Racial inequality in the American criminal justice system

Race Inequalities in the Criminal Justice System is a topic that has become increasingly more relative with the rising penal population in the United States. 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. Race inequalities in the criminal justice system have many societal effects that include economics, family life, and employment. Going to prison no longer effects just the individual who committed the crime but 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.

Race Inequality in Prison (Data)

At the end of 2006 the Bureau of Justice released a group of 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. [United States. Dept. of Justice. 2008. Bureau of Justice Statistics: Prison Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Justice.] These statistics have proven that despite the fact that across racial lines there is no difference between which race commits more crime than the other, blacks go to prison a lot more than whites or Hispanics. The reason these statistics are damaging to society is the fact that most prisoners are under the age of 35. This takes a substantial amount of people out of the workforce and puts them behind bars leaving society to try and fill the void in the workforce.

Likelihood of Going to Prison

The likelihood of black males going to prison in their lifetime is 16% compared to 2% of white males and 9% of Hispanic males. [http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/llgsfp.htm] If there is no substantial gap in the likelihood of committing a crime between races then this evidence proves beyond a reasonable doubt that there is racial inequality in the criminal justice system. Other social factors can be linked to the racial inequality in the criminal justice system such as Socioeconomic status, the environment you grew up in, and the highest educational level a person achieves. With that said, what race a person is born into determines what level of inequality a person will experience. In a sociological experiment conducted by Steven Raphael, a black male with no criminal record applying for a certain job had a 14% chance of getting a callback for an interview while a white male applying for the same job had a 34% chance of getting a callback for an interview. If both the black male and white male had criminal records the callback percentage was 5% and 17% respectively.ref num|reference2|2 This obvious job discrimination shows that there are significant negative effects on blacks even after their prison sentence has been served. With less opportunity than whites to enter back into the workforce after incarceration, blacks end up having a higher rate of return to prison.

Racial Inequality in Death Penalty

There is also a large disparity between races when it comes to sentencing convicts to Death Row. Looking just at the federal death penalty data released by the Department of Justice between 1995-2000, 682 defendants were charged with death-eligible crimes. [Coker, Donna. 2003. “Foreword: Addressing the Real World of Racial Injustice in the Criminal Justice System.” Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology 93: 827-879.] Out of those 682 defendants, the defendant was black 48% of the cases, Hispanic in 29% of the cases, and white in only 20% of the cases.ref num|reference3|3 It would be simple to say that blacks commit more heinous crimes that lead to death sentences but in reality there is not a significant difference between races when it comes to crimes that are eligible for the death penalty. This data leads to a dangerous stereotype that surrounds the black community when it comes to criminal behavior. It seems as if this stereotype has leaked into the judicial system which is unfair and damaging to a system that was setup to be unbiased and fair.

Contributing Factors to the Rise in the Penal Population

The United States features a prison population that is more than quadruple the highest prison population in Western Europe. [Pettit, Becky, Bruce Western. 2004. “Mass Imprisonment and the Life Course: Race and Class Inequality in U.S. Incarceration.” American Sociological Review 69: 151 169.] In the 1980's U.S. legislation issued a number of new drug laws with stiffer penalties that ranged from drug possession to drug trafficking. Many of those charged with drug crimes saw longer prison sentences and less judicial leniency when facing trial. The War on Drugs has furthered the boom in prison population even though violent crime has continued to steadily decrease. A lot of urban areas in the U.S. have a majority black population. With crime tendencies high in these areas, drugs are also prevalent. This means that a greater percentage of those in prison are going to be black because law enforcement is already concentrated in the areas with high violent crime and drug crime. With this new drug legislation, the U.S. government has increased the use of incarceration for social control which has resulted in "sharper disproportionate effects on African Americans." [Bobo, Lawrence D., Victor Thompson. 2006. “Unfair By Design: The War on Drugs Race, and the Legitimacy of the Criminal Justice System.” Social Research 73: 445-472.] In politics, blacks are still in the minority when it comes to winning legislative seats in the state and federal government. Because of this, legislation is being formed and issued through the eyes of the white majority in congress which has led to the continued burden in black communities across the United States.

Factors Contributing to People Going To Prison

Blacks have a higher chance of going to prison especially if they dropout of high school. The importance of getting a high school education is the difference between going to prison and functioning as a good citizen in society. If a Black male drops out of high school they have a 32.4% chance of going to prison while their White and Hispanic counterparts have a 6.7% and 6% chance respectively.ref num|reference4|4 Bruce Western and Becky Pettit use the example of the age cohort that grew up during the Great Depression. These men had to learn to value economic security because of the mass unemployment during the 1930’s. They delayed marriage and fatherhood in order to establish themselves with economic security to provide for their families and became the “Greatest Generation” in America. ref num|reference4|4 In the latter part of the 20th century the age cohorts born in this time period never experienced a major event in their lives like the Great Depression and therefore underestimated their roles in society which has led to less educated individuals especially among minorities. Less education in urban areas tend to lead to negative influences on children growing up in this situation. Children who have a parent in prison are easily influenced by older children in their neighborhoods. They are then exposed to the life of drugs and violent crime that can lead them to join gangs and follow the same path as those adults in their neighborhood who are incarcerated.

Effects on Families and Neighborhoods

With violent crime on the rise in the late 20th century coupled with the war on drugs violations, penal population growth sent shockwaves through the most fragile families and neighborhoods that were least equipped to deal with the problem.ref num|reference4|4 Since the majority of people in the prison population are minorities and lower class individuals, the people they leave behind have to deal with extraordinary circumstances. This burden has left families broken and children are the victims of single-parent homes which increases the percentage of these children going to jail earlier than most. With the majority of the prison population being men, "women are left in free society to raise families and contend with ex-prisoners returning home after release."ref num|reference4|4 Children raised in single-parent homes are less supervised which leads to less emphasis on education and self-determination. The result of this situation is that society is damaged and has to take on the financial burden of children growing up in crime ridden neighborhoods and going to prison. When a family member is arrested, the family loses not only that person's income, but also acquire additional expenses involved in keeping contact with the incarcerated family member.ref num|reference3|3 Mothers then have to leave the home and children behind to take on more jobs in order to provide the basic needs for the family. As a result, the children are left behind to fend for themselves and get involved with the wrong people who will guide them down the path that their incarcerated family member went down.

References