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Racial Inequality In The Criminal Justice System Essay

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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).
With the prison population raising steadily since the 1970’s the number of blacks that are in imprisoned is disproportionate to the actual population of the United States. Meaning that young black men are eight times more likely to be imprisoned by time they are 30 years old than their white counterparts. This has led to the change in milestones experienced by young black males. Where white males will graduate high school, go on to college, start a career, and start families, black male lives are marked by arrests, court dates, and prison terms, many do not even finish high school, this …show more content…

The interviewers in their study were also asked to record what race they perceived the participants, this changed throughout the study in proportion to the incarceration rate of the individual. This shows not only that is race fluid but also that it can change over the course of one’s lifetime due to the institutions one comes in contact

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