Is The Criminal Justice System Racially Biased?

Is the Criminal Justice System Racially Biased?

Most criminologist use two sources of criminal justice data in the

United States: the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the National Crime

Victimization Surveys (NCVS). The URC data is made from law enforcement agencies and include crime incidents reported to or obtained by the police.

NCVS data is obtained from a very complex national survey of a sample of homes and provide information about crime incidents and victims for both reported and unreported crimes, excluding homicide. For my report I obtained research information from questionnaires and from several text books. I gave the questionnaire concerning bias in the criminal justice system to four whites, four blacks, one Asia, and one Mexican. Although this sample is not representative of racial attitudes in general, it can used to develop a better sense of differences among students.

To discuss my findings fully I must define a few terms. The Criminal

Justice System is the network of agencies that respond to crime, including the police, courts, jails, and prisons. Minority Group is a group of people who, because of physical or cultural characteristics, are singled out for differential and different and who regard them as objects of collective discrimination. Discrimination is the act of singling out for unfair treatment.

Labeling is stereotyping, or putting a tag on someone, and treating them accordingly. Self-fulling Prophecy is an expectation about how things will be the situations that they predicted or expected. Finally, Differential

Association is the idea that interacting with others learns criminal behavior.

It is no secret whites and blacks in America experience life differently because of their race. Therefore, whites and blacks view the criminal justice system differently. My research found 70% of those studied agree the courts do not offer equal treatment. Although both agree that the system is biased, whites seem to have a more positive view about the whole system, while Blacks feel the system is corrupt and works' against them. 50% of my non-white sample and 20% of my white sample felt the courts discriminate. James Henslin, author of the text Social Problems, states "[Violent crime] recedes with income ... people with higher incomes live in better, more affluent and less viole...

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...that continue to target poor minorities.

My results did show that there was differences in the way black and white students in American society view the criminal justice system. Because race can be compared to SES non-whites have a more negative view of how often police discriminate. On the other hand whites are not ignorant to the negative police discrimination non-whites face; nevertheless they feel it happens much less than it actually does, or almost never. Similar, in the courts, more non- whites feel their is discrimination. My answer to this could be that non-whites are being convicted, going to jail and receiving the death penalty, while white are the ones suing, and are not getting convicted for crimes when they are arrested. While we all agree the criminal justice system is corrupt, my studies show, whites and blacks disagree with the extent to which it happens. This is an obvious result because blacks and whites are in two separate moral communities.

Blacks have been negatively labeled, and stigmatized as lower class citizens who cause trouble. Inturn they have been the victim of legislation that keeps them in the dismal status they are in.