Homework Responses Week 2

After extensive research and looking through many different articles I have decided to narrow down to Criminal Justice. The article that I decided on is "How Judges Think About Racial Disparities: Situational Decision Making in The Criminal Justice System" written by Matthew Clair and Alex S. Winter. Reading through this article I have addressed certain issues that need further research examined. I believe now, as in the past, racial profiling and discrimination has been a large issue within communities and the American Criminal Justice System. Many studies have found that blacks and latinos are more punatively than similarly situated than whites from arresting and sentencing factors. This article depicts the interviews of 59 judges based in the "North Eastern" states that work in both upper and lower courts and hold different positions. I propose that much more research is evaluated and conducted with a number of different judges from all demographics and areas of the States. From this current article, there were 42 white, 10 black, and 7 other judges that were interviewed, of those, 38 males and 21 female. There needs to be judges interviewed from all regions and states, along with age, gender, and job experience. The author of this study has determined there numbers of these 59 judges from only the Northeast but I want to expand that area and number of judges interviewed. In the United States currently there are around 1,700 Judgeships that currently are appointed by the President for life sentences. A mere 59 judges from a selected area does not make a case of how judges think about racial disparities or the decision making in court ordered processes. The amount of individuals that this article pertains to and who could benefit from this are astronomical. Individuals of any race and gender can benefit from more research conducted to if there is racial discrimination towards certain classes or ethnicities. 

Dylan