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Racial Profiling In Criminal Justice

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EXAM ONE When Guenther describes the Criminal Justice System, he labels it something that is unequal, and does not show the fairness it is supposed to promise. One of the first aspects to look at is the perceptions and stereotypes that society has about the current offender. Many times, social media is the reason people have skewed perceptions on who is likely to be an offender and who is not. Media’s influence on crime can change what the reality of a criminal looks like to those who are believing everything media says or shows. One example of society being influenced by media is a racial hoax. Furthermore, this is “when someone fabricates a crime and blames it on another person because of his race OR when an actual crime has been committed and the perpetrator falsely blames someone because of his race” (Russell-Brown, K. 1998). Not only does this make it …show more content…
When police see the new figures being put out about how one race has a higher percentage of committing certain crimes than others, it can lead to racial profiling. As the book states, this is “the use of race as an indicator in a profile of criminal suspects…” (Walker et al. 156). Even though racial profiling is illegal today, it is still apparent. When people fit a certain stereotype, or fall into a labelled group, they have that higher change of being pulled over, or stopped when in public for the possibility of committing a crime. This relates back the Guenther’s description of the system being unfair, harsh, and biased because people are being picked out of the crowd because of the way they look. They are not equally evaluated for the possibility of committing a crime compared to other groups, and can receive harsh punishments that do not fit the crime committed. These groups and stereotypes are just a few of the ways people are unequally

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