Introduction
Social activism has become a critical component of the contemporary human society fabric. It involves working with others to initiate meaningful and constructive changes in a given society. In the context of an activist, social activism is a reflection of personal choice to engage in actions towards advancing particular socio-economic or political discourse without being coerced or forced. Indeed, since the 1960s, during the civil rights movement upheavals, social activism has played a central role in fighting disparities and challenging disparities in the United States. Most social activists and scholars presume that the public can be motivated to fight certain inequalities and disparities if they are conscious of the total extent and the underlying causes of such challenges. An excellent example is the controversy about racial inequality in the American criminal justice system. Accordingly, this report aims to integrate an interview with a criminal justice reform social activist in highlighting why the issue is a critical social change concern. Further, the report critically deconstructs the elements of strategies discussed by the interviewee concerning social change.
Relevance of the Social Change Issue
Contextualization
The interview with Dr. Charles Whiters, a community activist leader, dissects the issue of criminal justice reform as a critical social change concern. Living in Oklahoma, the activist explores social matters other than criminal justice reforms and identifies himself as a voice of the people. The primary focus of his work as a community activist leader is premised on creating awareness of the adverse impacts of criminal justice disparities. Whiters attributes the challenges to culture and systemic racial issues in the criminal justice system, having been a victim of the disparities as an African American youth.
Indeed, Whiter’s sentiments on racial disparities in the criminal justice system are apt. People of color are more likely to enter the criminal justice system than other races in the general population across the United States. Empirical evidence consistently shows that African Americans are 5.3 times more likely to be incarcerated than Whites (Kovera, 2019). Much of America’s 20th and 21st century has been characterized by punishment and crime as one of the most salient symbols of the racial divide in the criminal justice system. Over the years, racial discrimination has overtly impacted African Americans in court decisions.
Evidence and Justification of the Essence of the Social Change Issue
Racial discrimination in the criminal justice system across the United States is well documented. The disparities are more prominent against minorities in incarcerations across various socio-demographic segments. Dr. Whiter denoted during the interview that he was incarcerated when he was 14 and spent 26 years in prison before being vindicated. A mounting body of evidence on juvenile delinquency and incarceration has shown that young African American offenders serve longer sentences than their White peers despite committing similar offenses. Despite making up only 13.5% of the total population, African Americans constitute 37% of the nation’s inmates. Some studies report that males in the racial group incarcerated in federal and state prisons at six times higher rate than White Men. According to Franklin and Henry (2020), the likelihood of being incarcerated in their lifetime is significantly higher for African American males compared to White men, with approximately 1 in 3 African American males being incarcerated, while only 1 in 17 White men can expect to be incarcerated. The trend shows the existence of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system.
Moreover, ethnic minorities, particularly African Americans, are over-represented in the criminal justice system as victims and offenders. Dr. Whiter asserted during the interview that while Black men are thwarted by the criminal justice system, white men are shown leniency even if they commit severe crimes. His remarks are consistent with the recent National Crime Victimization Survey (2021) that more (36%) African Americans were arrested for violent crimes such as aggravated assault and property crimes (27%) than Whites (Rose et al., 2021). Further, the survey found that the group was disproportionately arrested for illicit drug use and trafficking.
A substantial body of social science research has contributed significantly to advancing the adverse effects of racial disparities in the criminal justice system. Whiter remarks give compelling reasons why criminal justice reform are primary social change concern. Nonetheless, several issues arose and continued to be generated concerning the extent and existence of racial disparities and the need for criminal justice reforms to mitigate the adverse impacts (Pina-Sanchez et al., 2022). Existing literature findings on the effects of racial inequality in the criminal justice system, the extent they disproportionately affect minorities, and the need to initiate reforms remain inconclusive and conflicting. Pina-Sanchez et al. (2022) attributed such discrepancies to varying methodological designs, data quality, theoretical framework, and the variable used in examining race and time. The highlighted factors have been at the center of controversy and intense debates concerning the need for criminal justice reforms to address racial disparities.
A growing body of evidence has challenged the perception that no racial-induced biases exist in America’s current criminal justice system. Smith et al. (2021) have disputed such conclusions to be flawed in several facets, including the findings from previous literature, which have evaluated discrimination only on a single stage and thus have needed to be more effective in identifying disparities that might exist at other locations. For instance, Dr. Whiters illustrates in the interview that racial disparities in the criminal justice system are a cultural and systemic issue. Therefore, findings on no racial disparities in sentencing cannot negate the possibility of biases in other parts of the criminal justice system, as illustrated by the mentioned studies.
Dr. Whiter’s summations draw critical attention to how the conception of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system emphasizes easily observed, formal decision markers which fail to consider other information law enforcement actions. His assertions are congruent with findings from Franklin and Henry (2020) which show that informal decision-making has a profound influence in determining the individuals who will be arrested and those that will enter the criminal justice system. Franklin and Henry (2020) add that such encounters should be included in a study investigating whether the criminal justice system is biased against minorities. Including informal actions in the evaluation can clarify that the system consistently discriminates against African Americans.
In retrospect, critiques of racial disparities in the criminal justice system have argued that the official statistic on crime and race lacks a proper premise to be used in research to examine biases in the justice system. Smith et al. (2021) averred that data collection procedures on crime and race are severely flawed, making the statistics unreliable and thus distorting the results derived from their analysis. The argument points to the classification of crime statistics, which designated only five official races; White, Hispanic, African American, Asian Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaskan Native. Other studies have contended that crime and race criminal justice data systems aid in the perpetuation of racism because they form statistical support for stereotyping African Americans to be chronic offenders.
Accordingly, studies that make race their primary focus of evaluation presume that race constitutes discrete groups, while race in the United States has never been monolithic. For example, the designation of “Black,” as widely used by Dr. Whiters throughout the interview, does not capture the substantial aspects of what it implies to be black in America since the designation includes individuals from South and Central America, Caribbean and Africa with each group having unique shades of color, language, and culture. Besides, some scholars have questioned whether official crime statistics focusing on streets (committed mainly by African Americans) rather than all crimes, such white collar crimes mostly committed by Whites, creates a biased perception of fenders using race categorization.
In summary, a large body of evidence from social science research has concluded that racial disparities are deeply rooted and pervasive in criminal justice, particularly against African Americans. Dr. Whiters raised similar concerns. However, some studies have maintained that intentional racial disparity does not exist in the American criminal justice system, complicating the empirical picture of the need for criminal justice reform. Despite the inconclusiveness of the research on the matter, it is a consensus in the existing literature that, indeed, racial disparities exist in some stages, in some places, some of the time within the criminal justice system that disproportionately affects African Americans. Consequently, the minor treatment significantly accumulates across various spectrums of the justice system resulting in potent racially different outcomes for African Americans and other minorities. Therefore, the issue is a primary social change concern that needs to be addressed through relevant reforms championed by social activists like Dr. Whiters.
Deconstruction of Elements of Strategies Concerning the Social Change
As highlighted in the interview, Dr. Whiters employs various strategies as a community activist leader to champion criminal justice reforms against racial disparities in the system. He mentioned during the interview that he draws his inspiration from Martin Luther King and Black Panther Movement accounting for the strategies he uses in advancing his criminal justice reform discourse. However, he takes a different tangent from the conventional abrasive civil rights activist strategies in agitating for reforms. Instead, he uses educational and mobilization approaches, as discussed below.
Educational Approach to Social Justice
Dr. Whiters uses an educational approach as the primary strategy for advancing his social change agenda concerning criminal justice reforms in his community in Oklahoma. He uses education and instructions since it makes him feel that when everyone in his community is educated and adequately instructed, then the objectives of their movement can be more individualized. Under his organization, the Oklahoma Coalition against People Abuse, Dr. Whiters and his colleague launched robust educational programs. The organization fights for the right of the people in the community from criminal justice abuses regardless of their socio-economic background. He uses his experience as an innocent convict to craft educational narratives on the adverse impacts of disparities in the criminal justice system.
The educational approach can be central to promoting social justice and change. The techniques can be used to examine the effects of social oppression, privileges, and powers on a particular social group. The strategy can help promote desirable social and political actions, enabling community members to eliminate social biases and disparities (Gorski & Dalton, 2020). Dr. Whiters and his peers at Oklahoma Coalition against People Abuse’s organizational use of educational approach and instruction giving are beneficial in helping the community members identify predisposing factors to abuse and biases within the criminal justice and the proper means for agitating for their rights. The primary objective of the educational approach in promoting social change is preparing community members to have the requisite skills, knowledge, and disposition relevant to confronting social disparities and inequalities within their communities.
In the context of Dr. Whiter and his endeavor to educate the community around him concerning the need for criminal justice reforms, his educational strategies enable proper preparations of member community members. The process allows victims of racial disparities in the community to be conscious of the potential abuses in the criminal justice system and the proper mechanism for responding to such challenges resulting in a more holistic approach for advancing social reforms towards establishing equality in the system. Studies show that employing relevant pedagogical strategies to promote social change has multiple benefits in improving a community’s sociocultural awareness about disparities and biases in their environment. It allows social change to be evaluated at institutional, cultural, and individual levels of society. According to Gorski and Dalton (2020), social justice pedagogy is a critical tool for promoting inclusive, participatory, democratic, and collaborative approaches to promoting equality and showing individual members of the community respect and empathy. Thus, it is a critical driver of social change.
An educational approach involving responsive teaching methods can catalyze the sociocultural consciousness of community members, thus enabling them to understand the need to initiate change when necessary. Dr. Whiters explains in the interview that he uses his background to educate and instruct his community on the market for criminal justice reforms. Such a strategy resonates with different community members who have been victims of disparities in the criminal justice system while empowering others to be aware of the potential abuses. Ladegaard and Phipps (2020) contend that proper designing of instructions premised on prior knowledge, cultural background, and lived experiences can help illustrate the value of a community’s need to support a social change. Therefore, the approach can aid community members to engage in a constructive process of knowledge acquisition and construction by challenging their deficit thinking about the socio-economic prevalent in their environment.
Additionally, the strategy can help expose information concerning disparities in the criminal justice system, strengthening and activating the need for social change. Kovera (2019) found that educating the public about the underlying inequalities in the criminal justice system enabled them to improve their understanding of the stereotypical associations with crimes like aggression, threats, and violence. Further, Kovera (2019) noted that a positive correlation existed between educating the public about criminal justice disparities and reducing implicit biases and motivation to engage in social change movement toward justice system reforms. The findings illustrate how critical educational approaches can help eliminate implicit associations that link racial minorities with crime.
However, the effectiveness of the educational approach in achieving long-term social changes has been questioned. Green (2019) found an insignificant association between academic training on social disparities and knowledge of implicit biases. Similarly, Reinholz and Andrews (2020) reported that educational approaches to social justice and change are highly predisposed to external threats from increased politicization. Some systems are increasingly used for selective political pursuits instead of challenging and confronting oppression. For example, the critical race theory (CRT) and its surrounding benefits and controversies typify the adverse impacts of political interpretation on social justice educational models.
Mobilization Strategy
Dr. Whiter values mobilization as a vital strategy for achieving social change. He liaises with other like-minded organizations, such as Terrence Crutcher Foundation and Black Lives Matter, to promote the need for criminal justice reforms. His organization has a network of social change personnel distributed throughout Oklahoma and Tulsa to help mobilize community members on justice system reforms. However, he avoids confrontational and disruptive strategies in promoting his cause.
His organization has effectively mobilized through sustaining and coordinating community members, as evidenced by the many talk and educative sessions he handles. Siregar (2022) asserted that mass participation is central to ensuring effective mobilization toward social change. Siregar (2022) added that a comparative review of decades of non-violent and violent movements established that non-violent initiatives were more beneficial in initiating desired social changes through higher recruitment of members than violent movements depending on the context of the countries in which they occurred. Therefore, by adopting a non-violent approach in championing criminal justice reforms. Dr. Whiters has effectively rallied many individuals in his community and rallied them toward his set course.
Despite mobilization being critical in realizing tangible social changes, it is limited in several ways. Yates (2021) contended that substantial resources and energy could be better spent on mobilization strategies due to a lack of coordination. Thus, social change organizations must consider various factors before shifting to mobilization to ensure they achieve their desired goals. Santiago and Ivery (2020) suggested that one of the leading reasons for high failure rates in community social change movements is the failure to organize around a compelling alternative vision, lack of impetus to sustain pressure on power holders, and inability to forge a broad-based alliance. Indeed, most community-based social change movements have been criticized for mobilizing but failing to organize, thus failing to transform their energy into constructive electoral or legislative changes. Despite the crucial work Dr. Whiters has done over the four years as a community leader, he could not cite any legislation they have drafted or promoted towards realizing criminal justice reforms in his community. The situation points to one of the flaws of the mobilization strategy.
Conclusion
This report has integrated an interview with a criminal justice reform social activist to highlight why the issue is a critical social change concern. Further, the report has critically deconstructed the elements of strategies discussed by the interviewee concerning social change. The report concludes that racial disparities in the criminal justice system are salient with adverse impacts on African Americans and other ethnic minorities. Even though some studies have conflicting evidence on the extent of disparities, a mounting body of social research evidence shows that African Americans are disproportionately affected by such differences making it a primary social change concern. Dr. Whiters highlights the essence of agitating for social change to initiate criminal justice reforms to address the biases. He primarily uses mobilization and educational approaches to promote social changes in criminal justice reforms. Indeed, the interview content demonstrates that a long history of racial discrimination and bias in the American criminal justice system calls for robust social activism to tame the menace that has robbed many people of color of their lives.
References
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