Literature Review On Race Crime And The Law

Literature Review

In a remarkable analysis, Alexander (2010) made a fascinating comparison of the modern struggles of blacks while dating back to the Jim Crow era. Alexander asserts that mass incarceration of African Americans is the “New Jim Crow” because it serves many of the same purposes of slavery that happened over 100 years ago. Such disparity has not been changed as more and more African American men are under some sort of government supervision which are either incarcerated, awaiting trial, on probation or parole. For instance, the imprisonment of one in nine black men in 2006 demonstrates that black men were eight times more likely to be in jail or prison than their counterparts. Today’s colorblindness has used “police, prosecutors,

In fact, he shows little to any pity to any African American that breaks the law. Kennedy believes that race and crime have been repeatedly made into an issue in the U.S. although most of the problems have already been solved. As he stated “lynching is no longer a significant concern. Formal legal impediments, like exclusion of African Americans from juries, have been removed. Thanks to the Supreme Court, accused people have more rights, importantly including the right to a lawyer. The court has also declared unconstitutional some laws, like some anti-loitering statues, that allowed police to abuse their discretion.” Kennedy does not only minimizes the failure of the system but rather celebrates the progress which the Criminal Justice System has made. Kennedy reviews how, historically the l\ everyday law used have been unfair through slavery and racially discriminating enforcement which helps create a better understanding as to why so many African-Americans have suspicions in the way law has been applied in the U.S. Alexander (2010) may disagreed with the celebration of progression that Kennedy have stated because much of today’s society as Alexander notes, African Americans under correction receives far less respect than they did in

Policies are made and enforced to emphasize the crime committed by the poor; thus instigating fear in society as well as causing racial bias. The criminal justice system is failing because the crime rate is still extremely high while holding one of the highest population of individuals incarcerated in the world. Reiman asserts that prison is costly and most importantly has proven to not deter crime since as there is a high rate of recidivism. Recidivism means that individuals who returns back in jail or prison for recommitting crime. The system is bias in a sense where “for the same crime, members of the lower classes are much more likely than members of the middle and upper classes to be arrested, convicted, and imprisoned – thus providing living proof that crime is a threat from the poor” (Reiman 2006, p.204). Although, Reiman mostly ignores the distinctive role of race in structuring the criminal justice system, both Reiman (2006) and Alexander (2010) are making similar arguments in questioning the justice