Incarceration refers to the process of detaining a person or group of persons in jail as punishment for crimes committed. Simply, crimes refer to the breaching and or breaking of the laws (in both state, local, and international level) stipulated within a legal system. People could be suspected for committing crime, or are convicted for the crime because of the jurisdiction from the laws of the land. It serves the purpose of isolating the criminals from other citizens, punishment for crimes committed, rehabilitation of wrong doers, and preventing other people from committing crimes (Hinton, 2009).
Race describes and categorizes people into distinct groups in terms of their phenotypical (appearance), geographical (ancestral origin), culture (integration of human beliefs and behavior), ethnicity (having common heritage and identification with each other), and social-economic status. Within the community, groups of people are privileged while the majorities are marginalized on grounds related to race. There have been so much disparities and inequalities that have faced the marginalized groups in the global society when it comes to crime, and the justice system. Some of the individuals, due to their status in society and racial inclinations, have ended up enjoying the favors of the justice system at the expense of other minority groups coexisting in the societies (Fluehr-Lobban, 2006).
The criminal justice systems are the government bodies that help to mitigate and check occurrence of crimes, by enforcing laws, performing sanctions to criminals through penalties and various rehabilitation measures. Such systems have flaws in their judgment procedures due to unfair treatment of the marginalized minorities. In America, there have been extensive of racial disparities that define the two groups of the whites and the blacks. Racial discrimination has been experienced in almost all the spheres of life and society. Both social (matters related to the family and society) and economic factors (unemployment, and poverty) influence crimes, arrests, and jurisdiction. The policies and practices of the criminal justice system contribute to racial disparities (Oliver and Yocom, 2002).
Race disparities
There is inequality in the treatment of different individuals by virtue of race due to the following factors.
Poverty – Majority of individuals from the black race are mostly afflicted by poverty due to low income and hence poor living standards. Because of such condition, the justice system has had prejudice over such people and subjected them to unjust treatment from the justice system.
Racial discrimination – There has been continued discrimination of the black and the non-white population in terms of housing, education, employment, social services, and representation within the legal system. This discrimination has been deeply infiltrated within the justice systems, whereby, even the panel of the jury consists of a handful from the black community, like in the United States, which had no black juror until the 1860. These results into unfair treatment, representation, and judgment delivered from the justice system.
Legislation policies – There exists biasness in policies that govern punishment and judgment provided through the justice systems. The blacks are subject to harsh conditions as compared to the white population, for example, the blacks faced harsh sentences on crimes relating to possession and use of hard drugs such as crack cocaine (Primm, Osher, and Gomez, 2005). The courts consistently have adopted and promoted biased and weak law enforcement mechanisms that have promoted inequality within the justice systems (Cole, 2000).
Inequitable access to resources – This has occurred since the early years, whereby, the distribution of basic and other forms of resources has been limited to the black community. The whites have abundant access to majority of the required resources at the expense of the black community, which is also evident within the justice system. For example, children of middle-class white individuals exhibiting negative behaviors (substance use, poor academic performance), and other antisocial behaviors have access to therapeutic counseling and private tutor services more easily and efficiently than the blacks, because such resources are readily available to the whites than to the blacks (Nellis, Greene, Mauer, 2008). Within the justice system, bail, pretrial release, and parole services, are preferred to the whites than the blacks.
Higher crime rates – The blacks are prone to committing crimes, and the society has stereotyped the black race to most of the crimes that are committed. Even the justice system has a biased prejudice of the black community in terms of criminal offences; the system associates majority of the crimes to the blacks.
Mental health services
Mental health defines the emotional well-being of a person in whichever circumstance, be it freed or in jail. Majority of the incarcerated inmates in the prisons are affected mentally, this being a result of exposure and use of certain substances that cause the development and alleviation of such conditions. Extensive use of alcohol, drugs, both hard and soft drugs in prison settings have been attributed to main causes of mental, emotional, impairment, mood, anxiety, and substance disorders and illnesses.
In hospital care, the inmates who frequently become sick either mentally or in general body sickness have inadequate access to treatment, though hospitals that provide such medical and health services exist in the society. Psychiatric and counseling services are offered to mentally disturbed inmates and the services are available within the criminal system to offer corrective measures to the affected inmates. Such services are moderately provided to the inmates in prisons; for example, in the U.S prisons, a number of individuals admitted to accessing such services. Social services are also limited within the prison setting due to inadequacy of such services to the inmates.
Rehabilitative services like the creation of juvenile court systems have led to prevention of increased delinquency among the children criminals. Such services have been adequately provided to cater for the less mature inmates and provide corrective measures in all fields including checking the rates of mental illness.
Majority of the above services have been availed to the inmates, but there has been an inadequacy in terms of service delivery to the inmates hence posing a danger in the vulnerability to crimes (Barkan and Bryjak, 2009).
Cultural competence
Cultural competence defines the diversification of behaviors, attitudes, policies, and professional services in relation to different cultures within the society. It involves the effective interaction with people of different cultures. Cultural competence enables one to understand the different cultural practices, different attitudes, and ensure effective communication and interaction with people across the dynamic cultures. The recommendations to be addressed deal with health services, language, education, social services, and employment. There should be minimal disparity in access to health services by all individuals, despite the inclinations to races or culture; this will ensure that all the individuals have equitable access to such services without the questions of their culture. Both corrective and counseling services should be provided to the criminal justice system irrespective of the racial origins of the individuals.
The criminal justice system should adopt policies and practices, which advocate for equality for all individuals, create awareness on various issues concerning the working relation between cultures, harmonization of difference points that occur within certain cultural dispensation of activities. Policies that allow extensive collaboration and co-ordination between the justice system, society, and other available entities should be developed to increase the degree of competence in the society. It should ensure that law enforcement officials are considerate in authorizing the laws in the individual cases that may arise; this will curb down incompetence in terms of culture and promote parity.
There should be improvement of the diversity of the law and the enforcement, this will reduce the hostility, and negative attributes as perceived by different minority communities. There should be adequate funding for activities that collect relational information to ensure that such information reaches a vast majority to advocate for the need for change in perception of certain community issues (Henderson, 2000).
References
Barkan, E, S. and Bryjak, J, G. (2009). Fundamentals of Criminal Justice: A Sociological View. London: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Web.
Cole, D. (2000). No equal justice: race and class in the American criminal justice system. NY: The New Press.
Fluehr-Lobban, C. (2006). Race and racism: an introduction. Oxford: Rowman Altamira. Web.
Hinton, K. (2009). Incarceration in America. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group. Web.
Henderson, W. (2000). Justice on Trial: Racial Disparities in the American Criminal Justice System. NY: DIANE Publishing.
Nellis, A., Greene, J, and Mauer, M. (2008). Reducing Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System: A Manual for Practitioners and Policymakers. Washington, DC: Sentencing Project. Web.
Oliver, P. and Yocom, J. (2002). Racial Disparities in Criminal Justice: Madison and Dane County in Context. IRP Publications. Web.
Primm, B, A., Osher, C, F. and Gomez, C, M. (2005). Race and Ethnicity, Mental Health Services and Cultural Competence in the Criminal Justice System: Are we ready to Change. Community Mental Health Journal, Vol. 41, No. 5. Web.