...Examining the criminal justice system reveals that minorities are over-represented, primarily because of racial prejudices within the system. The well-publicized war on drugs is one of the main causes for this over-representation, for it has primarily targeted poor people of color. As Walker et al (2003) note, despite repeated studies showing there is little difference in the level of drug use between blacks and whites in the United States, three-quarters of the people incarcerated in American prisons for drug trafficking, dealing, or abuse are African-American. In social terms, one of the most troubling problems with America’s war on drugs is that it appears to be motivated at least in part by racism. As Mason (2000) notes, under New Jersey’s Operation Pipeline drug interdiction program, for example, eighty percent of the motorists stopped by police were black and just thirteen percent were white. Sentencing laws also appear to be racist, for they punish minorities more. Getting caught with four-hundred grams of cocaine requires no mandatory prison term, but possessing four-hundred grams of crack can lead to life in prison. One of the most blatant demonstrations of prejudice in the criminal justice system is racial profiling. According to critics, racial profiling is a unfair law enforcement strategy that enables police officers to stop and question African-Americans simply because of their race. According to Malley (2000) racial profiling is a process...
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...Evaluation Model Essay Kevin Jackson CJA/385 April 06, 2016 Professor: Lois Fegan Evaluation Model Essay In this essay, I will select an evaluation model that I believe is most applicability and relevance to criminal justice policy today. I will also summarize the model that I have chosen and provided analysis and explanation for my choice. The two models of the criminal justice system are created by a professor named Herbert L. Packer in 1964 at Sanford University, and these two models are "Crime Control Model" and the "Due Process Model." To understand and comprehend what these two models processes are that Professor Parker created for the criminal justice system, we must first define their meaning. Crime Control Model- Refer to a theory of criminal justice which places emphasis on reducing the offense in society through increased police and prosecutorial powers (Us Legal 2016). Due Process Model- Is a type of justice system which based on the principle that a citizen has some absolute rights and cannot be deprived of life, liberty, or property without appropriate legal procedures and safeguards (Us Legal 2016). Summary The crime control model believes that to protect the rights of law-abiding citizens in society, the best course of action would be to expand both the police and prosecutors department in law enforcement. This model belief that stricter, harsher, punishment will ultimately reduce crime. Here...
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...David Tillman Professor Kathrine LaPrad Critical Thinking ID 301 28 October 2011 Reevaluating the Judicial System: Does Race Determine the Severity of Your Sentence? If a white and black man both commit robbery under similar circumstances who will receive a more severe sentence? In this essay we will review instances that will help to determine if the judicial system needs to be reevaluated due to racially unfair sentences. The judicial system was created to interpret laws instituted by the state or federal government. It was also brought about to serve as a setting where individuals can have their disputes resolved (www.answerbag.com). Many issues over the years have come up where race has played a major issue on what kind of sentence is handed down to the accused and continues to go on to this day. Any system can only be as good as its contributing parts. The criminal justice system constituent parts are imperfect human beings. Through multiple research that had been deemed sufficient; a decision of whether the racial bias that is within the system is the fault of the system or the people who create the system had yet to be determined. There is no doubt that there is a need to eliminate racial bias within the criminal system because it does exist. The question that keeps coming up is whether the changes need to be made within the system or within the society that it is a part of. Does Race Decide Your Sentence Severity? In every state statistics show that the prison...
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...advocated to have the research and study of the African-American experience and history incorporated into our higher educational systems. In his essay “The Origin and Growth of Afro-American Literature”, Clarke presents us with a timeline of African American literature from the fourteenth century in Timbuktu to James Baldwin in the 1960’s. He describes that little known history of intellectual centers of education and culture in West Africa during the 1500’s when scholars such as Felix DuBois and Ahmed Baba were prominent during the height of the University of Sankore, and takes us through every major milestone in Afro-American literature after that. I appreciate how he shed light and emphasized that the ancestors of those who became slaves in the U.S. lived in a society where scholarship was present and appreciated. Clarke felt it necessary to emphasize and elaborate on this because of the contrary misconception that Africans at that time were uneducated and uncivilized compared to other society’s such as those in Europe. The section about petitioner Prince Hall gives us a glimpse into Afro-American history during the 1700’s. Hall’s questioning of the concept of freedom at the time lead to his great achievement of founding the first African Lodge in the U.S. in July 3, 1776. Hall’s use of the petition to fight for justice and equality shows how literature played an important role in the struggle for Afro-American civil rights. Writers such as David Walker,...
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...Grace Pisarcik Ms. Coulter The Elements of Literature Period 1 Due Date 3/23/2024 Social Justice Essay Just how much longer will the justice system continue to be corrupt? In the novel “Just Mercy,” Bryan Stevenson fights the corrupt system by arguing that the criminal justice system needs reform. Bryan Stevenson is an American Lawyer who is driven and extremely passionate about the corruption within the criminal justice system. Stevenson displays his argument by sharing his experiences with the wrongfully accused Walter McMillian, as well as the time he spent with Death Row prisoners, and even juveniles in the system. Stevenson goes in depth about his fight for justice and provides the darker details that lie within the justice system....
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...AN ESSAY ON SOCIETY AND DEFINITION OF CRIME BRIAN WENDO Society and Crime Introduction Crime has no ontological reality; it is a ‘myth’ of everyday life. The defiency of any fundamental quality of which to conclusively define an event as crime is shown by the variety of crimes ; robbery, credit card fraud, drug peddling, rape, insider trading, prostitution, bigamy and attempted suicide to name but a few. They should entail punishment in the ideal situation. These situations can and do take place in extremely dissimilar conditions and for conflicting reasons. This stochastic variable makes it hard for the criminal justice system to be foul proof and have a “recognized measuring standard” of crime to a level that incorporates the total outlook of various social groups (Digital Films, 2012). Any action against the word of God, the laws of a country or one intended to cause harm and hardship to an individual or a society is defined as crime (Danny Dorling et al, 2005). ANALYSIS Two parameters determined the public’s perception of crime in most cases; the most reported crimes in the mainstream media and the most likely crimes they encounter in their daily lives. The majority of the interviewees are more inclined to see a criminal in the terms of a “gun – toting street criminal” not as an “immaculately dressed wall street banker”. Time and lack of information insulates the public when it comes to white collar, corporate and state sponsored crimes...
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...Gonsoulin, S., Zablocki, M., & Leone, P. E. (2012). Safe Schools, Staff Development, and the School-to-Prison Pipeline. Teacher Education and Special Education,35(4), 309-319. doi:10.1177/0888406412453470 This article discusses the best practices in school staff development in an attempt to change school management and discipline practices. It explains that changing school culture and replacing it with systems that supports youth development and minimizing punitive, ineffective responses to behavior problems in challenging, but not impossible. Also, the article touches base on areas discussing: The importance of providing effective staff development, professional learning communities, the Denver plan: a model for three-tiered staff development,...
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...Cesare Beccaria’s essay “An Essay on Crimes and Punishments” was about the great need that existed for changes in the criminal justice system, even back in 1764 when it was published. His thoughts and opinions inspired others, which then inspired changes in the government such as “prison reform, for the termination of the death penalty in many European nations, and even for more humane means of execution in those nations that retained it.” (Halfond, 2016, p. 2). He wanted to ensure the rights of criminals and citizens alike were protected and to stop the severity of punishments. His ideas influenced the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, as well as the abolition of the death penalty in some states. Cesare Beccaria is known as the father...
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...Discrimination and Disparity S Fraser June 9, 2011 Cultural Diversity Issues in Criminal Justice CJA/344 Discrimination and Disparity Discrimination exists in today’s society whether it is acknowledged or not; it is becoming more common and more accepted every day. It is happening everywhere, schools, churches, government, and even within the criminal justice system. Often times, disparity is a product of discrimination or vice versa. The following essay will discuss discrimination and disparities that exist within the criminal justice system as well as a contrast and comparison of the two terms. The definition of disparity is the condition or fact of being unequal, as in age, rank, or degree; difference (free dictionary, 2009). Disparities can also exist in gender, income, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity. When relating to the criminal justice system, disparities exist in police departments, correctional facilities and in court procedures. In law enforcement, disparities are everywhere from hiring practices, promotional opportunities, and police response. For example, a 2009 article about racial bias in law enforcement stated that Blacks and whites engage in drug offenses at about the same rate. The article continued to say: “Since there are six-and-a-half times as many whites in this country, you would think there would be then proportionally six-and-a-half times as many whites being arrested...
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...Government, and the democratic system, is not always the most effective way to ensure justice to all. Peaceful resistance to laws positively impacts a free society because it gives a voice to the minority, provides the people with an ultimate check on government, and allows for a morality based society. In a democratic country, the majority wields the bulk of the political power. Since democracy literally means rule of the many, the largest group controls the system. According to...
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...DeErica Martin “In 2008, more than 2.3 million Americans (0.7 percent of the US population) were incarcerated, in nearly 1,700 state, federal, and private 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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...and districts to change. All of these legislative rulings are supposedly made to help America’s youth, but some of them are more idealism than realistic. This essay will describe some of the many cases and laws that have evolved or have had an impact on U.S. education. The United States educational system began on the laws and moral of the religion. In colonial times schools and religion went hand in hand. All of this country’s first schools and educational systems were the product of some particular religious sect. The first schools were used to educate the colonist children but the religious tensions and sectarian rivalries among early colonists had also used schooling to advance their ideals. Particularly the Universities such as Harvard founded in 1636, and Yale founded in 1707 were founded as seminaries to train future clergymen. Although this type of thought about how schools should be run still is around today, there has been much government involvement to change that stat quo. In cases such as Everson v. Board of Education, and Illinoisex rel. McCollum v. Board of Education the court ruled against religion in schools. These rulings proved to be major divides between church and state “To hold that a state cannot consistently with the First and Fourteenth Amendments utilize its public school system to aid any or all religious faiths or sects in the dissemination of their doctrines and ideals does not, as counsel urge, manifest a governmental hostility to...
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...2006). Racial equality differs markedly from racial equity which denotes an ideal situation where markets and other systems work equally for all racial and ethnic groups. This essay centers on racial equality as a tool for social justice looking at the activities of various organizations and groups in promoting racial equality. There are many organizations and groups that serve to ensure social justice. These groups and organizations push for racial equality among different racial groups. They target a specific marginalized community or race and fight all aspects of institutional racism that might affect these groups. Most of these groups serve as civil right agents that advocate for the rights of these minority groups. National Urban League (NUL) is a good paradigm of a civil right group that fights for the rights of the minority. National Urban League as a civil right group fights against racial inequality for the African-Americans. This group advocates for equal rights for the African-Americans and provide direct services to the African-Americans in areas of housing, employment, social welfare, education, health, consumer rights and business developments. NUL ensures that none of its members is discriminated against because of their skin color and by so doing ensure the maintenance and promotion of social justice (National Urban League, 2012). African Americans are...
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...Jefferson Chen Professor Queen Writing 39C 21 February 2013 Essay of Prospective Claims: Michelle Alexander discusses how mass incarceration has ruined and dismantled many lives of young African Americans. The problem she discusses so passionately in her book is a relevant problem in our society today. Ever since Ronald Reagan’s presidency and forward, campaigns have been targeting crime and especially rug related crimes. While it is clear that many of these young African Americans are going to prison due to drug related crimes, stopping the war on drugs altogether is not the solution. Although stopping the drug war may seem efficient for stopping the incarceration of young blacks in the present, it does not guarantee that these same people will not commit other crimes. The cost for stopping the drug war is allowing drug usage and distribution to run rampant which can cause the society and the neighborhoods around the areas to become unsafe. Alexander discusses how there is no way around this issue and dismantling the system of mass incarceration is the only resolution; however if these poor neighborhoods were funded with government money, drug abuse can potentially become lower or even be stopped. Alexander is also discussing how a handful of reforms cannot be a solution to the problem. She argues that all the financial grants that are given to police departments for drug arrests and racial profiling should be halted. She believes that by halting the funding and supplies...
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...African American History Final Exam Essay By: Omar Sneed Given the history of race relations in 20th century America, few voters who were born before the 1970s regardless of their ethnic background or race every expected the election of an African American as President of the United States to occur in their lifetime. Nevertheless, it became a reality and in great part the following events, conditions and situations that took place between 1900 and the year of 2000 created a social political and economic environment that allowed this historical event to take place. First of all, the American people shared the same value system regardless of their race. After the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s, the attitudes of the people evolved from privilege being reserved for whites only to a quest for the survival of humankind. There was a marked growth in the black middle class with the inception of the Harlem Renaissance which brought about the perception that African Americans had value in that they could entertain and were skilled at it. Another factor that was conducive to the outcome was the fact that racism began to decline and younger generations were much less racist than their parents and grandparents were. This evolution of attitudes towards African Americans brought about an awareness and testament to the world to what African Americans had to offer largely in part to the post civil war era whereby African Americans were progressive and they were interested in...
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