Racial Discrimination In The Juvenile Justice System

Racial profiling consists of innocent, those chosen because of their skin color and guilty citizens that are being unjustly targeted by law enforcement because of their race and /or ethnicity. Mainly Blacks, Hispanics, and people of color within the minority communities are targeted for such harassment by law enforcement. However, race is the key factor for racial profiling by police, which is unfair on so many levels that people of color are processed differently than white youths within the system. Racial bias, disparity, and racial profiling are considered as a violation of citizens’ rights, that started long before it was actually recognized as a violation, and taking place within the Juvenile Justice and Criminal System. Due to the

According to Lawrence and Craig (2008), the juvenile justice system has to be vigilant in preventing racism when sentencing juvenile offenders. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, through the federal government have made the elimination of disproportionate minority confinement a high priority (p.349). The problems addressed in cases of violations within the law, include use of excessive force, unlawful stops, searches, or arrest; and discriminatory policing in minority communities among blacks, Hispanics, and juveniles. There have been several types of reforms put in place for effective constitutional policing nationwide, they are to provide significant, systematic relief, and increase community confidence in law enforcement, as well as improve police officer, and agency accountability. In 2013, Judge Shira A. Scheindlin stated that “The Stop and Frisk tactics of the NYPD violated the constitutional rights of minorities” (Bergner, 2014). It was apparent that there were increased stops in minority communities among Blacks

Racial bias evolves from generation to generation, and we as citizens are supposed to be protected against such actions of discrimination especially by law enforcement, but such actions as stop and frisk, to include automobile and body searches for no other reason than the color of one’s skin is a violation of our civil rights. Instead of being violated in an inappropriate matter as openly as it was done while fighting for our civil rights, it’s now done through law enforcement. The Constitution is supposed to guarantee equal treatment under the law for everyone, but blacks and Hispanics are disproportionately victimized by police and other front line law enforcement officials. Racial disparities affect both innocent and guilty minority citizens, and are broken down into explanations such as; People of color commit more crimes, The Criminal Justice System is racially bias, and America is a racially bias society (Weich and Angulo, 2002). All of these explanations have been proven true by the actions of law enforcement and society, by using racial profiling as a means to target minority communities. Although, there are efforts