Literature review
Criminal justice has not been granted to all the races equally. Based on the issue of prison time and racism, the time served in prison by the blacks is not the same as the time served by the whites. The essay will discuss the difference in prison time based on racial disparity. For instance, research showed that in the year 2016, black people were sent to prison was at five times rates compared to the white people. Also, these black individuals spend much time in prison more than white peers. The black population is prone to prison time because of the vulnerability of the lack of resources and the desperation to fit into life situations. Black people who commit crimes of drug and property times serve more time in prisons compared to the white counterparts proving the high rate of injustice in the criminal justice system. The black people charged for violent crimes, the prison time grew twice as much than that of the white population in the United States. Some of the identified causes of racial disparity in criminal justice include legislative policies and levels of criminal activities. In this paper, the paper will cover the issue of prison time and how some minority groups are affected. Some black Americans, Latinos and Hispanics have been positively affected by racism in criminal justice. The essay will include a literature review of four articles. Also, research design to support the issue racism through prison time in the United States will be discussed in the essay.
The first article that presents information on race disparity and prison time is the article by Rosich (2007) Katherine. The article presents consistency and strong evidence that shows that some racial and ethnic minorities are involved in violent crime and other crimes. The article summarizes the issues of criminal injustice victimization that affect some groups like the whites, African Americans and the Hispanics. The article mentions that African Americans are arrested disproportionately for crimes of manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated crimes. This minority community is then underrepresented by the criminal justice system making it hard for them to acquire justice from the criminal justice system. Blacks have become victims of violent crimes which they are accused and forced to stay in prison even when they are innocent (Rosich, 2007). The article mentions that drug-related arrests and other crimes are critical contributors to an increased number of black people in prisons. The article presents evidence that supports the issue of crime in the community and its effect to the society. According to the article, surveys have been conducted on illicit drugs and the results obtained by Monitoring the Future Survey. The results indicated that the number of African American that used illicit and licit drugs was high among the seniors in high school. These individuals were at a high risk of getting arrested and forced to stay in prison. The number of such cases is high among the black compared to the number among the white in America. These individuals’ also extensive quality services from the country attorneys who would help them in the prosecution processes.
The other article that presents information on racial disparity in the criminal justice system is by Schrantz and McElroy. The information presented by the author about racial disparity in prison time and how it can be reduced. According to the article, statistics show that at the national and community level, racial disparity in criminal justice is highly observed. The minorities in the community are disadvantaged through the trails and end up being sentenced for more extended periods as compared to the whites. The article mentions a phenomenon of “driving while black “that is used to illustrate the abuse of law enforcement against minorities, and in this case the blacks (Schrantz & McElroy, 2000). The study mentioned in the article is a study that involved thirteen thousand, five hundred and sixty-six officer initiated stops of traffic on the roads. The study revealed that minority drivers were stopped at these stops compared to the whites. They are then prosecuted and taken to prison, and the number continues to increase. A study in New York also proved that minorities charged with crimes and detained and those detained in jails found in New York City are mostly African Americans. Latinos are also part of the minorities in the United States, and they constitute about nineteen per cent of the population jailed in American prisons. The study has enough evidence to prove that racial disparity in the criminal justice system is high based on the issue of prison time. The article mentions some of the reasons that result in increased prison time among the minorities as punitive sentencing policies, crime rates and law enforcement policies. The study shows that the traffic arrests that are made by the officers are biased based on the race of the individual. One may be free from crime, but the officers can accuse the individual and ensure that a person is sentenced for a crime he or she never committed. On the other hand, an American citizen (white) may be in the guilty for come crimes, but the individual may go unpunished.
The other article that contains research about the issue of disparity in the criminal justice system is the work by Rebecca Roberts. She had a chance to make observations and collect information when she worked in a conference on Police corruption, racism and spying. The author of the article states that the theme of the activity was to identify the impact of racism on criminal justice and how agencies respond to black and ethnic people in the community. According to the article, the researchers examined evidence and data based on the experiences of black people in the community. The results of the research proved that racism is an issue that is created in the criminal justice system that creates barriers towards people (Roberts, 2015). The author of the article mentions that black and other minority groups have been overrepresented in the criminal justice system, and some of the disproportionality has been mentioned in the article as follows. About thirteen per cent of adult prisoners are identified as black, who is compared to about three per cent of the Americans. Also, the experiences of the children and young adult in prison were examined through survey method. The results of the survey proved that forty-one per cent of the black or minority communities suffered prison time because of their racial identity.
The article by Silton also supports the fact that prisons and jails have been institutionalized to have many blacks and other ethnic groups than whites. The article states that the criminal justice system of the United States has been proven to harm than good to the communities, especially the vulnerable to racism stereotypes. Politicians and other personnel in the criminal justice system claim that they are focused on the fight against drug, which has resulted in the imprisonment of many individuals in the black community (Silton, 2002). Drug laws have been used as an opportunity to race profiling which has been seen to target the black communities. According to the article, blacks are positively associated with these crimes of drugs, and innocent individuals end up in jail. These drug laws result in inequity in the prosecution of the African Americans community that has affected these minority individuals in the community, and racism becomes evident in the criminal justice system. Statistics stated in the article state that thirteen per cent of the African Americans are associated with drug use, thirty-five per cent with drug arrests, fifty-five per cent with drug convictions and seventy-four per cent with drug imprisonment. These statistics provide evidence of the issue of racism in the criminal justice system.
Hypothesis
The above information has provided information on the issue of disparity on the criminal justice system in the United States. The information in the literature review acquired from four articles that present details of research and statistical information that support that racism is a severe issue in the criminal justice system. The research design below will be used to prove the hypothesis that the minority groups are positively affected by the inequality in criminal justice.
Research Design
The research will be conducted to prove the above hypothesis. Some of the methods that will be used to collect information will include survey procedures and conducting interviews. The participants used in the research will be asked to volunteer to participate in the research. The participants will be given a consent form so that they can be used to provide the information that needs to be gathered. In research, the consent of the participants plays a significant role in ensuring that reliable information has been collected for the research. Some of the participants that will be included are prisoners, juveniles and other individuals in the community who have suffered the criminal justice inequality. Participants will be involved in a survey process in which they would fill the survey forms and help in gathering enough data that can be used to prove the hypothesis of the research. Observation method can also be used to collect information from the correction facilities that will gather ample information to be analyzed and prove the hypothesis that the rate of racism is high in the criminal justice system. The populations that will be used to gather information for the research include the social workers, criminal justice personnel and the victims of racism. The research would be educational to the criminal justice personnel on how to ensure that racism in the criminal justice system has been eliminated in society. The presented data by the participants will be used to test the hypothesis that racism in the criminal justice system affects minorities which include Hispanics, Latinos and the African American. Participants were able to provide information that they were not guilty of the crimes they were prosecuted for by the government.
For example, one of the participants clearly stated that he was prosecuted for the consumption of drugs, but no evidence was used to prove his guiltiness. This case was among many other cases of the individuals who suffer the same plight just because they belong to a particular race.
Evaluation
The evaluation of the research will help determine the resources that were used during the process and the impact on society. Statistics approaches like mean and percentiles were used to evaluate the results of the study—the research utilized funds from government sources that fund criminal justice systems. The limitation of the research is that there lacked reliable technological resources to be utilized by the researchers. In the future, the researchers ought to consider technology to ensure that the research is significant, and results can be reliable. The intended impact of research is to educate the community and especially the criminal justice system. The research provides information on the causes of racism in criminal justice. The personnel understand that some of these reasons are legislative policies and crime rates. Through the research, the involved parties such as policymakers, the government and criminal justice personnel understand these issues. The research can be used to come up with strategies that will be used to solve the issues affecting the minorities in society. Through the research, the policymakers can make policy changes and ensure that the minorities are treated with justice in prisons and jails. These policies can ensure social justice is granted to every individual despite the race of the person. Shoddy investigations have conducted that result in a high percentage of the communities being prosecuted. Through amended policies, the criminal justice personnel can ensure to conduct quality investigations and protect the rights of the people in the society. Effectiveness of the research is through improved policies that guide criminal justice personnel for better results. At the end of the research, equality in criminal justice will be promoted hence positive impact for a change in the United States.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the issue of racism in criminal justice has affected the United States. The topic was prison time, and from the essay, it has been proven that some of the black American and other ethnic groups serve some time in prisons for crimes they have not committed. The essay has provided information from four articles written by Rebecca Roberts, Schrantz, Rosich and Silton. The individuals have provided evidence through research to show that racism in the criminal justice system is affecting American communities has been presented. Some have collected information through observations, surveys and other means used in research. The essay has also proved the hypothesis of the topic and a research design has been created to prove the hypothesis. The research design has provided data collection methods, and participants used to prove that racism is affecting the minorities in American society. Evaluation of the research design has been written that analyzes the impact of research design as an educational aspect to the improvement of the criminal justice system. In every research conducted, reliability should be a key through acquiring the consent of participants. Also, technological approaches that will be used in evaluations to improve the results of the research and ensure policy changes are enhanced. The role of the criminal justice system and the government is to ensure equality for all American citizens.