...The social problem of economic, class and racial inequality has been a great issue of concern for many in the United States because inequality goes against America’s cores values of upward mobility economic wise and in social class (Korgan, 2012). These social problems of inequality have been linked to disparities in quality of life and psychological and social well-being. The problem of social inequality has been found to be linked with other social problems such as crime and victimization. The problem of social inequality can even be seen in the criminal justice system in how it treats people of various races, ethnic groups and socioeconomic classes who are processed through the system (Wheelock, 2006). In essence, there exists a disparity amongst race, ethnicity, socioeconomic class in criminal victimization and how people are processed through the criminal justice system that exacerbates the social problem of inequality in numerous social institutions and complicates many individual’s efforts to escape from poverty and achieve upward mobility (Wheelock, 2006). The disparity in criminal punishment is due to various factors such as laws that were implemented to reduce crime, race, and low economic status (Wheelock, 2006). The factors that have a tremendous impact on victimization are demography and socioeconomic status (Raphael, 2006). While violent crimes are not exclusive to poor metropolitan areas, consistent patterns have been observed which reveal lower rates of crime...
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...A Look at Racial Disparity in the United States Prison System Micah O’Daniel Institutional Corrections 2/22/11 Racial inequality in the American criminal justice system has a strong effect of many realms of society such as the family life, and employment. Education and race seem to be the most decisive factors when deciding who goes to jail and what age cohort has the greatest percentage chance of incarceration. Going to prison no longer affects just the individual who committed the crime. Instead, the family and community left behind gain a new burden by one individual's actions. The United States still has a large disparity between Whites and Blacks and now a growing Hispanic population. This racial disparity in the educational system, job sector, and neighborhoods have all contributed to the booming prison population in the latter part of the 20th century which has only continued to widen in the 21st century. At the end of 2006, the Bureau of Justice released data that stated that there were 3,042 black male prisoners per 100,000 black males in the United States, compared to 1,261 Hispanic male prisoners per 100,000 Hispanic males, and 487 white male prisoners per 100,000 white males (USDOJ, 2008). The likelihood of black males going to prison in their lifetime is 16% compared to 2% of white males and 9% of Hispanic males (USDOJ, 2008). Other social factors can be linked to the racial inequality in the criminal justice system such as socioeconomic status, the environment...
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...Introduction The United States of America’s national anthem the “Star Spangled Banner” and the “Pledge of Allegiance” state that the United States is “land of the free” with “liberty and justice for all.” Yet, the United States houses 25 percent of the world’s inmates even though it only houses five percent of the world’s population (Martensen, 2012). Additionally the fundamental concept of the United States Criminal Justice System is that an individual is “innocent” until proven guilty. This makes one question whether, people in the United States are really held to this standard, or are certain people more prone to crime in the land of opportunity and freedom? Our society is built around the societal norms of the dominant white group and racial and ethnic inequalities are intertwined in every aspect of our society causing minority groups to struggle against a society built around white privilege. Prevalence Minorities in comparison to their population in the United States are incriminated at a higher rate than Whites. Spohn (2000) stated that “a majority of the studies reviewed…found that African Americans and Hispanics were more likely than Whites to be sentenced to prison, even after taking crime seriousness and prior criminal records into account” (as cited in Hartney & Vuong, 2009, p.10). In 2010, racially the United States population identified as being comprised of 196.8 million Whites who identified as White alone (69.1%), 38.9 million Blacks or African Americans...
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...Addressing Hidden Discrimination in Public Policies. Racial inequalities from the past continue to live on in several public policies today, often concealing hidden agendas that maintain segregation and economic inequality, especially against African Americans. Kevin Kruse’s “Traffic” and Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” offer important perspectives on how. Historically, seemingly beneficial laws have excluded African Americans, and increased segregation and economic disparity. Kruse reveals how creating the US interstate highway system, to expand economic growth, disrupted black communities and restricted their access to better jobs, healthcare, and education. Furthermore, Alexander’s...
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...benefits only to some and used as weapon of oppression to others. One of the reasons for this is because laws are created mostly by the privileged people or the elected officials who in some ways are puppets of the wealthy and privileged people. The minority and poor people are always victimized because the laws are created by the wealthy and privileged. Most of the third world countries suffer from this dysfunctional system of inequality and oppression. But it is surprising and irony that country like United States, which is considered to be land of freedom and equality and the country built by the oppressed people who migrated here to escape the oppression, have used law as mean of oppression. In the civilized society, the oppression cannot be enforced directly like they used to in the past. Therefore, they often use technique of criminalizing the whole population based on the act of few. The United State Drug War is example of the authority using law to control the black population. In “Drug Policy as Social Control” Noam Chomsky writes “The so-called drug was started in the 1980s and it was aimed directly at the black population. None...
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...factors or variables are associated with who gets involved in crime, why, and what happens to them in the criminal justice system? Also look into how many judges, lawyers, and lawmakers are White compared with those who are African American. What does this tell us about structured inequality? Topic Proposal I chose this topic because this because this is the normal scenario in my hometown that is has a similar meaning to my city. During the years I grew up here in Augusta, GA. I felt that African American men have a huge structure of inequality compared to White or Latino descent. This topic is important to cultural diversity because it talks about African Americans, Latinos, and White. Majority of America has a big diversity of African Americans, Latinos, and Whites that we see and work with every day. Learning about these major cultures makes a big impact of diversity and how to handle and notice different cultures. I want to research this topic to find out why there is so many black men are in jail. What are they in jail for? Why is this is a stereotype. Finding out this particular age group is always in jail more than Latinos and whites. They’re must be some type of inequality involved when I do research to find out what happens to them in the justice system,...
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...in the war on drugs. How has community policing had such a positive affect? First we to ask ourselves how drugs can impact the community and the people who reside in it. The negative effects of drugs are not just to the individual, but to his or her community also. “Although many of these effects cannot be quantified, ONDCP recently reported that in 2002, the economic cost of drug abuse to the United States was $180.9 billion.” (NDIC, 2006) The most common effects of drug abuse include: ill health, sickness and eventually, death. Diseases such as hepatitis and AIDS are spread through drug use such as heroin users. Every year thousands upon thousands of infants are born with impairments and illnesses due to drug abusing mothers. Crime rates go up in neighborhoods infested with drug abusers. “However, this is only a part of the distressing picture of the relationship between narcotic addiction and criminality. For most narcotic addicts, predatory crime (larceny, shoplifting, sneak thievery, burglary, embezzlement, robbery, etc.), is a necessary way of life. “(PLOSCOWE) One important aspect about community policing is its ability to deter the drug trade. Community policing seeks an alternative to arresting individuals with drug charges. The emphasis is placed on the drug user and less on the drug dealer. “The criminal justice approach to regulating drug use in the United States overly burdens the legal and correctional systems, possibly promotes and does not decrease drug-related...
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...presidents who ran their campaigns on combating the War on Drugs; during their time in office they established or enhanced policies and laws that affected the incarceration rates and drug awareness in our country. During the Nixon administration, the Controlled Substance Act was enacted and made effective May 1st, 1971. The Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention also was established in 1971. The Drug Enforcement Administration was created by Nixon in 1973. Since Nixon publicly declared the War on Drugs, stating that drugs were the public's number one enemy, it is clear when his administration’s intent to commit mass incarceration and racial inequality began. During the Nixon Administration, according to the Sentencing...
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...Unfair Incarceration: Minorities’ Plight in the U.S. Judicial System DeVry University Cultural Diversity in the Professions SOCS 350N Spring 2013 Abstract The United States is well known as the Land of Opportunity, but if you’re a minority that opportunity maybe a greater chance of being incarcerated in the state and federal penal systems. Civil rights battles have raged for the greater part of the last century in this country. With milestone victories in the early and mid 1960’s equality under the law seemed to be a foregone conclusion. There are numerous laws, policies and even a Constitutional Amendment that address the matter that race should never be a factor. With this is all in play and in mind, you would think that statistics of the U.S. penal systems racial analysis has to be completed with a huge margin in error because it is not near equality. In a cursory search of this topic one can find a deluge of graphs, tables, and statistical analysis. The one thing you cannot find is a quantitative or qualitative consensus of why this has occurred or why it is still occurring. A preponderance of the evidence is anecdotal and offers suggestions of policies and attitudes that have led to this epidemic in contemporary American society. In this review, an endeavor to gather the gist of the issue and attempt to answer why or how this came about and the numerical extent. Followed by the consequences to the affected groups and the whole of society. Finally...
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...Problems of Drug Trafficking and Immigration in Mexico and United States Immigration and drug trafficking are a menace in the entire world. In dealing with issues concerning immigration and abuse of drugs, it is vital to note that these two phenomena go hand in hand. Drug trafficking refers to a worldwide unlawful trade that involves the crop growing, manufacturing, circulation and selling of substances that have issues with drug prevention regulations. On the other hand, immigration refers to the settling in a foreign nation state permanently. Drug traffickers deal with drugs such as cocaine, heroin, cannabis, and opiates. The illegal immigrants find it hard to survive in a new environment due to financial constraints. Hence, these immigrants engage in illegal activities for example abuse of drugs and substances. Similarly, they engage in entering into other countries illegal that is a crime activity too (Bankston). Due to poverty and poor governance in Mexico, it has led to the rapidly settling of individuals in the United States and Canada. This process of settling is normally illegal since it does not follow the right channels of attaining documents from the required authorities that allow a foreigner to live in their country. The illegal immigration in the Central America to the Northern continent has led to the development of a mechanism known as North American Free Trade Agreement. With it is acronym as NAFTA, enacted in 1994 by United States, Mexico, and Canada. The...
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...not vary significantly, the age of prisoners by race is meaningful. In December 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice statistics for sentenced male prisoners under state and federal jurisdiction totaled 1,537,415. Broken down by race, African American lacks totaled 555,300 prisoners with Whites totaling 465,100 and Hispanics 331,500. As the assignment scenario noted, in 2003 there was disparity between the incarceration rates for males aged 25-29 among races. As of 2011, rates for the same age group do not show as wide of a gap. In 2011, White males ages 25 to 29 comprised 14.4 percent of incarcerated males compared to 16.5 percent African American lacks and 18.8 percent Hispanics. The statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice for 2011 show that, “More than half (52%) of white male prisoners were age 39 or younger, compared to 63% of black and 68% of Hispanic male prisoners.” There remains disparity when age is factored into the incarceration rates with eleven percent more Blacks and sixteen percent more Hispanics incarcerated than Whites for those 39 and younger. In addition, one must consider that African Americans have higher rates of arrest, conviction, and incarceration when they total a minority number in the population. When evaluating these numbers, one must consider the role that structured inequality plays. “The unfortunate reality we must face is that racism manifests itself not only in individual attitudes and stereotypes, but also in the basic structure of...
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...Deviance is shaped by one’s culture and is relative in space and time. When you violate society’s normal set of standards and arouse negative reactions, it is perceived as deviant. Because the perception changes over time, deviant behavior hundreds of years ago is completely different then deviant behavior today. “In the late 1800s, many Americans used cocaine, marijuana, and opium, because they were common components of over-the-counter products for symptoms like depression, insomnia, menstrual cramps, migraines, and toothaches. Coca-Cola originally contained cocaine and, perhaps not surprisingly, became an instant hit when it went on sale in 1894” (Goode, 2008). Today, the use of drugs is deviant and illegal. Deviance is a very subjective field of study and can be considered very controversial. There are nine theoretical perspectives of deviance that is viewed from different historical standpoints. The first is a demonic perspective where the roots are from metaphysical causes. This perspective explains how evil forces influence us toward temptation and possession causing deviant behavior. The classical theory of deviance deals with deviance as a freely calculated choice to increase or decrease pain. Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham were enlightened reformers arguing that social control is based on rational human reasoning. Both views have been seen mostly outdated, being replaced with the concern of the causation of deviance. The third perspective is the pathological...
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...Ohio State University law professor and civil rights activist Michelle Alexander, author of "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness," reports there are more African American men in prison and jail, or on probation and parole, than were slaves before the start of the Civil War. Statistics reported in 2006, by the U.S .Department of Justice, Bureau of Statistics support this claim, which show that Blacks made up 41 percent of the nation’s 2 million prison and jail inmates, while Non-Hispanic whites made up 37 percent and Hispanics made up 19 percent. The disproportionate ratio of blacks to whites who are incarcerated is especially great in Iowa, Vermont, New Jersey, Connecticut, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and South Dakota – greater than 10-to-1 (USJB, 2006). Why this structural inequality towards African Americans is happening, why it matters, and suggestions to rectify this, are issues that are discussed in this paper. Why is this happening? Since 1970, the U.S. has experienced a large and rapid increase in the rate at which people, regardless of race, are housed in federal and state correctional facilities (Snyder, 2011). This rapid growth in the prison population has been attributed in a large part to the rate at which individuals are incarcerated for drug offenses, especially minorities (Snyder, 2011). Between1995 and 2003, the number of people in state and federal prisons incarcerated for drug offenses increased by 21 percent, from 280,182 to 337...
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...In the book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander—a Ohio State University professor, director of Racial Justice Project at ACLU of Northern California, and director of the Civil Rights Clinics at Stanford Law School—was the uncovering research about the system of mass incarceration, which are rules, policies, and laws that helped control the amount of criminals entering and leaving prisons. The author begins with slavery and continues to explain the Jim Crow segregation, which both represent mass incarcerations. Mass incarceration prevents discrimination towards groups of people. For example, the author states, “After the death of slavery, the idea of race lives on.” (26) This specific example...
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...Alexander and Taylor suggested many solutions and methods to solve the problem of Mass Incarceration. These are necessary transformations in the American society and policing system in order to create democracy and freedom in the country. Alexander described how the racial caste system created an overwhelming imprisonment and on the other hand Taylor talked about the modern policing state that also led to mass incarceration. Alexander describes what she thinks is necessary to be challenged in order to solve the problem of mass incarceration. She argues that we need to end the War on Drugs, in order to transform the law enforcement of culture, we need better drug treatment services, because cultural traits are more responsible for racial...
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