Incarceration Of Black People Essay

The article I chose was a very unique one about the criminal justice system and how they treat people of color. Over the years black and Hispanic people have been harassed, beaten, caged, and killed by so many police officers you lose count. It talks about how statistically black people and white people use and sell around the same number of drugs, but black people will be 2.5 and 5.5 times more likely to be arrested. We only make up 13% of the population so how just is the justice system? Mass incarceration is one of the few things opposing black people besides the unjust murders done by police. In 2012 police officers, other power appointed officials, and self-appointed citizens killed at the very least 313 African Americans. Which means in that year a black person was killed every 28 hours, and the number could be much higher based on recent studies. Is the criminal justice system really on our sides? Every other week you hear about a police shooting a black person in their car in front of their kids following instructions and are still slaughtered like animals. Highlighted in this article it shows the different oppressions that face black people in a day to day bases. Letter: Article: Black Man is Killed in the U.S. Every 28 Hours By: …show more content…
In my criminal justice class, we always discuss how the black people make up almost half the prison population but only make up 13% of the nation’s population. Black people are targeted as threats to the police officers therefore wrongly killed and arrested more than whites. The system is set in place to keep everyone safe but African Americans are looked at as statistics instead of people. We have to improve the criminal justice system and make it equally just to every race, ethnicity, and culture. I believe in order to have a better criminal justice system the people must set rules and proper punishment must be given to officers that think they are above the