Preview

Racial Divide In Crime Research Paper

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
439 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Racial Divide In Crime Research Paper
Course Project: The Racial Divide in Crime
Kaylyn M. Williams
DeVry University

According to a recent article in the Huffington Post, “One in every three black males can expect to go to prison at some time in their life…” (Huffington Post). This fact in itself is staggering, but when you compare it to the fact that only one in six Latino males and one in 17 white males will be incarcerated it is alarming. It begs the question why? Why are black males so much more likely to end up in prison than those of another minority? This paper aims to answer that question. We will compare criminal incidents, conviction rates, and time served for all three races in order to identify what factors could be leading to this disproportion and we will investigate what variables can be associated with race and how it divides crime in our country.
…show more content…
The Sentencing Project “work for a fair and effective U.S. criminal justice system by promoting reforms in sentencing policy, addressing unjust racial disparities and practices, and advocating for alternatives to incarceration” (2013, p. 2). They outline that African-American males are six times more likely to be incarcerated than white males and 2.5 times more likely than Hispanic males (The Sentencing Project, 2013, p. 3). In 2011, the US Bureau of Justice pointed out that, “Racial minorities are more likely than white Americans to be arrested; once arrested, they are more likely to be convicted; and once convicted, they are more likely to face stiff sentences” (Table

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    The Sentencing Project also illustrates that the black community is intentionally targeted through mass incarceration. Their article, entitled “The Color of Justice: Racial and Ethnic Disparity in State Prisons” states that in sixteen states, black people are more than seven times more likely to get imprisoned than their white counterparts (“The Color of Justice: Racial and Ethnic Disparity in State…

    • 1407 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    A stage-level analysis is the examination of disparities at each different stage in the judicial process. Wooldredge argues that disparate treatment of races during the stages of their case processing may help account for large variation in incarceration between different racial/age demographics. Over 5,000 felony cases from urban areas in Ohio were included in his study. Specifically, Wooldredge analyzed how race’s impact on sentencing changed when controlling for legal and extra-legal factors such as age, sex, employment status (2012). The study found that there was no significant difference in sentencing between African Americans and Caucasians when controlling for the severity of the crime committed. However, Wooldredge argues, that does not mean there is no racial bias in the process as a whole. Disparities in the treatment of minorities’ early stages of their case process could certainly account for differences in sentencing severity and rates. Black males between the ages of 18 and 29 receive much harsher treatment in the pre-trial stages. They are less likely to be released on their own recognizance and their bail is likely to be higher than their white counterparts. The author concludes hypothesizing that the differences in pre-trial treatment of black and white defendants are likely connected to sentencing disparities.…

    • 3561 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Racial imbalance affect both innocent and guilty minority citizens. There is obvious reason to be disgusted by the fact that innocent minority citizens are detained by the police on the street and in their cars far more than the other race. Those stops involve inconvenience, humiliation and a loss of privacy that is elevated when the reasoning for the police action is the color of a one’s skin or different accent. There must also be anger about the unfamiliar treatment of minority citizens who have violated the law. The unfair treatment of minorities in our criminal justice system presents itself in a mushrooming prison population that is massively black and Hispanic; in the decay of minority communities that have given up an entire generation…

    • 242 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    First, according to the 2010 U.S Census, Blacks and Hispanics had higher rates of incarceration compared to the whites. For example, it’s quite interesting to see that if a white or black individual commit…

    • 299 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There has been significant debate whether to collect race-based data in law enforcement. In my opinion, I think going forward with this idea would be a dangerous and misconceived part when in relation to solving crimes. It is a large can of worms when it comes to this idea. I suspect it is actually impossible not to collect the statistics, as a person's details will have to be entered into the database when they are arrested. Once the data is there, is it really up to us how we interpret it? Maybe the question should be 'Should we draw any conclusions from race based crime statistics'?…

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The shameful history of the United States is a burden that is currently affecting everything from education to legal policy. Racial segregation has taken a toll on society and the lives of many minorities. The American judicial system lacks the understanding of human potential by targeting low income minorities and subjugating them for petty misdemeanors. Due to racial discrimination, false allegations towards minorities have resulted in wrongfully incarcerated people for petty crimes; more than likely, they will serve longer sentences for these offenses than a Caucasian person would. Without the necessary resources provided, lack of social capital can inflict damage to their reputation and the overall racial perception society has on minorities.…

    • 306 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Racial disparity in sentencing continues to be a long time culmination in the criminal justice system. The disparity in criminal sentencing is seen when individuals who commit similar or the same criminal act results in acquiring different sentences upon conviction (Jones-Brown, 2002). The paper will take a look at racial disparity in sentencing today, do an examination of reasons for racial disparity in sentencing, and possible solutions to racial disparity in sentencing.…

    • 2143 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Since the year 1980 the numbers for incarcerated minorities has been staggering but for some reason they have always been higher than the whites. According to the new Census data, “In 1980, the number of blacks living in college dorms was roughly equal to the number in prison.” Following the years after 1980, minorities began to get a higher percentage each year, and these results are shown in the most recent census. Minorities and whites got treated differently when it came to suspecting crime and giving punishments for the crime especially after the war on drugs started. Throughout the years minorities in the U.S. are receiving high incarceration rates because of the drug war that eventually failed. People only blame the drug war to the reason why minorities have a high incarceration rate but there are more possible, exceptional reasons.…

    • 1705 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Young, black, and Latino males (especially if they are unemployed) are subject to particularly harsh sentencing compared to other offender populations. Black and Latino defendants are disadvantaged compared to Whites with regard to legal-process related factors such as the “trial penalty,” sentence reductions for substantial assistance, criminal history, pretrial detention, and type of attorney. Black defendants convicted of harming White victims suffer harsher penalties than blacks who commit crimes against other Blacks or White defendants who harm Whites. Black and Latino defendants tend to be sentenced more severely than comparably situated White defendants for less serious crimes, especially drug, and property crimes.…

    • 1728 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Incarceration Theory

    • 1187 Words
    • 5 Pages

    There are many theories on why, how and even if race discrimination plays a significant role in explaining the current arrest and incarceration rates of minorities…

    • 1187 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Studies show that police are more likely to pull over blacks or Latinos than whites. After being arrested, African-Americans are 33% more likely than whites to be detained while facing a felony trial in New York.…

    • 268 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    It also say characteristics such as race play a factor in the number of convictions. Blacks are more likely to go to prison at a higher rate than Hispanics and three times the rate as their white counterparts. It also says there is the same amount of people who commit violent crimes and drug offenses that are incarcerated at the same amount. This suggest to me that the American society is likely to convict a black male at a higher rate than anyone else.…

    • 807 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Over the last 40 years the prison population has increased 600 percent and it has negatively impacted young Black males, especially those living in socially disorganized neighborhoods (Childress, 2014). In 2001, Bonczar (2003) notes that Blacks accounted for nearly seventeen percent of individuals previously or currently incarcerated, which was six times more than White males. Besides having a higher chance of serving a prison term, African American are also likely to be sentenced to longer sentences than White Americans for the same crime. According to Kahn and Kirk (2015), in 2012, Blacks received a federal prison sentence ten times longer than their White counterparts. Bonczar (2003) explains that one in…

    • 392 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Dating back some time ago, the African American race was brought into this country for to become slaves and serve the White American race. All of this was established based on the tone of their skin being ugly and seen as being deformed and the white American race were destined to be the superior race overruling African Americans in every aspect giving them basically no rights at all. Although slavery days are long and gone some may say that the White American race still has an upper hand on the African Americans by using the criminal justice system against them. This topic of racial inequality within the criminal justice system of the United States also known as “the land of the free” has become more and more relevant based upon the rising number of arrests and the highly populated penal institution mostly occupied by African Americans. These rising numbers of African Americans in penal institutions have contributed greatly to the stereotype of a young African American male. Most African American males today either has family incarcerated or know someone that is and people on the outside looking automatically thinks that that young male will experience life inside of a facility at some part of their life. Almost at every stage of the criminal justice process white Americans have a better chance of getting off than African Americans while they might be accused of committing the same exact crime. White and African Americans are said to be using the same amount of drugs and narcotics at about the same rate but statistics show that African Americans are .highly outnumbering white Americans inside of penal institutions for nonviolent drug offenses. This paper will go in depth with the more proof such as statistics and facts that African Americans are experiencing racial inequalities within the criminal justice…

    • 306 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Jim Crow

    • 2047 Words
    • 9 Pages

    In the book “The New Jim Crow” author Michelle Alexander talks about numerous issues of racial inequality in our criminal justice system. Alexander’s book is something every person who even has an interest in the criminal justice field should read, as it really looks beyond the color of a person’s skin. Alexander points out the vast majority of the problems our criminal justice system faces in racial inequality and discrimination. These problems have really formed our country to what it is to this day. Most people feel that society as a whole is past discrimination and that it is no longer a problem anymore. In reality, it is still a major problem in many aspects of our criminal justice system as well as the everyday lives of Americans. In all honesty I was one of them, but “The New Jim Crow” really opened my eyes on the discrimination that occurs within minorities in the United States. Reflecting back on this issue I had realized that I have witnessed this first hand with one of my close friends who is an African American male. I will get into more detail about this later on in my paper, but for now I am going to address some of the issues of racial inequality in the criminal justice system that Alexander mentioned.…

    • 2047 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays