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Relationship Between Race And Crime

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Between age, gender, race, and social class I feel that race and social class are characteristics that influence criminal activity the most. The relationship between race and crime has been very controversial. Minorities hold more negative views of the police and criminal justice system than most Caucasians. They are also more likely to be perceived as racially motivated and to be victims of police brutality. African Americans represent approximately 12.6 percent of the population, yet they account for 28 percent of the arrests in the United States. Criminologists suggest that this statistic may be due to the practice of racial profiling. Racial profiling refers to the act of using race to determine whether a person is likely to have a committed …show more content…

The statistic was developed from over 148 hours of police videotape. Furthermore, minorities tend to be poorer and may live in areas where crime is more frequent. These areas also tend to attract more police surveillance. In my opinion crime is more prevalent in areas where there is poverty because there is no “money.” Sometimes there are people who will do anything and everything just to get a dollar. The Theory of Anomie and the Social Disorganization Theory are reasons as to why race and social class influence criminal activity. The Theory of Anomie suggests that criminal activity results from an offender’s inability to provide their desired needs by socially acceptable or legal means; therefore, the individual turns to socially unacceptable or illegal means to fulfill those desires. The Social Disorganization Theory proposes that poor neighborhoods with weak social institutions have higher rates of …show more content…

Some families may fall into poverty and need public assistance because a family goes to prison. It costs about $30,000 per year to incarcerate a single inmate, which is significantly higher than what most states report. The federal government also reported paying almost $26,000 per inmate in federal facilities in 2008, and the community corrections center costs were estimated at nearly $24,000 per inmate; however, neither figure includes “social costs.” It amazes that it can cost so much money for someone to be housed in jail or

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In “Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space,” author Brent Staples addresses the racial profiling issues that we have in our country and the things that cause them. He discusses how it feels to be a black man in society and how people, especially black males, should carry out their daily lives. Staples implies that racial profiling is caused by both black males that commit crimes and our society because the media portrays the majority of criminals as being black males. Black males participating in street crime is the basis of racial profiling.

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The article “Jail Is Sinking Families into Poverty, and Women Pay the Most” discusses the situation of Carla Gonzales, who is a part of a study of 300 families who are dealing with the crippling debt associated with their loved ones’ criminal convictions and incarcerations, and her family after the incarceration of her brother. Many of these families, especially the women, go into extreme debt trying to pay for lawyer fees, court fees, costs of prison visitations, and basic necessities (commissary items and phone calls) for the individual incarcerated. This debt also affects inmates after they are released as they often rely on their families, who are themselves sometimes evicted or denied housing, to find work and housing. Alicia Walters,

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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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They are disadvantaged, live in higher rates of poverty, which often leads them to strain and commit crimes for survival. Statistically, they face higher jail time for the same crimes, which keeps them in that cycle. An African American or any underprivileged minority child most likely will not be able to achieve as much a white child from a high class family. The tension between the goals and the institutionalize means will cause unsatisfied aspiration, which has a higher chance to lead to crime. The reasons that there are higher rates of crime in lower social classes are easily explained by this theory.

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Yet contradictory to profiled beliefs, minorities do not make up the main perpetrators of secondary crimes. Statistics point out that, “the likelihood a stop of an African American...yield[ing] a weapon [is] half that of [a] white New Yorker”. One in every 49 stops of Caucasians revealed a weapon, while it took one in every 71 stops of Hispanics and one in every 93 stops of African Americans to achieve such a feat. In addition

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Unconsciously officers will associate poverty with crime. I believe that they unconsciously relate people of color with criminal behavior. The fact that some people of color have made statements such as was made on national TV that a young man of color should not have been shot robbing a white woman’s home for the second time because that was the way he paid for his college tuition and books. This type of attitude and statements places negative thoughts in people’s minds especially

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The number of minorities in the prison system is quite startling. Minorities make up 60% of the population imprisoned. To support this allegation, 1 in 3 African American men will be imprisoned at least once in their lifetime thus creating a racial stereotype. Since 1 in 3 African Americans will be arrested and imprisoned in their lifetime, it creates a target for police officers as well as the public. Police officers will primarily be on the lookout for a colored male or female as oppose to a caucasian male or female.

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Many advocates cite that racial profiling is a tool for capturing criminals more effectively. Often alongside these claims is information that suggests minorities are more likely to commit these crimes that they are being profiled for. While these concepts are troublesome in their very nature, they are quite often false. In her article, Northeastern Law Professor Deborah Ramirez asserts that “In all published studies to date, minorities are no more likely to be in possession of contraband than whites.” (Ramirez).

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Rather than targeting people of color for their conduct or activities, the police target them because of their race. Minority groups, especially African Americans, are more prone to have unpleasant contact with law enforcement officers, according to studies that have been conducted repeatedly (Davis, 2017). Several studies indicate that people of color are unfairly affected by police officers, which is a serious problem in policing known as racial profiling. Compared to white Americans, black People had a more than twofold increased risk of being murdered by police. Research shows that black people are more likely to be subjected to police officers using excessive force than other groups (Walker, Spohn, & DeLone, 2018).

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Age is one of the key factors especially in young men because this is key part in their lives where they have to worry about jobs and providing enough to have a life and go to college. Low education also becomes a factor because if you have a low education you are less likely to get a good job or even any job and will eventually make some people turn to criminal and low education for some cops could cause them to not be as well educated on the actual statistics and make them believe these stereotypes. And the final factor that I think plays into discrimination is back to the stereotyping that we grow up thinking are true but actually aren’t. So those are the factors that I believe cause discrimination in American criminal

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