Ethnic Disparity In Criminal Justice Essay

Abstract

The target of this research is to examine previous literature on racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal justice framework in the United States, with specific emphasis on studies that outline discrimination that can be clarified by racial disparities. This paper concentrates on issues identifying with race in various phases of criminal justice process. The main demographic being studied are those considered being in the minority of the United States, which consists of African Americans and Hispanics. Other literature states, that it is increasingly hard to blame bias in the criminal justice system solely on race and ethnicity. Due to the fact that there is no longer overt discrimination within the system and that it is merely

masked.

The ultimate goal of this research study is to further analyze and help contribute to the lack of understanding regarding whether there is discrimination in the criminal justice system and what factors are contributing to the inequality. I will conduct my research using library and academic sources, such as books and peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles, as well as web sources. I will be using data collected from the ICPSR, Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, on “National Prisoner Statistics from 1978-2014”. I hope to show the vital connection that helps us all comprehend the convergence of race and “justice” within the system.

Introduction

For a great part of the United States early years, crime and punishment have given probably the most effective images of the racial separation in America. In the early decades, police were additionally instrumental in racial savagery, by effectively taking part in, empowering, or neglecting to limit crowds (Warren, 2006). In the course of recent years, be that as it may, the United States Supreme Court cases and enactments, motivated and drove by the social equality movement, "due process," and other change developments have made segregation on the premise of race illegal (U.S. Accounting Office, 1990). Law implementation approaches and practices put far more methodology and responsibility, in spite of the fact that episodes including police brutality still happen and strain relations between minority groups, police and the criminal justice system.

Statement of the Problem

As per Lawrence, for each 100,000 African American men, 4,777 are incarcerated (2011). Further, one out of each three youthful African American men will be imprisoned at one point in his lifetime (The Sentencing Project, 2012). There are numerous sociological, scholastic and political clarifications to the above statistics. They extend from those that accuse the above facts on “black criminality theory”, to those that seek bigger social elements for causation (Ghandoosh, 2015). The one-shared trait that the vast majority of them share however is their emphasis on the critical race variable.

Need for the Study

Minorities remain overrepresented in, “delinquency, offending, victimization, and at all stages of the criminal justice process from arrest to pretrial detention, sentencing, capital punishment and confinement”(Ghandoosh, 2017). “Since the trailblazing work of W.E.B. DuBois on race and culpability over a century prior, scientists underwent significant endeavors to look at the causes and outcomes of racial and ethnic inequalities in criminal justice processing; the degree to which these differences are attributable to discrimination or to differential rates of offending; and additionally whether these patterns of overrepresentation have changed over time”(Lynch, 2014). Substantial emphasis has also been placed on studying patterns of victimization and offending and the social factors such as; poverty, segregation, unemployment, that underlie and explain race differences in data on serious violent crime (Ghandoosh, 2015).

The end goal of this paper is to be able to adopt a basic strategy and study the reasons for racial differences in the criminal justice framework. My fundamental question is this: what part does race play in the criminal justice framework. With our nations past discretions in criminal justice, it appears glaringly evident that race plays a role in numerous aspects of the criminal framework, for example, who will probably interact with it and who will probably be imprisoned for minor and major wrongdoings.

Purpose of the Study

This study will present an analysis of implicit and unconscious racism and stereotypes and how they influence and shape the criminal justice framework.

I intend on making the connection that it is almost difficult to assert the American criminal justice system is colorblind and racially reasonable, as some citizens trust it to be. As negative demeanors towards African American and Latino, men and women, “are as yet unavoidable all through society by data collected through scientific research”(Alessandro, 2016). I end with an examination on the culpability debate proposed by numerous scholars as the reason for the above racial differences and set to show that it is defective according to data and distorted. In hopes to show what research has given us that, race is vigorously interlaced inside the criminal justice system since the establishing of our country.

Theories

Disparity in criminal justice alludes to the imbalance of arrests and sentencing for specific individuals; it nearly always refers to racial and ethnic disparity (Amnesty International, 2003). Racial disparity has been definitively confirmed, however it may not generally be identified to intentional discrimination. Legitimate legal factors involved in racial disparity incorporate seriousness of the offense and past criminal record (Amnesty International, 2003). Theorists believe racial disparity begins with arrests and continues through the sentencing and parole

phases.