...Racial Disparity in Sentencing Racial disparity in sentencing in the criminal justice system is a problematic issue. Individuals often believe that racial disparity in sentencing does not exist; however, substantial proof in the criminal justice system proves otherwise. According to statistics of Marc Mauer, “unprecedented rise in the populations of prisons over the past three decades is a six fold increase, resulting in the incarceration of nearly two million Americans.” The breakdown of statistics is as follows: “One in every eight African-American male groups between 25-34 year old is a result of incarceration and 32% of African-American males born to society can expect to spend a term in a federal or state prison if the current racial disparity continues” (Mauer, 2004, p. 79). Four reasons of Racial Disparity The four reasons for the flourishing continuance of racial disparity in the criminal justice sentencing process are ineffective assistance of procedural bars, and council, jury selection and venue, prosecutorial discretion, and juror racism (Tabak, 1999, p. 6). Research documenting states like New York and California prosecutions have board spectrums concerning discretion seeking capital punishment; however, these four reasons apply to cases, which capital punishment is sought. “Capital punishment can be sought for intentional murders which individual may commit during the course of a felony and the intent to commit murder can be formed instantaneously before the...
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...Justice, CJA/423 Torria Richardson 5-30-11 Cultural Diversity in Criminal Justice Society has shown racial diversity among communities. Racial disparity can be found in the criminal justice system. A system designed to be fair and equal to individuals is not existent. Racial diversity can be found at the time of arrest to the time of sentencing. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the diversity in sentencing. Case studies will be discussed throughout this paper. Leaders of criminal justice are not exempt of racial diversity. Racial diversity has changed over the years, but racial diversity remains strong in sentencing minorities. Diversity is not biased of offenses. Racial diversity can be seen in the smallest of charges, such as a traffic stop to the most serious sentence of the death penalty. Most of the sentences are because profiling an individual of minority. African Americans are likely to be the targeted racial group. Hispanic individuals are likely to be another racial group profiled for harsher sentencing. Racial disparity in the criminal justice system should always be considered a violation of ideas of the forefather’s of this nation as equal treatment under the laws of the United States Constitution. Many reasons for racial disparity can be identified in the sentencing process. The sentencing process is a difficult process, and adding racial bias may create a simpler way for criminal justice leaders to sentence an offender or make the sentence more...
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...Racial Disparities in America’s Judicial System The mandatory imprisonment policies written for the judicial system are creating disparity of minority inmate population primarily due to non-violent drug crimes and the unjust mandatory minimum sentencing laws. America’s prisons are the most populated in the world, and they are disproportionately populated by minorities due to the set of mandatory imprisonment policies set in place. Over the past five decades, the disparity between races has widened dramatically according to the National Center on Institutions. In the 1950’s, blacks and Hispanics were the minorities in the prison system, whereas today whites are. Is this due to poverty? I’m sure poverty plays a big role in most cases. Robert Woodson Jr., president of the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise said the reason young men engage in criminal activity is not just for money, it is to make a name for themselves, to have some expression of worth, even if the expression is self-destructive. Crack cocaine hit the streets in the early 1980’s, infesting the lower income areas. It’s a cheap drug compared to cocaine and easier to come by than some of the higher priced drugs. Is this considered racial disparity? The Sentencing Project in 2007 states that two-thirds of the regular crack users are white and Latino, 82 percent of defendants sentenced in federal court for crack offences are African-American. Criminologist William Chambliss suggest that blacks are more...
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...Rebekah Nhim Dr. Rodriguez CHLS 350 Latinos in Sentencing Decisions and Strategies to Reduce Sentencing Rates Throughout the United States, there has been Racial Disparity that has led Latinos to be marginalized. Racial Disparity mainly exists in the criminal justice system and results from “differential treatment by the criminal justice system of similarly situated people based on race.” Many Latinos has experienced Racial Disparity in the criminal justice system when it comes to sentencing and incarceration. So the question asked is, how has Racial Disparity in sentencing decisions affect Latinos differently than those of other racial groups and what strategies can be used to reduce sentencing rates? If Latinos are continuously being viewed...
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...is a significant difference between discrimination and disparity, yet they are similar because they both focus on the sentencing of the individual for a crime in court or an arrest and will assist in making a decision on the assumption or determination of guilt. Discrimination can branch out into many different areas and can be a means to an end, which is not the same that can be said for disparity. Disparity Disparity is the lack of similarity between two or more people, which is often construed as discrimination. In criminal justice, the crucial distinction is between legal and extralegal factors. Legal factors include the seriousness of the offense, aggravating or mitigating circumstances, or an offender’s prior criminal record. An example of this is a court deciding on the amount of time an individual will have to serve based on them breaking a law by murder, burglary, rape, etc. Extralegal factors include race, ethnicity, gender, social class, and lifestyle. These are not legitimate reasons for a court decision to be based on. A judge should not decide sentencing based on their nationality, the community from which they reside, or the appearance of the individual when they show up for their hearing. This type of disparity is often viewed as discrimination and can be used to have cases overturned if proven someone was judged based on any of these factors. It has been noted that possible contributors to disparities in the justice system are the nature of offenses, differential...
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...Racial Disparities In Corrections Sherkira Lowery Eastern Michigan University Abstract Racial disparities in corrections measured by the black to white per capita incarceration rates vary from state to state, This paper will analyze the current trends and the impact incarceration has on communities of color and how criminal justice policy and practice plays a role in this. According to the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, out of a total population of 1,976,019 incarcerated in adult facilities, 1,239,946 or 63 percent are black or Latino, though these two groups constitute only 25 percent of the national population. Some of the greatest racial disparities in rates of incarceration happen in states in which minorities are massed in urban areas, which tend to have both higher rates of crime and greater law enforcement activity. This paper will also discuss how these incarcerations affect the offenders, public safety, criminal policies and procedures. Racial Disparities in Corrections There are many factors regarding the disproportional rates of incarceration in communities of color. Data generated by the U.S. Department of Justice predicts that if current trends continue, one out of every three black males born today will go to prison in his lifetime, as well as one of every six Latino males. The rates of incarceration for women overall are lower than for men, but similar racial/ethnic disparities...
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...no hiding the fact that both disparity and discrimination are alive and well in the criminal justice field. When reading the words disparity and discrimination, at first glance one might think of them being the same. When we take a closer look at the two the definitions when it pertains to the criminal justice system, they become quite different. It is an important task to identify the two definitions in the criminal justice system, and have an open mind to the cause of disparity rather than to assume discrimination. The first thing we must do is define both disparity and discrimination. Disparity is defined as lack of similarity or equality toward a group of people. For example if someone was to make the statement, a prison population that holds 100 inmates, out of those 100 inmates 75% of them where black inmates. One would quickly come to the conclusion that the justice system in this area is creating disparity of treatment towards the black population. But in actuality this is not the case. The area that the population was pulled from was an area that was predominantly black. This example would be the case of disparity not discrimination. Disparity is not necessarily a choice; it’s what is in the focus area. One area in south may be harsher on burglaries and more lenient on drug related crimes. But on the surface in that area, more black people may be committing more drug related crimes. So it would appear that the courts are sentencing more time toward black people...
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...The concept of disparity and discrimination has been an issue weighing on the criminal justice community for some time now. To many people, it is unclear as to whether or not they are the same thing and if not what the differences are. It is a pretty confusing concept, but with clear explanation it is easily understood. At some time or other disparity may be the result of discrimination within the justice system in some situations. Disparity refers to the inequality in all aspects within the criminal justice system, for certain groups of individuals it consists of arrest to sentencing; this will nearly, always refer to ethnic and racial disparity. Racial disparity is present within the criminal justice system as the proportion of an ethnic,...
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...different ethnic background are sentenced, and what the consequences may entitle based on individuals of alternate ethnical upbringing. African Americans make up 13% of the general U.S. population, yet make up 40% of all incarcerated men. While whites make up 67% of U.S. population, yet they also only make up 40% of incarcerated men. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world compared to other nations ("Sentencing Project," 2013). There is clearly an abundance of African American men incarcerated in the justice system as compared to men of other ethnicity (Hartney & Vuong, 2009). “If current trends continue, one in every three African American males born today can expect to go to prison in his lifetime…….,compared to one in every seventeen white males” ("Sentencing Project," 2013, p. 1) . As stated by Kirby, males of African American descent continue to be arrested, sentenced, and imprisoned at higher rates when compared to males of white descent (2012). These statistics bring to the table the continued issue involving racial disparities in the United States Justice System. A system that people of today’s society trust to abide by the laws and regulations set forth for racial equality. Statistics show that arrest...
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...RUNNING HEADER: American Prisons 1 The American Prisons and Judicial Systems Megan Pierce English Composition 122 Professor Angela Temple September 23, 2013 American Prisons 2 There’s no question about the about the racial disparity in America’s prison system. More than 60 percent of people in prison are now racial and ethnic minorities. For black males in their thirties, one in every ten is in prison or jail on any given day. These trends have been intensified by the disproportionate impact of the “war on drugs,” in which two thirds of all persons in prison for drug offenses are people of color. Guerin, P., Harrison, (2011) Washington, D.C: Bureau of Justice statistics. American prisons have a disparity of minority inmate population. Is this trend due to a higher rate of minority crimes, or the manner in which the judicial system operates? Some people have negative views about the people in the inner cities where disproportionate numbers of impoverished and African Americans live. Robert Right, an evolutionary psychologist believed the high rate of young African American men in prison is due to their adaptation to poverty. Conservatives think poverty is due to African American sub culture that is pathologic. Harvard professor James Wilson claimed, “The reason why it is called an underclass is that its members have a bad character: they mug, do drugs, and desert children.” (Miller,1996). There is a recurring idea that the inner...
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...The 1970s saw an increased popularity in cocaine use. Although President Nixon declared a “War on Drugs” in 1972, overall American sentiment toward cocaine in the 1970s was rather indifferent. A 1977 Newsweek article reflected this feeling: “taken in moderation, cocaine probably causes no significant mental or physical damage and a number of researchers have concluded that it can be safer than liquor and cigarettes when used discriminately.” Many viewed the drug as the “marijuana of the 1970s” and relatively few felt that cocaine posed any real threat. Cocaine, an extremely expensive drug at the time, was often associated with ambitious young businessmen and glamorous celebrities, which helped to fuel its popularity, as well as propagate the notion that cocaine was a harmless and enjoyable drug. Freebase cocaine, the purified form of powder cocaine, was also used throughout the 1970s, although it enjoyed much less popularity. As with powder cocaine, the users of freebase tended to be rich, middle class and white. Freebase was produced by “cooking” powder cocaine in a number of steps, one of which included ether, a highly combustible liquid. The resulting process was extremely pure, but never became particularly widespread due to the tricky process to make it and the danger of fire and explosion. The simplicity of making crack was a major factor that led to crystallized cocaine becoming more widespread in the 1980s. Powder cocaine use declined in popularity in the middle...
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...on in this paper will be racial disparity in sentencing. This paper will also focus on some of the reasons why racial disparity exists within sentencing. One of the research methods used in this paper will be case studies. In society today there are a diversity of citizens, of offenders, and leaders within in the court system. However, race still plays a big role in the Criminal Justice system especially during the sentencing portion. Although racial dynamics may have changed over time, race still exerts an undeniable presence in sentencing process. This ranges from disparate traffic stops due to racial profiling to imposition of the death penalty based on the race of victim and/or offender. (The Sentencing Project, 2005). Here in the United States, African Americans criminals are over represented compared to their number in the general population. According to (Calderon, 2006) “the idea of a racially discriminatory process violates the ideals of equal treatment under law as well as under the constitution that these laws were based on.” Racial discrimination within sentencing is often a complex process, along with other factors, as well as producing racially discriminatory outcomes in certain situations. Racial discrimination has been a big part of this country for a very long time and just because things have started to change it does not mean people’s perception have changed. However, people who are in a position to hand out a sentencing may still believe this way, even...
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...In the United States, sentencing varies from place to place and jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Each state has established their own set guidelines and even those can be different from the Federal sentencing guidelines. Sentencing Guidelines are rules that a judge is supposed to follow to determine sentences for individuals and organizations convicted of felonies and serious misdemeanors. These Guidelines do not apply to less serious misdemeanor crimes. The United States Sentencing Commission was created by the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 and created these guidelines. In the beginning they were mandatory and very strict. People kept calling for longer, harsher sentences (Marvell 1995 p. 696). Congress enacted the Sentence Reform Act to satisfy...
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...An In-Depth Examination of Racial Disparity from Arrest to Incarceration ENG 122 English Composition II Prof. Ashton Schwarz September 13, 2014 An In-Depth Examination of Racial Disparity from Arrest to Incarceration The disparate number of minorities in prison populations is a concern for many who believe this disproportion is due to a systematic bias in the judicial system. While many factors may contribute to this overwhelming discrepancy, I contend that the disparate number of minority populations in prison is an accurate portrayal of how crime is committed in the United States. In order to understand the cause of this disparity, I will delve into the arrest rates and sentencing statistics that attempt to show why minorities are incarcerated at a higher rate, and why they're incarcerated for longer periods of time, than their white counterpart. These two focal points, arrest rates and sentencing statistics, I believe, are the best for gathering data, considering it is where the justice system both begins and ends. Though many may think that there is a racial bias concerning the disparate number of minorities in prison working against minorities, an article entitled, “Are Blacks and Hispanics Disproportionately Incarcerated Relative to Their Arrests?” provides impressive data to oppose this claim. This article boasts being one of the first studies to include the Hispanic ethnicity in their data, which other studies omitted from, or never incorporated into, their...
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...criminal justice is said to exist when a part of ethnic or racial group within the control system is greater than the proportion of such groups in the general population. Unlawful racial disparity results from dissimilar handling of similar people by virtue of race. This may be attributed to overt trial basis or effect of factors that are indirectly linked to race. In some instances discrimination results from un-guarded, individual or institutional level decisions that are made based on race (Lynch2008). Context of the Problem According to statistics, the population of United States is made up of 13% Black population. Despite this as of 2009 blacks made up 28.3 percent of all those sentenced to life imprisonment 56.4 percent of whom were serving life without parole. Despite similar rates of drug use, Blacks are incarcerated on drug charges at a rate ten times greater than whites. Only 12% of people who use the drug are blacks, but Blacks constitute 38 % of those arrested for drug crimes and 59 % of those in state prison for drug crimes. Although both consume equivalent proportions of marijuana, Blacks are 3.73 times more likely to be arrested for being in possession of marijuana. In some counties, Blacks are 10, 15, even 30 times more likely to be arrested (Stuntz, 2011). Sentencing imposed on black males in the federal system is nearly 20% more than that imposed on their white counterparts for the same manner of crimes. Black and Latino lawbreakers, who are...
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