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Racial disparities in the court system
Eyewitness testimony in the criminal justice system
Disparity in the criminal justice system
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The justice system is something everyone wants to believe is fair. So, in theory, if a person is innocent, there is no need to fear the justice system. The justice system has many layers, and in order for a suspect to determined guilty, he or she must go through all these layers. These layers start with the detection of a crime. Then, law enforcement must find proof, and arrest suspects. After filing a police report for the crime, a trial must take place, the proof is presented, and a jury and judge determine the guilt of the suspect. Only after passing through all of these layers can a suspect be determined guilty. Not to mention the constitution-the constitution contains many rights that protect a suspect from being determined guilty when …show more content…
innocent, the most well known one being a suspect is innocent until proven guilty, and a suspect always has a right to a fair trial. With all of this, there should be no way of for an innocent to be determined guilty. However, there are many more factors that weave their way into the justice system, one of the most prominent one being bias.
In the U.S., over half of all murder victims are African American, yet less than 15% of the people executed since 1976 were sentenced to death for the murder of an African American. Racial bias isn’t limited to judges and juries. Race exacerbates the risk of executing an innocent person. Eyewitness identification, which is the leading cause of wrongful conviction, is even less reliable when the witness is identifying someone of a different race. Even though many may not realize it, we all hold a certain degree of racial bias in our hearts. Of the 156 death row exonerees in the US since 1973, 60% are black or Latino. Bias is not limited to racial bias. Wealthier people will generally get off easier for the same crime that a poorer person may have committed. Wealthier citizens have the ability to afford better lawyers, which in turn can negotiate better deals and get off easier. This is clearly not fair. For the same crime, people should serve the same punishment, but because of the wealthier person’s status, he or she will be able to get off much easier, and many times even be deemed innocent. However, this isn’t the only outside factor that has snuck its way into the criminal justice
system. Another outside factor is human error. Humans are some sort of strange hybrid between cro-magnon and neanderthal. This, in short, means we are highly susceptible to mistakes, and we’re also not completely honest. As said before, eyewitness identification is the leading causes of wrongful conviction. This is not simply because of racial bias. Many times, in the heat of the moment, eyewitnesses will perceive to have seen something when, in actuality, that event never actually occurred. However, once something is said in court, it cannot be taken back. This means the trial from then on will be taking in a false factor. Not only that, but many times, from the pressure of being in court, people will make false confessions. There have been many accounts of this, one of them being the West Memphis Three. Three men, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, were wrongfully convicted of murder after being grilled in an interrogation room for hours on end, and then cracking under pressure and falsely confessing to murdering three young boys. After 18 years of being imprisoned, there was an appeal, due to the large amount of proof showing it wasn’t actually the West Memphis Three that murdered the three boys. However, prosecutors realized they were going to lose the trial, so they offered the three a deal- plead guilty, and they would be released immediately. So, they ended up pleading guilty for a crime they did not commit, and that is now on their permanent records.
Racial discrimination has been an immense problem in our society for a very long time. The fact that the race of a victim plays a role in his or her sentencing is appalling. Discrimination within our society needs to come to an end. It’s frightening to think that if you are a minority facing a capital punishment case, which you might be found guilty only because of the color of your skin.
In many nation states, it is noticed that there is a disproportionate number of black people especially those youngsters going through the criminal justice system. The overrepresentation is illustrated by related data released by the U.S. Department of Justice and the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee. In America, almost 3500 per 100,000 residents of the black male were sent to jail in 2013 which was over seven times more than the ratio their white counterpart had and in England and Wales, 8.5% of young black people aged between 10-17 were arrested during the same period .This essay aims to explore the reasons behind the ethnic overrepresentation in the criminal justice system and believes that the higher rate of offending for some race groups and the existence of systematic racist which partially stems from the contemporary media distortion are attributive to the overrepresentation.
This research essay discusses racial disparities in the sentencing policies and process, which is one of the major factors contributing to the current overrepresentation of minorities in the judicial system, further threatening the African American and Latino communities. This is also evident from the fact that Blacks are almost 7 times more likely to be incarcerated than are Whites (Kartz, 2000). The argument presented in the essay is that how the laws that have been established for sentencing tend to target the people of color more and therefore their chances of ending up on prison are higher than the whites. The essay further goes on to talk about the judges and the prosecutors who due to different factors, tend to make their decisions
“Most modem sentencing systems in the United States express an explicit commitment to ensuring that a defendant 's sentence is not affected by the defendant 's race or gender (Hessick, 2010).” Even though individuals are protected through the Bill of Rights and Sentencing Reform Acts, there are still disparities in sentencing within the criminal justice systems. Often, race and gender bias negatively affects sentencing.
Sentencing disparity refers to the differences in sentences that are passed down in the same instances. This can happen on a variety of fronts. It can occur with judges, in different states, states v. federal, different prosecutors, among different victims, etc. (Criminal – Sentencing…2017 p.4) A more specific definition from USLegal.com states that, “Sentence disparity refers to an inequality in criminal sentencing which is the result of unfair or unexplained causes, rather than a legitimate use of discretion in the application of the law.”. There are a variety of ways that sentencing disparity affects the justice system. There are three factors that disparity looms around; they are gender disparity, racial disparity, and age disparity. (4
Turner, Billy. 1986. “Race and Peremptory Challenges During Voir Dire: Do Prosecution and Defense Agree?” Journal of Criminal Justice 14: 61-69.
Many inequalities exist within the justice system that need to be brought to light and addressed. Statistics show that African American men are arrested more often than females and people of other races. There are some measures that can and need to be taken to reduce the racial disparity in the justice system.
In many cases, bias piles up resulting in an unfavorable situation for African-American defendants. According to research done by Richard Dieter for “The Death Penalty in Black and White: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Decides” compared to all other eligible defendants, African-Americans have a 40% higher rate of being sentenced to death. One main cause, Dieter concluded, was that almost all prosecutors who make the decision whether or not to give the death penalty are white, in fact 98% are white, which is a factor in the racial imbalance in the practice of the death penalty. Another element in the racial disparity regarding capital punishment, is that prosecutors fail to treat the family of the victims depending on race equally. While often times prosecutors reach out to white families about whether or not the death penalty should be pursued but failed to do the same for the families of an African-American victim. The emotional decision of the distraught white families to push for the sentencing of the suspect’s death is a cause of why, despite African-American victims being over 60%, almost 80% of people on death row are in for committing crimes against white people. Among other things, juries play a big role in the role of race in capital punishment. Despite Batson v. Kentucky which ruled the expulsion of jurors based on race
When a person of color is being sentenced the unjustness of sentencing is blatantly shown such as in the article Race Sentencing and Testimony which stated, “ These scholars conclude that black male arrestees “face significantly more severe charges conditional on arrest offense and other observed characteristics” and attribute this primarily to prosecution charging decisions” (Mauer 4). This piece of writing explains that for no other reason than race do these people get convicted far more significantly than others who have the same charge but are white, which continues as far as giving a person of color the max sentence that they can have on a certain charge just for the color of their skin. The justice system has turned into the opposite of what it claims to be and continues to grow as a racist overseer, bashing down on those that they believe should be punished as harshly as possible simply for the color of their skin. The system has gone as deep as to making it so that even if a person has not committed a crime, but are being charged for it they can agree to a plea bargain, which makes it so even though the person did not do it the system is going to have them convicted of it anyway (Quigley 1). “As one young man told me ‘who wouldn’t rather do three years for a crime they didn’t commit than risk twenty-five years
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.
We are not all treated equal where equality is required to assure the law is upheld. One of the flaws in our criminal justice system is how prejudice is often present in trials, and prevents suspects from having a fair trial. In “Serial”, a podcast about a first generation American teenager of Muslim religion named Adnan who was charged with the murder of his ex-girlfriend, prejudice is shown very strongly. At his bail hearing the prosecutor led the court to believe that Adnan 's extended support from his Muslim community would do anything they could to help Adnan escape the country and the justice system, ultimately getting away with murder. She furthered this claim with a report that there was a
When a defendant has been convicted of killing a white person, the odds that the defendant will be executed by the state are much higher. Eighty-five percent of those who have been executed since 1976 were convicted for killing a white person, while only 13% were executed for killing a black person. When will people realize that just because a person is of another race that they are more dangerous than another race? For instance, the 1972 Furman V. Georgia case abolished the death penalty for four years on the grounds that capital punishment was extensive with racial inequalities (Latzer 21). Over twenty five years later, those inequalities are higher than ever.
This is one area that is a constant problem and will be a problem most likely for the rest of our lives and our many future generations to come. With colored people usually having more problems than whites. Such as Black Americans are more likely to have their cars searched than whites. Whites receive less stops from police officers than both Blacks and Hispanics. Not just that both Blacks and Hispanics are more likely to be arrested for drug use then whites as well. Black and Hispanic Americans are more likely to be jailed while awaiting trial for all sorts of crimes. The outcomes of race-based inequality in criminal justice system isn’t always fair, and people of all sorts of racial backgrounds are targeted based on that individuals preferences on those individuals.
The people who are now on the death penalty have committed crimes such as murder, rape, and treason. Most people think race plays a role in who is chosen for the death penalty. In reality, these statements saying race is the main role in who is chosen for the death penalty, are not true. 82% of the murder victims are white and 13% are black. This means for every six people who are on the death row, one of them are black. This 6:1 ratio means that the claim that the race of a person depends who is on the death row is false (Akhaven). Another popular claim that is also incorrect, is that the income level of who committed the crimes determines who is put on the death row. Although the wealthy can afford better lawyers, they cannot hide the guilt, facts, and the truth of what really happened. Ernest Van Den Haa from Pros and Cons Community states “Punishments are imposed on persons, not on...economic groups. Guilt is personal. The only relevant question is: Does the person to be executed deserve the punishment? ” In this statement, Van Den Haa is saying that what race you are or how much money you have plays no role in if you are guilty of the crimes you have committed or not. Either way, the death penalty should be given to those found guilty of the crimes they have
Fairness in our justice system is expected by American citizens, and these citizens are dependent on the government to provide that. I will reiterate, crime necessitates a proper punishment. The only reasonable discipline for committing cold blooded murder is death. Some opponents to capital punishment claim that "the race of the victim remains a crucial factor in determining who will and will not receive the death penalty." (3) The back up this reason by noticing that minorities are unfairly being executed at higher rates than are Caucasians because the percentage of minorities being executed is not proportional to the percentage of minorities in society. This is true, only in the fact that more murders are committed by minorities, and therefore more minority citizens are being faced with capital punishment. I believe that most of these felonies are committed in large urban cities where the minority population is higher than the white population, hence this outcome occurs. But the most popular case where the death penalty is being sought is the O.J. Simpson case. James Ridgeway, a reporter for Village Voice, said this about the Simpson case "The O.J. Simpson case would have been the highest test of the American public's willingness to put a person to death." (4) Regardless of race, a criminal must be dealt with justly.