Race In Criminal Justice
Citizens Of Minority Races Have Continuously Expressed Concerns About Racial Disparity In Justice Administration And Minority-Policing. These Sincere Concerns Are Highlighted In Various Scholarly Researches And The Government Authorities And Reformers Are Cognizant Of The Issues. This Paper Highlights The Following Three Issues And Tries To Offer Solutions To The Problems: 1. Why And How Policing-Minority Is Strained And How The Problem Can Be Resolved. 2. The Causes And Consequences Of Derogation By Prosecutors And How It Compromises Racial Justice. 3. The Potential Discrimination In Juvenile Legal Systems And How Informal Discretion Practiced Negatively Impacts The Youth.
Introduction (Question One)
There Is Skewed Minority Group Treatment That Has Pervaded All Stages Of Criminal Justice. Minority Policing Is Still Evidently Strained As Shown By Present-Day Discriminatory Acts Against Racial Minorities. Street Sweeps, Frisks, Racial Based Profiling And Arrests Are Some Of The Police Operations That Are Normally Targeted At Low-Income Earning Communities Of Color. Minority Groups Report More Abuse By Police And Inattention To Crimes In Their Residential Areas Compared To Majority Groups. As An Example; Reports By Human Rights Groups Indicate Drug Use Consistency Across All Racial Groups In America. However, The Rate Of Admissions To State Prisons Related To Drug Abuse Show Great Disparity In Terms Of Arrests And Admission. This Is Shown By A Thirteen Times Greater Magnitude In Number Of Blacks Admitted Relative To Whites (“Human Rights Watch”, 2000). Similarly, Transport Entry Points Record Unusual, Extreme Searches Related To Traveling Minority Groups, Especially; Those Of Arabic Origin. Latinos And Blacks Tend To Victimized Unfairly By Police And The Whole Justice System Due To Its Failure To Re-Dress Inequities That Permeate The System.
Areas Of Strained Minority Policing And The Causative Reasons
This Strained Kind Of Minority Policing Is More Common In The Fight Against Drugs And Terrorism. The Reason Why This Kind Of Skewed Phenomena Is Related To These Areas Of Concern Is A Matter Historical Happenings And Stereotyping. In The Past Activities Related To Drug Abuse And Terrorism Have Been Commonly Identified With Certain Minority Groups. This In Turn, Has Led To The Prejudice Of Police Officers Against Such Groups Even Though The Trends Have Shown Inconsistency With This Prejudice. Other Determining Factors Include The Social Psychological Dynamics That Determine Relations And How People Perceive Each Other (Malcolm & Brad, 2009).
Possible Solutions To Problems Of Minority Policing
Eventually, The Biggest Question That Remains To Be Answered Is Whether Meaningful Change Can Occur By Means Of Reforms In The Involved Departments. Organizational Reforms Have Been Often Touted By Many As A Means Of Rectifying The Situation (For Example, Fyfe And Skolnick, 1993). This Could Be A Good Starting Point Because If The Police Reform And Change Their Attitude; The People Too Might Change Their Attitude. This Is Because Often, People Act In A Reactionary Manner In Response To How They Are Treated. Therefore, It Can Be Suggested That A Positive Treatment Will More Often Than Not Get A Positive Response (Malcolm & Brad, 2009). Conclusively, Police Reforms Can Be Effective Because The Informal And Formal Police Organization’s Characteristics Influence The Street Level Character Of The Involved Policemen.
Introduction (Question Two)
Derogation
Prosecutor’s Derogation Involves Taking Away Of The Laws’ Effectiveness By Delivering Closing Arguments That Do Not Effect But Rather Undermine The Substance Of The Law. Derogation Has Been Applied Differently In Cases Involving Different Alternatives In Terms Offender-Victim Racial Affiliation. In A Black Offender-White Victim Cases It Has Served Punitive Prosecutorial Judgments Whereas, Giving Leniency In Sentences Involving White Offender-Black Victim Scenarios.
Causes Of Derogation
One Of The Major Causes Of Derogation Includes Unguided Prosecutorial Discretion And A Bias In Decisions Caused By Acts Of Discretion At Pre-Arrest Through To Conviction. Additionally, The Inability Of Jurors To Understand Comprehensively And Apply Guiding Instructions In Decision-Making Aggravates The Derogatory Acts. This Happens Because The Standard Instructions Of The Jury Are Difficult For Lay People To Understand And Apply. Another Contributing Factor Is The Lack Of Clear-Cut, Defined Guidelines For Decision-Making (Brown, Russell & Milovanovic, 2001). At Times Derogation Acts Happen Based On Prejudice And Pure Stereotyping. This Is Made Possible By The Fact That There Is A Lot Of Room Provided For Prosecutors To Exercise Their Discretion.
Consequences Of Racial Derogation
Racial Derogation Causes Further Disparity In Sentencing Of Offenders By Prosecutors Depending On Their Racial Affiliation. The Racial Derogation Results In Unfair Sentencing Of Victims Which Are Not Crime Based But Rather Racial Based (Malcolm & Brad, 2009).As A Result, Racial Derogation Undermines And Beats The Reason Of Justice Service. In Turn, Favored Parties Might Be Encouraged To Engage More In Crime And This Creates Some Sense Of Impunity.
Introduction (Question Three)
There Is Greater Potential For Racial Discrimination In The Juvenile System Because The Youth Often Tend To Exemplify Their Parents’ Stereotypes. Additionally, They Are Subjects To The Biased Stereotypical Decisions- That Endow The Parents With The Right To Decline Plea Bargains In Certain Jurisdictions. The Minors Are Known To Express And Mirror The Image Of Their Parental Backgrounds And, Therefore, Many Adults Tend To View The Youth Through The Mirror Image Of Their Parents. This Is Because Of The Idea That They Are Not Yet Able To Express Their Free Will And Exude Much Of Their Parents’ Being. As A Result, This Creates Room For Racial Discrimination Within The Handling Of Juvenile Justice.
Exercise Of Informal Discretion To The Detriment Of The Youth
When Policemen Lay Charges On Youths They Publicly Have To Declare The Problems That Are Official And Those That Can Be Absorbed Into Community. Thus In Discretion They Choose The Kind Of Laws That Will Be Applicable To The Situation And Those That Cannot Be Applicable (Brown, Russell & Milovanovic, 2001). There Is Also Further Discretion On The Evidence Presented To Determine Whether It Can Be Used In The Context Of The Case Without Introducing Bias In The Judicial System. Many Cases Involve An Officer’s Decision Of Whether To Use The Criminal Law To Handle The Problem Or Not. In Many Cases This Discretion Process Is Informally Done And Results In Evidence Nullification That Results In The Minors Getting Stiffer Penalties Than They Should Have Gotten.
References
Brown, K, R, Russell, K, K. And Milovanovic, D. (2001). Petit Apartheid In The U.S Justice System. Durham, CA: Carolina Academic Press.
Delone, M, Spohn, C. And Walker, S. (2004). The Color Of Justice: Race, Ethnicity, And Crime In America. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Thomson Learning Publishers.
“Human Rights Watch Report”. (2000). Punishment And Prejudice: Racial Disparity In The Criminal Justice System, Volume 12, Number 2 (G).
Malcolm, H And Brad, S. (2009). Police-Minority Relations: Prospects Of Improvement Through Organizational Change. Accessed On 1st May 2010 At Http://Www.Allacademic.Com
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