Racial Disparities And The Judicial System Essay - 1607 Words

Brianna Allen Professor Frazier English 101 2 October 2016 Racial Disparities in the Judicial System You are driving down the highway, obeying the traffic laws. You look in the rear view mirror and you see flashing lights, cop lights, and a siren. You pull over and you are not too sure why. What is clear from research is that race is a consistent predictor of attitude toward the police. A study in Cincinnati found that black drivers had longer stops and higher search rates than white drivers. (www.nij.gov)There are 2.2 million people behind bars in the nation’s prisons and jails today. This is a 500% increase in the last 40 years, prisons are becoming overcrowded and it is only getting worse. Today, people of color make up 37% of the U.S population but make up 67% of the prison population. African American men are six times more likely to be incarcerated and hispanic males are more than twice as likely to be incarcerated than white males. Even white males commit the same crimes, and they still do not get the same amount of time as blacks and hispanics do. This raises questio ns, is our justice system fair? Is the criminal justice system operated to target people of color? The risk that African Americans are unfairly targeted should be a special concern for the U.S supreme court which it seems to not be. The color of someone s skin should not be taken into consideration in the justice system, it is unfair to the person being charged, it is unjustifiable and it isShow MoreRelatedInfluential Factors on a Juveniles Life1510 Words   |  6 PagesAmerican criminal justice system begins at the very first stage of the procedure, the investigation by the law enforcement officer. Law enforcement disproportionately target minorities over whites, as criminal suspects. 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