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Racism in the police force essay
United states racism in the criminal justice system
Racial profiling and its effects on society
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Race should never be a determining factor to how an individual is judged, however, society has overtime created racial stigmas that cause individuals to view one other in negative ways. The U.S. Census Bureau of 1987 defines race by separating them into many different categories. It describes White as a person having origins in any of the original people of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa, Black or African American as a person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa, and American Indian or Alaska Native as a person having origins in any of the original people of North and South America. It also describes Asian as a person having origins in any of the original people of the Far East, Southeast Asia, and Pacific Islander as a person having origins in any of the original people of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.
Many would say that racial discrimination, defined by the 2013 End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA), is…[judgment] that " relies on any degree of race, ethnicity, religion, or natural origin in [which] selected individuals [are treated differently and] subjected to routine or spontaneous investigation activities…"(Qtd. In Kleiner 111). The initial use of race in the judgment of an individual conspired from the need of protection after countless crimes were committed consistently by "specific" races; police Departments then instituted many security measures that aided them in identifying these suspects before and when they commit these crimes. Although many argue that racial profiling is an essential part of finding suspects, racial profiling used as a means of security can lead to racial discrimination, which is a direct violation of an individual's psychological security, which should b...
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Tamir, Michal. "Racial Profiling: Who Is The Executioner And Does He Have A Face?" Texas Hispanic Journal Of Law & Policy 15.1 (2009): 71-92. Legal Collection. Web. 19 Mar. 2014
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Just Mercy’s Bryan Stevenson exposes some of these disparities woven around his presentation of the Walter McMillian case, and the overrepresentation of African-American men in our criminal justice system. His accounts of actors in the criminal justice system such as Judge Robert E. Lee and the D.A. Tom Chapman who refused to open up the case or provide support regardless of the overwhelmingly amount of inconsistencies found in the case. The fact that there were instances where policemen paid people off to testify falsely against McMillian others on death row significantly supports this perpetuation of racism. For many of the people of color featured in Stevenson’s book, the justice system was unfair to them wrongfully or excessively punishing them for crimes both violent and nonviolent compared to their white counterparts. Racism towards those of color has caused a “lack of concern and responsiveness by police, prosecutors, and victims’ services providers” and ultimately leads to the mass incarceration of this population (Stevenson, 2014, p. 141). Moreover the lack of diversity within the jury system and those in power plays into the already existing racism. African-American men are quickly becoming disenfranchised in our country through such racist biases leading to over 1/3 of this population “missing” from the overall American population because they are within the criminal justice
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Toby, Jackson. “Racial Profiling Doesn’t Prove Cops are Racist.” Wall Street Journal (March 1999). N. pag. Online. AT&T Worldnet. Internet. 30 Nov 2000. Available: www.frontpagemag.com/archives/racerelations/toby3-11-99.htm
"The Reality of Racial Profiling." CivilRights.org. The Leadership Conference, 22 08 2012. Web. 4 Mar. 2014. .
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Before any argument can be made against racial profiling, it is important to understand what racial profiling is. The American Civil Liberties Union, defines racial profiling as "the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual's race, ethnicity, religion or national origin"(Racial Profiling: Definition). Using this definition we can determine that racial profiling excludes any evidence of wrong-doing and relies solely on the characteristics listed above. We can also see that racial profiling is different from criminal profiling, which uses evidence of wrong-doing and facts which can include information obtained from outside sources and evidence gathered from investigation. Based on these definitions, I will show that racial profiling is unfair and ineffective because it relies on stereotyping, encourages discrimination, and in many cases can be circumvented.
In several cases and studies, there is a substantial amount of racial bias in the criminal justice system. In fact, the 1978 McClesky conviction has proven to support Baldus’s study in 1998. Warren McClesky, an African American male, was found guilty of killing a Georgia police officer. The legal team who represented McClesky exposed a study that showed how biased racial inequality is in the death penalty, but the court contended the argument because “disparities in sentencing are an inevitable part of our criminal justice system” (Touré). Furthermore, race has always been a serious matter in the Supreme Court and other government administrations, but they fail to recognize the
Reducing Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System: A Manual for Practitioners and Policymakers. Retrieved from http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/rd_reducingracialdisparity.pdf New Century Foundation. (2005). The Color of Crime: Race, Crime and Justice in America. Retrieved from http://www.colorofcrime.com/colorofcrime2005.pdf Pearson Education. (2008).
Race, in the common understanding, draws upon differences not only of skin color and physical attributes but also of language, nationality, and religion. Race categories are often used as ethnic intensifiers, with the aim of justifying the exploitation of one group by another. Race is an idea that has become so fixed in American society that there is no room for open-mindedness when challenging the idea of racial categories. Over the years there has been a drastic change with the way the term "race" is used by scientists. Essentially, there is a major difference between the biological and sociological views of race.
U.S. Census Bureau, (2010). Cumulative Estimates of the Components of Resident Population Change by Race and Hispanic Origin for the United States. Retrieved from http://www.prb.org/Publications/PopulationBulletins/2010/latinosupdate1.aspx
Tomaskovic-devey, Donald, and Patricia Warren. "Explaining and Eliminating Racial Profiling." Contexts Vol. 8, No. 2. Spring 2009: 34.
Racial profiling in America, as evidenced by recent events, has reached a critical breaking point. No longer can an African American, male or female, walk into a store, school, or any public place without fear of being stereotyped as a person of suspicion. Society constantly portrays the African American
Holmes, Malcolm D. "Minority threat and police brutality: Determinants of civil rights criminal complaints in US municipalities." Criminology 38.2 (2000): 343-368.
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