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racial discrimination in the criminal justice system
influence of culture on beliefs, values, and behaviors
racial discrimination in the criminal justice system
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An Investigation into the Effects of Race on the Perception of Guilt
Abstract
The aim is the see whether people are more likely to find a black man
guilty of a crime. Having found both a black man and a white man of
middle attractiveness out of a choice of 10 photos picked from
magazines, subjects were read a short account of a crime and rated the
guilt of the offender on a scale of 0 to 10 (with 0 being not guilty).
I used subjects aged between 11 and 18, all were Caucasian and
attended Sevenoaks School. I used 75 subjects in total. They were
shown either the picture of the black man, the picture of the white
man or no picture as a control. The results showed that the black man
was perceived to be more guilty than the white man. The average guilt
rating of the white man was 5.2 and for the black man was 6.98. Using
the Mann-Whitney U test, this data was shown to be significant at the
5% level. This illustrates that certain racial stereotypes still exist
in society but perhaps on a subconscious level.
Introduction
============
Theory
In 1954 Bruner and Tagiuri theorised that our perceptions of others
are not based on reality but on our general expectations. Everyone has
ideas about which personality traits are consistent with other
personality or physical traits. This theory is Implicit Personality
Theory (IPT), this is an "unconscious inference process that enables
us to form impressions of people based on very little evidence." IPTs
are shared by everyone in a culture and govern their behaviour at an
unconscious level. IPT can be demonstrated using experimental
techniques and manifests itself in many ways, ...
... middle of paper ...
...ysical traits are associated with personality
traits. There seems to be evidence to suggest that racial stereotypes
exist, associating blacks which committing crimes as Katz and Braly
discovered back in 1933. Some 70 years on, despite all human rights
progress, racism exists. My study reinforces the investigation by the
Howard League, which states that the British League system is biased
against blacks. This creates issues when considering the validity of
trial by jury. A majority white jury is more likely to convict a black
man of a crime than they would a white man if they were tried for the
same crime. These are rather sweeping statements to make on limited
information. To draw such strong conclusions is impossible but my
investigation, when added to others, casts enough of a shadow to
warrant further investigation.
from the victim and the scene of the crime be tested and his appeals were denied ("A.B. Butler").
criminal justice system. If the current trends persist, one out of every three African American men can expect to go to prison over the course of his life, as can one out of every six Latino males, compared to only one in seventeen white males (Bonczar 2003). For females, the figures are significantly lower, but racial and ethnic disparities are very similar. For instance, one out of every eighteen African American females can expect to go to prison, as can one out of every 45 Latino females, and one out of every one-hundred and eleven white females (Bonczar 2003). The racial disparities in imprisonment have been felt the most by young African American males (Western and Pettit 2010). Males are a significant majority of the prison and jail populations, accounting for around ninety percent of the population (Western and Pettit 2010). Racial disparities in incarceration are astounding when one counts the men who have been incarcerated in their lifetime rather than those serving time on any given day (Western and Pettit 2002). For instance, in 1989, approximately two percent of white men in their early thirties had been in prison compared to thirteen percent of African American men in their early thirties (Western and Pettit 2002). These extreme racial disparities disproportionately affect communities of color and have significant collateral effects such as family stress and dissolution,
“New Century Foundation to Release Interracial Crime Report.” 1999. n. pag. Online. AT&T Worldnet. Internet. 30 Nov 2000. Available: www.amren.com/colorpr.htm
to read, write and work alongside white and black men, he accomplished what an average white
“ ….Judgments, right or wrong. This concern with concepts such as finality, jurisdiction, and the balance of powers may sound technical, lawyerly, and highly abstract. But so is the criminal justice system….Law must provide simple answers: innocence or guilt, freedom or imprisonment, life or death.” (Baude, 21).
Similarly talking about racial discrimination, in United States, if somebody commits violent activity, it is judged, viewed and treated differently depending upon that person’s race and gender, For example, Collins mentions “the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, an African-American journalist, who was accused of murdering a white police officer, received a death penalty and many false evidence, coerced eye-witness and inadequate legal counsel were presented against him to arrest him” (Collins 922). Since he is black race person, he is punished although he is
Walsh, James, and Dan Browning. "Presumed Guilty Until Proved Innocent." Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN). 23 Jul 2000: A1+. SIRS Issues Researcher.
The author omits critical information about many factors, which could explain the higher rate of severe sentences for African Americans than White Americans other than racial injustice. The article, “Possibility of Death Sentence Has Divergent Effect on Verdicts for Black and White Defendants” by Jack Glaser, et al. provides an excellent analysis of the racial disparities that Cholbi mentions. Glaser provides clear evidence of how factors such as sentence severity and jury selection can influence sentencing. The authors also discuss how African Americans are though of when discussing crime and how African Americans are considered like apes. However the article discusses how these assumptions comply with African-American behavior; “There is also evidence that in the context of criminality, there is a relatively strong association between Black men and apes. It follows that insofar as Black people may be viewed as being less worthy of humane (or even human) treatment, concerns over punishment severity (even death) would be less consequential” (Glaser et al. 541). The authors stimulate an experiment through mock jurors and found no concrete evidence to suggest banning capital punishment due to racial discrimination. Therefore Glaser et al. does a superior argument when compared to
“The Criminal Justice system has been associated with implicit bias” (Seattle University Law Review). The issue of African American males being arrested and convicted of crimes is a much greater issue than most might think. African American males are being arrested and convicted at a higher rate than the average White American male. African American males are prosecuted by the Criminal Justice system at a much higher rate than White American males.
Turner, Billy. 1986. “Race and Peremptory Challenges During Voir Dire: Do Prosecution and Defense Agree?” Journal of Criminal Justice 14: 61-69.
This paper proposes that three major factors play a role in the high rate of convictions of black men versus whites and Hispanics. These factors are the lack of diversity among legal professionals in positions of power for decision-making, specifically those in the criminal justice system; secondly, the racial disparities that exist in arrest conviction and sentencing and thirdly, the incidence of discriminatory actions within the justice system. The paper seeks to examine litera...
In her book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander states that we still use our criminal justice system to “label people of color ‘criminals’ and then engage i...
Discrimination against the minority population is a major problem in the United States society’s justice system. There are many examples where African American and low-income minorities are treated differently and not given the chance to prove their innocence. The law enforcement promises to treat all men or women equal opportunity, but the same system has put 120,000 innocent African Americans in prison. While most of them still remain in prisons, injustice by law enforcements is still a burden to the minorities in America. Moreover, wrongful conviction is a horrible injustice when a person spends years in jail. This is getting recognized by the U.S. system but often late. In many cases by the time a person is proven innocent, he or she might
Race plays a large factor in showing how you are viewed in society. Although there is no longer slavery and separate water fountains, we can still see areas of our daily life clearly affected by race. One of these areas is the criminal justice system and that is because the color of your skin can easily yet unfairly determine if you receive the death penalty. The controversial evidence showing that race is a large contributing factor in death penalty cases shows that there needs to be a change in the system and action taken against these biases. The issue is wide spread throughout the United States and can be proven with statistics. There is a higher probability that a black on white crime will result in a death penalty verdict than black on black or white on black. Race will ultimately define the final ruling of the sentence which is evident in the racial disparities of the death penalty. The amount of blacks on death row can easily be seen considering the majority of the prison population is black or blacks that committed the same crime as a white person but got a harsher sentence. The biases and prejudices that are in our society relating to race come to light when a jury is selected to determine a death sentence. So what is the relationship between race and the death penalty? This paper is set out to prove findings of different race related sentences and why blacks are sentenced to death more for a black on white crime. Looking at the racial divide we once had in early American history and statistics from sources and data regarding the number of blacks on death row/executed, we can expose the issues with this racial dilemma.
“African-American males are six times more likely to be incarcerated than white males and 2.5 times more likely than Hispanic males. In 2013, almost 3 percent of black males were imprisoned compared to 0.5 percent of white males. America’s prisons and jails cost more than $80 billion annually – about equivalent to the budget of the federal Department of Education” (Eisen, 2015). After hearing McCleskey v. Kemp trial, the court is informed about the defendant’s background and criminal history; mitigating factors affecting culpability brought to the attention of the