discussion posts
Passion Williams
Multiculturalism and Diversity Attachment
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As the years go on, the United States began facing new problems. Law enforcement has the difficult job of adapting to all the changes the United States is facing. It is important that law enforcement is flexible in in the different cultures that are in the United States. Most law enforcement agencies pay officers more for speaking a different language or being able to communicate in different ways such as sign language. One thing that is used in the courts is the use of interpreters for people that don’t understand English or are not familiar with the United States legal system. The courts do a good job for defendants but lacks the diversity in attorneys. Although African Americans make up almost 13% of the population, but only about 4.8 % of licensed attorneys (Cassidy,2015). There needs to be more people of color to represent the population of individuals that are incarcerated. People of color doesn’t only represent African Americans but Hispanics, and Asians.
Again, the courts have a difficult job during sentencing and the trial for suspects that are not born in the united states. There are two things during trial that are very important they are called aggravating factors and mitigating factors. The mitigating factors for a defendant tries to understand the defendant. If a defendant’s culture allows certain things that would be considered a mitigating factor because that’s all a defendant knows. Cultural practices can sometimes interfere with the law, but ignorance of the law is not an excuse (Renteln & Valladares,2009)
Diversity training is not only important in the criminal justice system, but it should be taught in undergrad especially to criminal justice students, so they are aware of what they will have to deal with in their career. Diversity is a vital factor in relationships and decision- making in the criminal justice system (Pattern & Way, 2011). Diversity is not something that can be taught once and forgotten about because the United states is consistently changing, and the criminal justice system must keep up with the changes.
Cassidy, R. M. (2015). Promoting diversity in the criminal justice system. Boston Bar Journal, 59(2)
Pattern, R., & Way, L. B. (2011). White men only?: A nationwide examination of diversity courses in the criminal justice discipline. Race, Gender & Class, 18(1/2), 345-359.