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 …show more content…
and arguments based on the race of the offender rather than the crime itself and therefore the Blacks are more likely to be sentenced. Lastly, the financial factor is outlined. The Black being low-income people, generally can not afford expensive lawyers and long criminial procedures and that leads to harsher and longer sentencing for them. 1. Racial disparity in sentencing laws Margery Coulson-Clark, Ngozi Caleb and Nkechi Kamalu.
2010, “Racial Disparities in Sentencing: Implications for the Criminal Justice System and the African American Community”, African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies 4(1): 1-31, in this Albonetti’s study is discussed in which it was found that minority status alone accounted for an additional sentence length of “one to seven months.” African American defendants were “likely to receive pretrial release but were more likely to be convicted, and be given harsher sentences after conviction than white defendants charged with the same crimes.” One of the reasons behind this are the sentencing laws, it is seen that these laws are designed in a way that they tend to be harsher towards a certain group of people, generally towards the people of color than others thus leading to inequality with the sentencing …show more content…
process. An example of such a law is the usage of diversion programs and alternative courts. Diversion program is a form of sentencing that allows the offenders to avoid criminal charges and record. Therefore alternate options are offered such as community service work etc in order to punish the offender. Since the Black people generally have small offense criminal records or some kind of past conviction therefore they are considered not eligible for this service and are generally bared from diversion programs. This then increases their chance of receiving a sentence that would involve jail time and thus creating a criminal record, which causes more problems for them in the future. Also laws like “Three strikes and you’re out” which is basically giving harsher punishments to those offenders who have been punished for the same crime before. It mandated that a minimum 25 years to life sentence should be given to felony offenders who have had two or more prior serious felonies. This law is a direct target on the people of color who generally are more likely to have a previous criminal record. Dan Macallair, Khaled Taqi-Eddin and Mike Males. 1999. “Striking out: The Failure of California's Three Strikes and You're out Law” Justice Policy Institute, talks about the failure of this law and how it has led to the unfair sentencing of people of color. The author further goes on to talk about how it’s not the race of a person that accounts for increase in crime rate, it’s the age. He thinks that after the age of 28, there is a steady decline in criminal activity, therefore younger offenders should be sentenced harshly and the basis should not be on race rather it should be on age. Another law that has caused massive Black people sentencing is talked about in the Ronal Helmes and S.E Costanza. 2010. “Modeling the Politics of Punishment: A Contextual Analysis of Racial Disparity in Drug Sentencing.” Criminal Justice Review 35 (4) : 472- 491, tells us that the mandatory sentencing changes seem to have provided a great deal of incentive for law enforcement, prosecutors, and the courts to target inner-city minorities during the 1980s and 1990s. It talks about the drug related cases and how blacks are always more harshly punished when caught in a drug dealing process and are considered as villains. However, some policies seem to target the Black people especially for this reason for example the drug free school zone laws. This law increases penalties for those that are caught selling drugs near a school zone. However, this policy causes discrimination against the Blacks. A New Jersey study, followed by two more, showed that drug-free school zones cover densely populated urban density where black people dominate. As a result, the zones create two systems of justice, which is unfair. They are being punished for where they live as well as for their crimes, while white offenders who tend to live and work out of the school zones face lesser penalties. The study also shows that 96% of people who are affected by this law are African Americans or Latinos. Therefore the chance of them to be sentenced harshly is more than a white offender. This shows that due to particular policies and laws in the criminal justice system the Blacks are targeted more than the Whites and therefore that leads to longer and harsher sentencing for the Blacks hence showing racial disparity in the sentencing process. 1. Racial disparity within the courts decision Besiki L. Kutateladze, Brian D. Johnson, Cassia C. Spohn and Nancy R. Andiloro. 2014. “Cumulative disadvantage: Examining racial and ethnic disparity in prosecution and sentencing.” Criminology 52(3): 514-571. This talks about the case-processing mechanism and how that is an epitome of racial inequality therefore leading to harsher sentencing for the minority groups. This research talks about the concept of “focal concerns perspective”. The focal concerns perspective talks about how the judges make sentencing decisions based on three things: the culpability of the offender; a desire to protect the community; and concerns about practical consequences with in the society. The decisions made are by gathering information about the crime and the offender. Since the court wants to determine the potential danger this offender can cause the society, they base their decision on sentencing by looking at the past criminal behavior of the defendant, those with serious criminal histories would then be viewed as more blameworthy than the first time offenders. The social circumstance also plays an important role since those defendants that belong to a high crime neighborhood will be looked at with more suspicion than others. Also when it comes to cases that are presented before the judge, the jury may provide incomplete information or one side of the picture therefore most convictions result from guilty pleas and not trials.
Thus, the judge may know little more about the case than the facts necessary to support a guilty plea. When decision makers are faced with incomplete information and the predictions they are required to make are uncertain, defendant characteristics, such as the race of the offender is used to determine how dangerous they will be when out roaming in the streets. This may skew their decision and give partial sentencing verdicts. Welch, Kelly. 2007. “Black Criminal Stereotypes and Racial Profiling.” Journal of Contemporary Justice 23(3): 276-288 also talks about the discrimination within the courtroom, in the court it has been shown that the prosecutors when fighting a case against the defendant who’s client is Black use their race as an argument to win the case. They try to show how Black people are prone to be violent due to racial factors and therefore should be sentenced harshly. Given the history, unfortunately this argument sets in well and therefore leads to sentencing and prison time for the Black
offender. Thus, this perspective shows that there is an inevitable disadvantage to the minority groups when it comes to sentencing due to racial disparity. The statistics also favor this perspective; Blacks comprise 28 percent of people arrested (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2011) and 38 percent of prison inmates despite being only 13 percent of the national population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). 2. Low-income Blacks and racial disparity Charles Jaret, LesleyWilliams Reid and Robert M. Adelman. 2003. “Black White Income Inequality and Metropolitan Socioeconomic Structure.” The Journal of the Urban Affairs Association 25(3): 305-334 talks about the residential segregation which dilutes the ability of blacks, particularly those who live in inner cities and who have low-skill levels, to follow job opportunities to the suburbs and thus that leads to Blacks earning less than the Whites therefore Blacks are low-income people and cant afford to get expensive lawyers to fight their cases and therefore the chances of sentencing for them is by nature very high. Along with that due to financial problems they prefer to take the guilty plea, since they can’t afford to pay for long trials and therefore prefer to do jail time and get out instead. This leads to their sentencing and a permanent criminal record. All these factors show that the sentencing laws, the behavior within the courtroom and the financial status of Blacks are major reasons that sentencing of minority groups are longer and harsher then that of the majority groups.
“A report by the United States General Accounting Office in 1990 concluded that 82 percent of the empirically valid studies on the subject show that the race of the victim has an impact on capital charging decisions or sentencing verdicts or both” (86).
The majority of our prison population is made up of African Americans of low social and economic classes, who come from low income houses and have low levels of education. The chapter also discusses the amount of money the United States loses yearly due to white collar crime as compared to the cost of violent crime. Another main point was the factors that make it more likely for a poor person to be incarcerated, such as the difficulty they would have in accessing adequate legal counsel and their inability to pay bail. This chapter addresses the inequality of sentencing in regards to race, it supplies us with NCVS data that shows less than one-fourth of assailants are perceived as black even though they are arrested at a much higher rate. In addition to African Americans being more likely to be charged with a crime, they are also more likely to receive harsher punishments for the same crimes- which can be seen in the crack/cocaine disparities. These harsher punishments are also shown in the higher rates of African Americans sentenced to
Historically racism has pervaded the administration of justice in America and Canada. Racial biases against blacks are still apparent today through the many different arenas of the criminal justice system. Black Americans argue that they are treated unequally and more brutally than whites at all levels in the criminal justice system. As a result of this unequal treatment blacks are more likely to be arrested, charged, convicted and receive longer sentences then whites for the same crimes. Black Americans make up about 12% of the US population and they account for more then 30% of all arrests, 44% of all prisoners and 40% of prisoners on death row (Hunt, 1999:74).
Although some say the high disparity of minority to white prison sentences is due to repeat offenses by second and third time offenders, the disparity in the population between black and white Americans in the U.S. doesn't support the fact there are more minorities than whites in American prisons. The make-up of judges, juries and law enforcement officials in the judicial system is a factor. The high disparity amongst minorities in prison is due to the societal issues such as racial discrimination, racial inequality of lawmakers in the court system, and presumptive sentencing guidelines. Racism in American society plays a part in the manner in which the judicial system operates. The American prison population is larger than at any time in the history of the penal system in the world.”
Minorities are still being harshly punished in our justice system. Minorities serve a higher chance of being sentenced in comparison to non- minorities by a long shot. According to an article posted on the Huffington Post, minorities are directly targeted and are sentenced to harsher sentences than whites. In the article written by Bill Quigley, called “Fourteen Examples of Racism in Criminal Justice System”, he states that, “U.S. The Sentencing Commission reported in March 2010 that in the federal system, black offenders receive sentences that are 10% longer than white offenders for the same crimes. Marc Mauer of the Sentencing Project reports African Americans are 21% more likely to receive mandatory minimum sentences than white defendants and 20% more likely to be sentenced to prison than white drug defendants”.
The prison system exists as a form of formal punishment for persons of wrongdoing and serves as a secure dwelling to protect the public from persons who engage in illegal and or violent behavior. Minorities are the majority of the prison population. Because of possible ingrained stereotypes regarding racial groups and drug related criminal offenses there are an elevated number of minorities in United States prisons (Tamborini, Huang, Mastro, & Nabashi-Nakahara, 2007, p. 342). Legal authorities and juries may show bias towards minority groups resulting in a disadvantage when it comes to charging those of the African-American race. African-Americans are generally more frequently targeted than Caucasians regarding drug related crimes. Due to the nature of inexpensive forms of illegal substances more frequently used in inner-cities, African-Americans may be more easily and more often pursued (Staples, 2011, p. 34). Opposition shapes the notion that minorities make up the majority of drug related criminal offenders. There are more persons of the African-American race charged for drug related crimes but this can possibly be attributed to skewed perceptions of a particular races’ tendency to engage in illegal behavior as well as lack of financial options and socio economic status to hire an attorney to defend their case, which negatively influences sentencing outcomes and statistics.
Firstly, a person’s race comes into play too often. People of color are more likely to entangle themselves in the justice system. Consider that the arrest rate and disparity of African American and Hispanic people are much higher. Police “stops and searches” are proof of racial profiling. A study conducted in Connecticut proved the racial disparity by showing that more people of specific races are pulled over during the day, but not at night because they cannot be seen. Also, a glimpse at the people serving time provides a vivid example of the racial inequalities seen throughout legal situations. When the Brown vs Board of Education case was won, there was around 100,000 African Americans in jail and currently there are at least 800,00 in prison. Black men are six times more likely to get incarcerated as white men and Hispanics are 2.3 times more likely (“18 Examples of”). Additionally, before the sentencing even begins these individuals are at a disadvantage. These communities have worse odds of making bail, in contrast to white defendants. This implies that they include the greater parts of those who are imprisoned before their trial even begins, placing even the innocent in jail for longer than needed. Overall, a person’s race or skin color should not produce a lower quality of
According to a report from the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), 70 percent of American prisoners are non-white (EJI, 2017). Nowhere is this more clearly illustrated than with the treatment of African American defendants. To be sure, the origin of several elements of contemporary policing began as state and local governments’ attempts to find runaway slaves and police slave and ex-slave communities in their jurisdiction (Archbold, 2013). That is, one of the fundamental purposes of the criminal justice system was racial control (EJI, 2017). The results of that legacy are that an African American defendant more than seven times as likely to be convicted as a white American. That rate increases significantly, if the defendant is African American and under the age of
In the society today, there are many indicators on the impact of disparities in women sentencing as compared to men. Though women are not highly associated with crime as compared to men, there are significant disparities that tend to show favoritism towards women. Research indicates that men get 63 % longer custodial sentences than women. This essay portrays the disparities and variables that contribute to the gaps in sentencing both genders which mostly points to the role of women in the society and mainly as primary caregivers to children.
Among the many issues in sentencing, racial disparities are perhaps most evident in the population of penal institutions / prisons and jails. Bartollas and Siegel state “research supportive of racial discrimination in sentencing generally shows… “those convicted of drug offenses, those who accumulate more serious prior criminal records, those who refuse to plead guilty and those unable to secure pretrial release -minorities are singled out for harsher treatment. Minority defendants receive harsher sanctions if their victims are white…” and “those who murder whites are more likely to receive the death penalty…” (2013). Given the socio-economic status of many of these individuals, and based on the information presented, an argument can be made
In my opinion the trend in racial disparities in incarceration is of a strategic planning process designed by government officials in a political system that governs and regulates the corrections policy. Not to mention the money that is generated and the people who profit from it. Don’t misunderstand me some criminals belong behind bars to make the streets safe. But the system has mistreated minorities for decades and for this reason people of color has been marked to become victims of circumstance. Thus a criminal record hinders their future. Theses established government agencies have the authority to impose penalties to arrest more minorities than whites for committing the same crimes such as using and selling drugs no matter what communities
Years of statistics on crime rates and incarceration have indicated a profound and disparate differential in number of minorities incarcerated across the United States. Alix S. Winter and Mathew Clair’s Sentencing Reform in an Era of Radicalized Mass Incarceration (Nov. 2016) addresses the disparity in sentencing with minorities, consequences of such disparities, and recommendations to improve sentencing and incarceration disparities. The purpose of the study is to bring a data driven approach to recommendations within the judicial system in order to reduce the disparities in sentencing with minorities. The methodology for the study was based on a review and a meta-analysis of race and sentencing research designed to explaining the inconsistencies and disparities within Crime Statistics.
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
There are many inequalities in the Criminal justice system based on Race, Gender, Special Offense inmates, chronic mental illness, and how programs can help inmates when released.
The study statistically demonstrated that death sentences were disproportionally given based on race. Within the study, race referred to the victim rather than the race of the offender; however, the study highlighted that sentences were given disproportionately and based on an element that had little to do with justice. MacLean states that racial disparity permeates the criminal justice system in ways that affect other severe sentences and is not exclusive to the sentence of death. The article explores racial disparity and racially disparate sentencing in life and death sentences, which MacLean offers as evidence that death is not really that different after