The Role Of Media In The Criminal Justice System

The Largest Crime in the criminal justice system is that it is a race based institution where African-Americans are directly targeted and punished in a much more aggressive way. The Bureau of Justice Statistics state that in the United States an estimated 558,700 African American adults were incarcerated under state and federal jurisdiction. African American males had an imprisonment rate of 3,059 per 100,000 while white males had a rate of 456 per 100,000. There are facts to counterbalance these statements, such being the Differences in conviction and sentencing by race are due to differences in the gravity of the criminal offenses, prior records or other legal variables. A 1994 Justice Department survey of felony cases in some of the country’s largest urban areas found lower felony prosecution rates for blacks than whites and that blacks were less likely to be found guilty at trial. The idea that the criminal justice system is racist is subjective because some think it is and some think it isn’t.
The media plays a role in how we see our criminal justice system. Media defines the typical criminal as African American. A new study by Color of Change found that, while 51% of the people arrested for violent crime in New York City are black, 75% of the news reports about such arrests highlighted black alleged perpetrators. Lisa Wade, a …show more content…
9, 2014, by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, in Ferguson, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis. The shooting prompted protests that roiled the area for weeks. On Nov. 24, the St. Louis County prosecutor announced that a grand jury decided not to indict Mr. Wilson. The announcement set off another wave of protests. In March, the Justice Department called on Ferguson to overhaul its criminal justice system, declaring that the city had engaged in constitutional violations. This particular event portrays injustice and an image of racism through white cop, black