Race And The American Criminal Justice System - 888 Words

here is a serious problem with our justice system. It is not a secret that people are judged by the color of their skin, ethnicity and in some cases by religious beliefs. I strongly believe that race affects how an individual is perceived/ treated and it plays an important role in the American criminal justice. Unfortunately, race plays an important role in the American criminal justice system, also this issue exists in other countries and societies. The American justice system is not an exception of this wrongdoing. For instance, minorities, such as African Americans and Latinos, are often prosecuted differently than Caucasians offenders. Verdicts not only tend to be much harsher, but are also accompanied by longer-term sentences. According to the article titled, â€Å"Justice is harsher in America than in any other rich country. Between 2.3m and 2.4 m Americans are behind bars, roughly one in every 100 adults.† where for the most part, the majority of inmates are minorities (Too Many Laws, Too Many Prisoners). â€Å"The incarceration rates disproportionately impact men of color: 1 in every 15 African American men and 1 in every 36 Hispanic men are incarcerated in comparison to 1 in every 106 white men† ([infographic] Combating Mass Incarceration – The Facts). The question is, why have minorities have become the majority of the American prison population? Minorities are targeted as criminal suspects by police officers because, more often than not, minorities are likely to be lowShow MoreRelatedRace And The American Criminal Justice System868 Words   |  4 Pagesis a serious problem with our justice system. It is not a secret that people are judged by the color of their skin, ethnicity and in some cases by religious beliefs. I strongly believe that race affects how an individual is persived/ treated and it plays an important role in the American Criminal Justice Unfortunately, race plays an important role in the American Criminal Justice System. This issue exist in other countries and societies too. The American Justice System is not an exception of this wrongdoingRead MoreRace And Class : The American Criminal Justice System903 Words   |  4 PagesRace and Class in the American Criminal Justice System In the article â€Å"Race and Class in the American Criminal Justice System† by David Cole the inequality within the United State s Criminal Justice System is summarized. David Cole is a graduate from Yale University where he has received his law and bachelor’s degree. He specializes in many different fields of Criminal Justice, and is a fairly well known writer regarding legal affairs and political actions like civil liberties and national securityRead MoreRacial Inequality919 Words   |  4 Pagesopportunities and treatment of people based solely on their race. Racial inequality is a serious issue that is often discussed in the American criminal justice system. Although racial discrimination is present in the criminal justice system, some people use the words inequality, discrimination, racism, and profiling loosely and do not understand how truly complex it is to prove that there actually is racial inequality present in the criminal justice system. Daniel P Mears, Joshua C. Cochran, and Andrea M.Read MoreThe Bearing of Race and Ethnicity in the Criminal Justice System1285 Words   |  5 PagesThere has been an ongoing debate as to whether or not race and ethnicity have a bearing on an individual’s treatment in the criminal justice system for many years. I will be arguing that race and ethnicity do in fact, have a bearing on one’s treatment in the criminal justice system. I will be backing up my position on this topic by providing evidence from five scholarly articles. My first source is African Americans and the Criminal Justice system by Phyllis Gray-Ray, Melvin C. Ray, Sandra Rutland,Read MorePolicy Process Essay1222 Words   |  5 PagesSociety relies on the criminal justice system to maintain order within communities and to maintain a safe environment for community members. Society expects the criminal justice system to provide justice by separating the guilty from the innocent, to incapacitate dangerous individuals, to promote deterrence to law-breaking individuals, and to rehabilitate offenders. An important expectation of the criminal justice system is to provide fair and just consequences to criminal offenders and assist theRead MoreRacism : The Criminal Justice System1040 Words   |  5 PagesMr. Andrew Bagley PLS 213 American Federal Government-Online 25th November 2015 Racism in Our Criminal Justice System There are many different types of unlawful racism in the criminal justice system. It goes from back in the early part of our great nation’s birth to the killing of Martin Luther King Jr. to Ferguson, Missouri. The path that racism takes is from old time’s point of view. The way to clear up racism in our criminal justice system is simple and easy. Americans need to fully understandRead MoreCriminal Justice: Racial Disparity and Discrimination and O.J. Simpson768 Words   |  4 PagesCriminal law is based on the principle of actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea. The principle is to the extent that a man is not guilty of his acts, actus in the absence of a guilty conscience, mens rea (Gardner, 2009). To this end, criminal law justice provides that the person alleging the commission of a crime must proof beyond reasonable doubt that the accused person(s) possessed mens rea, if the court is to hold a criminal liability against the accused. In the case of People of the St ate ofRead MoreThe New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration1199 Words   |  5 Pagesperceptions on the American criminal justice system? Michelle Alexander was able to accomplish that by altering some people s entire perception on the American criminal justice system by focusing on our most pressing civil right issues of our time for some of those who did read her book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In The Age of Colorblindness. Michelle Alexander stated that The most despised in America is not gays, transgenders, nor even illegal immigrants - it is criminals. That was anRead MoreRacial Profiling: Is it Intentional? Can We Correct it? Essay991 Words   |  4 Pagesterm in the American justice system today, but what does it really mean? Is racial profiling just a term cooked up by criminals looking for a way to get out of trouble and have a scapegoat for their crimes? Is it really occurring in our justice system, and if so is it done intentionally? Most importantly, if racial profi ling exists what steps do we take to correct it? The answer to these questions are almost impossible to find, racial profiling is one of many things within our justice system that canRead MoreThe American Civil Liberties Union1630 Words   |  7 Pagesin incarnations by placing many people in jail more than the last four decades. Mostly because of the war on drugs. So far whites and blacks have been involved in many drug offenses, possession and sales, at a very comparable rate. â€Å"While African Americans comprise 13% of the US population and 14% of monthly drug users they are 37% of the people arrested for drug offenses† (Marc Mauer). The police usually stop blacks and Latinos at rates higher than whites. Within New York City, the people of color