...Unfair Incarceration: Minorities’ Plight in the U.S. Judicial System DeVry University Cultural Diversity in the Professions SOCS 350N Spring 2013 Abstract The United States is well known as the Land of Opportunity, but if you’re a minority that opportunity maybe a greater chance of being incarcerated in the state and federal penal systems. Civil rights battles have raged for the greater part of the last century in this country. With milestone victories in the early and mid 1960’s equality under the law seemed to be a foregone conclusion. There are numerous laws, policies and even a Constitutional Amendment that address the matter that race should never be a factor. With this is all in play and in mind, you would think that statistics of the U.S. penal systems racial analysis has to be completed with a huge margin in error because it is not near equality. In a cursory search of this topic one can find a deluge of graphs, tables, and statistical analysis. The one thing you cannot find is a quantitative or qualitative consensus of why this has occurred or why it is still occurring. A preponderance of the evidence is anecdotal and offers suggestions of policies and attitudes that have led to this epidemic in contemporary American society. In this review, an endeavor to gather the gist of the issue and attempt to answer why or how this came about and the numerical extent. Followed by the consequences to the affected groups and the whole of society. Finally...
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...that homicide in return for homicide is barbaric as it resembles eye for an eye and tooth for tooth justice of medieval times and uncivilized. France and Germany have completely done away with death penalty and reported lesser crime rates. Many studys' conducted in US and some other countries where death penalty is still in force have proved that, it doesn';t have a deterrent effect on crime rate and more than death penalty, it's rigorous imprisonment for life that has more deterrent effect than death penalty. Incarceration for life proved to be more effective in preventing repetition of the same or other crimes by the same convicts than that of death penalty. In countries, where death penalty has been abolished less crime rates have been reported. Apart from incarceration for life, solitary confinement and shaming the person through social boycott etc are other options. For crimes of rape and acid attacks also, incarceration for life and the above two suggested alternatives could be considered as viable alternatives to death penalty in addition to confiscating the entire property of the criminal and paying it as compensation to their victims. Educating the guilty regarding the barbaric and heinous nature of their crimes and making them feel ashamed for their crimes and their crimes' lethal and traumatic impact on the minds, limbs and lives of their victims through reformist approach and making them truly...
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...In the book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander—a Ohio State University professor, director of Racial Justice Project at ACLU of Northern California, and director of the Civil Rights Clinics at Stanford Law School—was the uncovering research about the system of mass incarceration, which are rules, policies, and laws that helped control the amount of criminals entering and leaving prisons. The author begins with slavery and continues to explain the Jim Crow segregation, which both represent mass incarcerations. Mass incarceration prevents discrimination towards groups of people. For example, the author states, “After the death of slavery, the idea of race lives on.” (26) This specific example...
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...Criminal Justice System Professor: DD Jona Jones Devry University ] I. Criminal Justice System II. Introduction Incarceration is a kind of punishment in which criminals are held in prison, because they have committed a crime. People are usually incarcerated because they are involved in illegal activities various jurisdictions in different nations have devise different laws and regulations to govern the function of incarceration (Mauer, 1999) III. Body of the paper A. Prevalence 1. Statistics regarding incarceration 2. Statistics regarding race (Kennedy, 1997) 3. Racial disparity in prison sentence 4. Racial disparity in duration of sentence (Kennedy, 1997) This explains and illustrates the various incidents and statistics of African American, Hispanic and the white people. This elaborates that ethical discrimination occurs is the entire criminal justice process. The minorities and ethnic groups are given more harsh punishments as compared to white. B. Causes 1. Reasons behind African American in jail 2. Disparities in ways African American communities are policed (Huffing Post). 3. In adequate allocation of resources 4. Racial profiling (Wall Street Journal). This section describes the various reasons and causes due to which most of the African Americans have to go to jails once in their life time. It will also show how lack of resources contributes to the problem. C. Consequences 1. The impact on individual...
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...Both Alexander and Taylor suggested many solutions and methods to solve the problem of Mass Incarceration. These are necessary transformations in the American society and policing system in order to create democracy and freedom in the country. Alexander described how the racial caste system created an overwhelming imprisonment and on the other hand Taylor talked about the modern policing state that also led to mass incarceration. Alexander describes what she thinks is necessary to be challenged in order to solve the problem of mass incarceration. She argues that we need to end the War on Drugs, in order to transform the law enforcement of culture, we need better drug treatment services, because cultural traits are more responsible for racial...
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...The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander I believe to be a wakeup call for the truly “blind” in today’s mass incarceration of black people. Alexander brings light to how the Civil Rights Movement brought upon a new implementation of racial separation. Her understanding of how Mass Incarceration is the opening to a New Jim Crow of how black people in particular lack any real rights of citizenship. Her book seems to overview the typical media covered topics of people being arrested for use and selling of drugs, rulings in the Supreme Court, and struggles of ex-convicts but of course not to the extent that is required. As the media coverage is not about the true facts but rather embellished and or...
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...Laws are designed to be impartial and objective standards applied uniformly to all individuals within a given legal jurisdiction. Public entities, as well as courts and tribunals, are required to treat all people equally when applying the law. It also requires that the laws themselves provide equal protection for everyone (your right to recognition and equality before the law). Since laws are designed to be impartial, mental health concerns receive treatment within the legal system, receiving the same rights and assistance as any other citizen. In conclusion, equality before the law ensures that every individual, regardless of their circumstances, receives fair treatment and protection under the law, including those with mental health issues. Additionally, another reason why mental illnesses do not justify criminal activity is the reduction of stigma. Individuals with mental illness are more likely to experience multiple arrests and incarcerations (Preventing and Reducing Stigma in Criminal...
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...It argues that federal drug policy unfairly targets communities of color, keeping millions of young, black men in a cycle of poverty and behind bars. The book begins by challenging claims that racism is dead. Those who believe that full equality been achieved would do well to notice many African Americans' reality today. An extraordinary amount of blacks are still barred from voting because in nearly every state, as convicted felons cannot vote. Hundreds of thousands of African Americans have served time in prison as a result of drug convictions and are branded felons for life. Voting is also barred for those currently incarcerated. Alexander uncovers the system of mass incarceration: a system comprised of laws, rules, policies, and customs that control criminals both in and out of prison. The greatest instigator of mass incarceration is the War on Drugs. Rather than combat drug activity, the War on Drugs has served as a deliberate strategy to control people of color and remove them from the political process, which is racist in both application and design. Alexander suggests that the War on Drugs and mass incarceration constitute a "rebirth of caste" in America. Beginning with slavery and continuing with Jim Crow segregation, mass incarceration places entire groups of people into discriminatory positions in society, permanently. The War on Drugs began in earnest in the mid-1980s, training local law enforcement agencies with the means to increase crackdowns on communities in search...
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...prisons, and more than 5 million Americans were under other forms of custodial supervision, including probation and parole, for a total of 7.2 million Americans-3.2 percent of the US population-under some form of custodial of supervisory control of the criminal justice system (120).” African American men make up a majority of the US prison population. This is bad being that some African American men are look down upon. It was mentioned that all African Americans men that are incarcerated is about 5 percent compared to the 1 percent white men that are incarcerated. This means that African Americans men are 10 times more like to be incarnated then white men. Thesis: The purpose of this essay is to analyze the causes to African American incarceration such as racial profiling, sentencing disparities, and exonerations; having a life is not what they have....
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...system for over thirty years. Many of these inmates are serving long sentences with rigid probation and parole policies that many believe are designed as a set-up for failure and re-offense. The result of this influx of offenders is a growing racial disparity, as shown by Bobo & Thompson: In 2004. for example, black males constituted 43.3 percent of those incarcerated in state, federal, and local prisons or jails, though only 13 percent of the total population. Whites on the other hand represented 35.7 percent of the male inmate population in 2004, well under their 75 percent of the total male population (Bobo & Thompson, 2006). (p. 451) This ballooning disparity has become a trend of increasing concern among proponents of racial equality. Many view this trend as another cog in the wheel of covert institutional racism, even labeling it “The New Jim Crow”. Among the men and women of color now residing in U.S. prisons are the potential business owners, educators and leaders of communities that sorely need them. Immediate and results-oriented attention to the racial disparity in U.S. prisons will do much to repair the damaged, needful communities of color throughout the country. BLACK CRIME: CRIMINAL OR CULTURAL? “Black people and crime go hand-in-hand”, is an often debated stereotype that African-Americans have endured since slavery. Contributing factors perpetuating this stereotype include, economic, educational and familial shortcomings that have continually challenged...
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...I have learned a lot by attending this speech of “Civil Liberties and War, Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of Korematsu v. United States.” It is presented by Nihonmachi Outreach Committee(NOC). In the speech, there are three parts. They talked about community program, candlelight procession and reception. I was surprised that, it is really crowded. Most of the people are kind of old. However, I learned a lot by hearing this speech. Firstly, I learned about Nihonmachi Outreach Committee (NOC). It is a progressive organization based in the San Jose Japanese American community that is dedicated to educating the public about the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, and as a consequence, is committed to defending all people on issues of civil rights, equality, justice, tolerance and peace. And one of this main activities of NOC continues to be the annual Day of Remembrance(DOR) commemorating Executive Order9066 which ordered 120,000 Japanese Americans to concentration camps during World War II. From the first event in 1981, DOR has come to present some of the defining issues facing the Japanese- American community and a time to reflect on our history in the United States. Staring with the debate over redress/reparations to support for American Muslims today. DOR has provided a forum for the San Jose Japanese American community to come together to remember the lessons of the past and define the future. However, I have also learned about the Campaign...
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...There have been many studies conducted throughout Canada and all have found that Aboriginal people are clearly over-represented in Canada’s criminal justice system. Each study has provided many reasons for the high incarceration rates. A justice system that is not responsive to the experiences and needs of Aboriginal people contributes to the high Aboriginal incarceration levels. Many Aboriginal people have other social factors that contribute to their overrepresentation in the criminal justice system. “Aboriginal peoples experience disproportionately high rates of crime and victimization, are over-represented in the court and the correctional system, and further, feel a deep alienation from a justice system that is to them foreign and inaccessible, and reflects both overt and systemic racism.” (“Aboriginal People,” n.d) The overrepresentation of Aboriginals is a long-standing problem. Reports over the years have pointed to institutional bias within the criminal justice system as a cause for this problem. Courts were more inclined to deny bail and to impose more and longer prison sentences on Aboriginal people than on non-Aboriginals. (“Combating aboriginal”, 2012) Aboriginal accused are more likely to be denied bail and spend more time in pre-trial custody than non-Aboriginal people. One of the reasons for Aboriginal over-representation is related to interpretive problems. The Canadian Criminal Justice System is based on a system of offender punishment and...
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...Prison re-entry refers to the transition of offenders from prisons or jails back into the community. The concept of life in society is an important part of any reintegration of institutionalized people, including people who have been incarcerated for committing a crime. The institutionalization of a population leads to isolation, segregation and detachment of the elements of a company defining the basis of citizenship. Although individuals often returning to the community focus more on the choice of where they dwell, their long-term success in society is more likely to be dependent on the social roles they have chosen to play, to the extent that they will engage in the community and they have been prepared for this purpose during their incarceration or institutionalization. Reentry can help reduce recidivism as well as assist those who have been previously incarcerated to begin leading law abiding lives once released into society. However, overtime the importance of prisoner reentry has been drastically lowered with less emphasis on helping those to prepare for their release and with post release community integration. As a result, the shortage of reentry programs and limited responsibility of probation or parole to assist in re-entry; the rate at which people return to prison or jail is high. Keywords: reentry, recidivism, institutionalization Re-Entry and Its Effects: Institutional and Post Release Those who are incarcerated do not only serve time inside their prison...
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...deduction that Americans must call for reform in the immoral and impractical practices of the meatpacking industry. Additionally, Sinclair elaborates on the audience's deduction further into the text when he states,"The Meat would be shoveled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one--there were things that when into the sausage in comparison in which a poisoned rat was a tidbit." In essence, Sinclair further exposes the unsanitary methods of the meatpacking industry and also indicates that there are much worse hazards that enter average meat than dead poisoned rats. Later on in contemporary-society, Barack Obama presents alternatives and possible solutions to America's massive incarceration through secondarily-effective ethos by establishing intelligence and expertise on the matter at hand. For instance, Obama clarifies his thesis to his audience when he states, "Now I want to spend the rest of my time just laying out some basic principles, some simple ideas for what reform should...
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...The lastly pressing issue that the Mexican-American community faces today is incarceration of the people. In the several years of the 2000’s, colored communities have been the number ones to be imprisoned for committing a crime. In 2016, there were more the 1,400 African Americans incarcerated, 378 Hispanics incarcerated, and 275 Whites incarcerated within the country (Behnken, Brian D). The affect is not the crimes being committed; it’s also the racial profiling that police do to Mexican and African American people. Racial profiling is the cause of all the incarcerations of Mexican-Americans in the United States. Studies have shown that it is more likely a Mexican male or female will be stopped on the road then a white male or female. Also because of white supremacy, there were more deaths of colored, mainly Mexican and African American, people then white people. This has really affected societies views on Mexican Americans today because they are given a stereotype as the gangster or the hoodlum instead of the scholar or the professor (Jesus Covarrubias). And a...
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