Minority Perpetrators Argumentative Essay

Based on the evidence of the cases, it is clear that White perpetrators are more likely to be acquitted or receive lenient sentence, as seen in the Kennedy case and St. John’s case, and minority perpetrators will receive more criticism and face harsher sentences, as seen by the Big Dan’s case and Central Park Jogger case. The hysteria against ethnic groups was rampant in the cases involving minority perpetrators, and the exiguous attention when minority victims are involved shows that White patriarchal media seeks to either blame minorities, or hide the fact that White against minority crime took place. This supports notion that the press still prefers crimes against White victims while ignoring those against Blacks, and although it focuses …show more content…
The research also showed that naming the victims and smearing their sexual history and behavior in the media is not solely reserved for minority victims, but does happen to White victims as well. This being said though, does not mean that race did not have a factor into the portrayal of the victims. As a matter of fact, hegemonic racism and stereotypes against minorities were seen in all the cases, but the Kennedy case. The Kennedy case did highlight that when White-on-White sexual assault happens race does not seem to exist, but when minority-on-minority rape or minority-on-White sexual occurs race is conspicuous and vilified, as seen in the Central Park Jogger and Big Dan’s cases. However, when White-on-minority sexual assault happens race is obvious but is purposefully ignored, as seen in the St. John’s case. Together race and gender play a major factor in how the media present each of the victims, and proves that the experiences of sexual assault victims are dictated by the composition of the two. The media has the power to heighten awareness and dissipate myths about rape and racial stereotypes and influence how we perceive and treat others, and yet it does not because of