Criminal Justice in America: A Racist Regime
Essential Question: To what extent does race influence U.S. criminal justice issues such as profiling, sentencing, and mass incarceration?
Eric Garner, Frank Jude jr, and Trayvon Martin– all innocent black men falsely convicted by American police officers. The reality is that these names are only a microscopic margin of targets of the racist criminal justice system. Racial discrimination towards minorities has been rampant in American society since the days of African-American slavery and still goes on today. Our current situation in the American criminal justice system is no different from the institution of Jim Crow Laws, enforced in 1877. The American criminal justice system is racist to the …show more content…
To put in other words, African Americans had a 2,724 per 100,000 conviction rate opposed to the white-American rate of 465 per 100,000. (Bureau of Justice, Table 10) African Americans were incarcerated at a rate roughly 6 times higher than a white person! To make matters worse, African-Americans alone only make up 13% of the U.S. population (U.S. Census). Much of American society simply sweeps these facts under the carpet by saying "maybe we have more African-American criminals". One may only wonder why the incarceration rate for African-Americans is so disproportionate when compared to the U.S. population. The answer? Racism. While the most common form of racism that come to mind immediately may be slavery, racism also takes place in the American criminal justice system. While some may argue that more African-Americans are incarcerated because they are criminals, in reality, the American criminal justice system is racist and ensures that minorities stay in …show more content…
According to civilrights.org, the definition for racial profiling is "the targeting of particular individuals by law enforcement authorities based not on their behavior, but rather their personal characteristics." (civilrights.org). This has become a detrimental issue for African American men as they are often targets of racial profiling. In fact, blacks are 30% more likely to be pulled over when driving (Bureau of Justice). Even comedian Chris Rock was pulled over by the police for simply driving down the street. Rufus Scales, a 26 year old black male was stunned by a taser after being stopped by police while driving in Greensboro, NC. Even worse, Scales obeyed all of the officer's orders. (nytimes.com) Moreover, because of this biased practice, blacks are criminalized at a rate much higher than
Essential Question: To what extent does race influence U.S. criminal justice issues such as profiling, sentencing, and mass incarceration?
Eric Garner, Frank Jude jr, and Trayvon Martin– all innocent black men falsely convicted by American police officers. The reality is that these names are only a microscopic margin of targets of the racist criminal justice system. Racial discrimination towards minorities has been rampant in American society since the days of African-American slavery and still goes on today. Our current situation in the American criminal justice system is no different from the institution of Jim Crow Laws, enforced in 1877. The American criminal justice system is racist to the …show more content…
To put in other words, African Americans had a 2,724 per 100,000 conviction rate opposed to the white-American rate of 465 per 100,000. (Bureau of Justice, Table 10) African Americans were incarcerated at a rate roughly 6 times higher than a white person! To make matters worse, African-Americans alone only make up 13% of the U.S. population (U.S. Census). Much of American society simply sweeps these facts under the carpet by saying "maybe we have more African-American criminals". One may only wonder why the incarceration rate for African-Americans is so disproportionate when compared to the U.S. population. The answer? Racism. While the most common form of racism that come to mind immediately may be slavery, racism also takes place in the American criminal justice system. While some may argue that more African-Americans are incarcerated because they are criminals, in reality, the American criminal justice system is racist and ensures that minorities stay in …show more content…
According to civilrights.org, the definition for racial profiling is "the targeting of particular individuals by law enforcement authorities based not on their behavior, but rather their personal characteristics." (civilrights.org). This has become a detrimental issue for African American men as they are often targets of racial profiling. In fact, blacks are 30% more likely to be pulled over when driving (Bureau of Justice). Even comedian Chris Rock was pulled over by the police for simply driving down the street. Rufus Scales, a 26 year old black male was stunned by a taser after being stopped by police while driving in Greensboro, NC. Even worse, Scales obeyed all of the officer's orders. (nytimes.com) Moreover, because of this biased practice, blacks are criminalized at a rate much higher than