Persuasive Research Essay on Racial Disparity in Criminal Justice System
1
Khadka
Spriya Khadka
Professor Camin Melton
ENGL 1302-024
11 November 2020
Racial Disparity in Criminal Justice System
America’s prisons are disproportionately filled with African Americans. The U.S has approximately 25% of the world's 9.8 million prisoners. Among them African Americans make up about 33% of the sentenced prison population while they make up only 12% of the total U.S population. While whites makeup about 64% of the total U.S population but they only account for 30% of the sentenced prison population. To make these racial disparities in the prison population more apparent we can also analyze the imprisonment rate. Imprisonment rate is the number of prisoners per 100,000 people. There are 272 white prisoners for every 100,000 white adults. Whereas there are 1,549 black prisoners for every 100,000. This disparities and the effect of race to incarcerate have a long lasting and damaging impact on the African American communities. This marginalization and disparate treatment of people of color happens in an astounding amount in the justice system. The problem is the reflection of the society and its systemic racism as a whole but its affect that is seen in America’s criminal justice ravages the fabric of black communities and creates a cycle that they cannot get out from.
The story of the present biased criminal justice system towards people of color is the historical byproduct of the past political and social events. The 13th amendment which states “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” abolished salvery. This exception clause “ except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted” created a loophole which was exploited by the white political elite and business establishments to rebuild the southern economy. Black people were arrested for minor crimes but were incarcerated for longer jail time to provide cheap labor. This accounted for the first prison boom in the United States. President Richard Nixon’s War on Drugs which is a government led initiative to decrease crimes around drugs by increasing prison sentences towards users and dealers were highly biased. Different sentences for similar kinds of drugs were implemented. Crack, a form of cocaine, is a drug mostly circulated in Black communities, was highly monitored and longer prison sentences were implemented for its possession. Coke, another form of cocaine, is a drug mostly consumed in white circles and was not monitored and was prosecuted very lightly.
The criminal justice system of America is against the African Americans due to its racial bias. The white people’s perception of balck highly influences public policies mostly punitive policies rather than preventive policies and judgements of crimes and punishment. Public opinion on crimes matters. If the public views a particular race through a lens skewed by stereotypes and racial bias, then the race will face punitive damages and punishments that destroys their odds of rehabilitation in their communities and society. This is a form of masked discrimination and disparity led to another explosion of mass incarceration comprised of mostly black men. In 1993 laws were passed that assigned mandatory sentences of life without parole for three time felony offenders. The 1994 federal crime bill passed by President Clinton led to another surge of hyperincarceration of black people. This crime bill gave federal approval for states to be tough on crimes instead of focusing on rehabilitation so people were arrested to fill the massive prison infrastructure. People of color are more likely to be arrested for a crime and they are also more likely to be prosecuted. For a crime a white person may be charged as a misdemeanor but for the same crime a person of color most probably be charged as a felony. The consequences of this legislation have mostly burdened minorities and ravaged the communities as children had to grow up without parents and role models and therefore more likely to stray and get into the same cycle their parents are stuck in.
Black people and men are overrepresented in the media as criminals. The society and the criminal justice system is highly influenced by it. When the society pictures a black person they picture a visceral image of criminality, violence and threat. The negative and inaccurate stereotypes of African Americans played a significant role in shaping the attitude of Americans towards black people in early history. Stereotypes can be defined as “"cognitive structures that contain the perceiver's knowledge, beliefs, and expectations about human groups" (Peffley, 31). Stereotypes are snap judgement we make about another person or another object that help us associate good qualities with a certain thing or a person and bad qualities with another. America’s first blockbuster movie “The Birth of a Nation” depicts a balck man who perversely eyes white women and fed the fear of miscegenation among the white community and increased violence against African American communities. In every scene consisting of a black man he is depicted as cannibalistic and animalistic fueling animosity towards the community (13th, Duvernay).
These negative stereotypes affects the attitudes of the elected prosecutors, 95% of whom are white, Criminal justice practitioners, law enforcement on how they perform their duties. Black people are continuously paraded in the news in handcuffs, it creates a social illusion. We begin to construct stereotypes that since all members of the same race have similar characteristics, we begin to associate black with ‘criminal’. Eric Garner, an African- American horticulturist died as a result excessive police force. He died after Daniel Pantaleo put him in a chokehold while arresting with his final words: “I can’t breathe”. In his final moments he said “Every time you see me, you want to mess with me. I'm tired of it. It stops today. Why would you...? Everyone standing here will tell you I didn't do nothing. I did not sell nothing. Because everytime you see me, you want to harass me.” His statement is significant because it reflects how he feels. It reflects the reality of every person of color when they are stopped by no reason other than the color of their skin and assumption, they must be doing something illegal. Black people are more likely to be stopped by the police than their counterparts. Blacks drivers were searched about 1.5 to 2 times as often than white drivers. The Bureau of Justice reported the lifetime likelihood of imprisonment of white men is 1 in 17 whereas the lifetime likelihood of imprisonment of black men in 1 in 3. If the lens of police officers is skewed by racial bias than they are more likely to shoot black people as seen with Charlie Kinsey, Philando Castile and others as they fear their own life assuming they are a threat. Police brutality is part of the bigger problem which is racial and social control known as the criminal justice system which is built against minorities and underprivileged.
Rehabilitation and reentry which is the ultimate goal of a just justice system into civil society is nearly impossible for people of color Black men make up 6.5% of U.S population whereas they make up 40.2% of prison population. These men are do not have the resources to defend themselves against a biased system. 97% of people in prison as of right is now have plead guilty. Going to trial in the United States is expensive and risky. If the defendant loses the trial the mandatory minimums of prison sentences seem daunting for them. Kalief Browder was charged with petty crime he did not commit. Hos bail was posted for $10,000 which he could not afford so he went jail. There are people in jails as of right now for no other reason than they cannot afford to get out. Prison sentences are supposed to be debt which needs to be paid to the society. After they pay this debt there is no clear path to renter civil society and move forward. When they have paid their dues, they are shunned from moving one. They cannot get food stamps if they are hungry, have difficulty accessing student loans, small business loans and will affect their job application, life insurance and housing. If they cannot make a living, they have to resort to crimes to survive. If they get arrested again, they are likely to sentenced for longer times for repeat offences. This creates a cycle that ravages communities and families.
People have been educated over the years that black people, black men particularly are criminals to such an extent that they also believe it. The African American community is burned by the visceral image of misunderstood race in the media. The byproduct of punitive policies and racialized mass incarceration and racially biased criminal justice system destroy the livelihood of black communities. The racial disparity in the criminal justice system make it imperative to guard against racist attitudes and internalized racism sparked by stereotypes.
Works Cited
13TH, created by Ava DuVernay, Netflix, 2020,
https://www.netflix.com/watch/80091741
“Negative Racial Stereotypes and Their Effect on Attitudes Toward African-Americans.” Negative Racial Stereotypes and Their Effect on Attitudes Toward African-Americans - Scholarly Essays - Jim Crow Museum - Ferris State University, www.ferris.edu/htmls/news/jimcrow/links/essays/vcu.htm.
Gramlich, John. “The Gap between the Number of Blacks and Whites in Prison Is Shrinking.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 27 Aug. 2020, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/30/shrinking-gap-between-number-of-blacks-and-whites-in-prison/.
Collin College Library, www-jstor-org.library.collin.edu/stable/2111769?seq=1.
Forbes, Flores A., et al. “How a 13th Amendment Loophole Created America's Carceral State.” The Crime Report, 4 June 2019, thecrimereport.org/2019/06/03/539754/.