingly black prison population (Drakulich). The inequality within the polices becomes greater when one looks at the civil restrictions placed on ex-convicts, without the ability to vote on said polices the whites have a greater say in what will happen to the blacks that are imprisoned, exacerbating the racial inequality (Wheelock).

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Racism is an evil act that can destroy a society. The U.S is a nation of immigrants and, as such, it is a diverse society where racism has no place. In the past few years police officers in America have been discriminating against the black community. Police officers are meant to protect the public, not cause further damage and stress. They use over excessive force towards black people, target minorities and abuse their power.

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According to the article Racism and Police Brutality in America, “Whites believe that Blacks are disproportionately inclined to engage in criminal behavior and are the deserving on harsh treatment by the criminal justice system” (Chaney 484). The justice system has unfortunately followed this idea. The African American race has been a minority in the legal system in the past; however, it has been much worse as of 2015. Some individuals assume it is acceptable to refrain from acknowledging this fact. Racism is an issue in the midst of police brutality, and it should be resolved.

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