Statistics clearly show that a large number of African-Americans are arrested and incarcerated in the US today. This has been attributed to violation of drug laws especially in regard to drug trafficking and drug abuse among many other forms of crime such as robbery and street fighting (Merida, 2007).
Due to high rates of arrests and imprisonment of African-Americans, families of colored people have faced stigmatization in the society (Mauer, 2006). In addition, the family structure has been destroyed since considerable numbers of both men and women are removed from the society.
According Merida (2007) statistics show that “1 in 15 African-American children and 1 in 42 Latino children have a parent in prison, compared to 1 in 111 white children” (Guerino, Paige and Sabol, 2010).
According to another report by Guerino, Paige, and Sabol (2010), compared to whites people of color are four times more likely to arrested once found in possession of drugs and twelve times more likely to be incarcerated once found in possession of drugs like marijuana. Thus, there is an imbalance of blacks incarcerated in the US today, which is directly associated to how blacks communities are policed.
Discussion
Numerous studies show that from the year1989 to 2003, a big number of minority groups were incarcerated compared to white American men and women (Mauer, 2006). These minority groups include black Americans, people of Hispanic origin and Latinos. The main issue is that racial inequality is widespread in the criminal justice system (Merida, 2007).
The US population consists of all kinds of people in terms of race and culture. Despite of this composition, the US has been reported as a country with the highest levels of racial inequality. This can be explained in terms of social economical-status and long history of rivalry between American citizens of different ethnicities.
Disparities in social-economical status have caused marginalization of minority groups, especially African-Americans (Mauer, 2006). For instance, the criminal justice system treats people of color in harshly compared to white Americans.
Racial profiling only pertains to people of color
A good number of law enforcement officers use race as a primary factor in deciding whether to enforce law on an individual (The Sentencing Project, 2004). This is known as racial profiling and it is an illegal practice in many countries. For a traffic officer to stop, question, or arrest a driver, ethnicity plays a major role in determining this issue.
This unethical practice allows people from the minority groups, such as blacks, Arabs, Hispanic, and Latinos among others to be more vulnerable since they are perceived as criminals due to their low economical status (Merida, 2007).
Generally, the assumption is that crime rates are high among people with poor social-economical status. Because of this, blacks are more likely to be stopped, questioned, or arrested by law enforcement officers based on racial profiling in the US (Prisons statistics, 2007).
Once an officer has stopped a driver based on racial profiling, this opportunity allows traffic officers to question, search, or even arrest such an individual.
For instance, black teenagers may be pulled over because of the type of vehicle they are driving or just because they are driving in a rich neighborhood. Once stopped, they will be questioned concerning where they are going to, what they do, and whether they are in possession of illegal drugs and so on.
Furthermore, once an African-American has been stopped by a traffic officer prior offence by such an individual will determine/reflect how the law enforcement officer will treat him / her. For instance, if an officer stops a black person based on racial profiling, the officer will certainly interrogate the individual.
In case this individual does not have an identity card or a driving license, probably because he forgot to carry it, the officer will search his vehicle and if he finds anything suspicious (like a butcher knife), the individual will be arrested on the basis that he is a criminal in possession of deadly weapons.
This may not be true at all. Without doubt, racial profiling is a form of discrimination considering that individual rights (of a suspect) are violated once ethnicity is used as a factor of law enforcement (Merida, 2007). Every individual is entitled to basic human rights as stipulated by the constitution.
Saturation of police in the poor neighborhoods
With intentions to deter crime and reduce crime rates, police are deployed in large numbers to areas where most people are from the lower social class. This is because crime rates are high in places where majority are poor. In neighborhoods where education levels are low, most community members are generally poor in terms of socioeconomically status (Mauer, 2006).
This is mostly common in neighborhoods with African-Americans. However, as much as the primary intention is to deter crime, saturation of police/law enforcement officers in poor neighborhoods may cause a number of problems.
Foremost, saturation of police in the poor neighborhoods may create a hostile environment. Police officers being deployed in large numbers to areas where majority community members are poor create tension due to high level of surveillance. This is so because community members are treated as suspects or criminals where as they may not be criminals in reality.
In addition, cases of police harassments may also be high in such areas causing chaos. In general, whenever police officers are in contact with the public in a situation where community members are treated as suspects, the environment is in tension.
Saturation of police in poor neighborhoods allows parolees and probationers to come in contact with law enforcement officers (Merida, 2007). According to common law, the correctional and rehabilitation officers such as California Department of Correctional and Rehabilitation (CDCR) are the only ones allowed to supervise parolees once released back to the society (Merida, 2007).
However, when law enforcement officers are deployed in large number to regions with minority (blacks), prisoners who have been released on conditions usually come in contact with law enforcement; this may cause poor integration of such individuals in the society (The Sentencing Project, 2004).
Moreover, saturation of police in poor neighborhoods is violation of the law. By deploying many law enforcement officers in regions with minority groups, this violates the 14 Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause (AEPC) and Fifth Amendment’s protection from abuse by government authority.
Considering that this situation creates a hostile environment and the parolees are vulnerable, the community members are violated basic human rights. In order to have an understating of this matter, it is important to understand these laws.
The 14 Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause was introduced in the mid 19th century. The Citizenship Clause redefined citizenship and played a big role in overruling that blacks could not be citizens of the US (Kluwer, 2007). The Due Process Clause prohibits the local administration from depriving citizen’s life, freedom, or property right without adhering to justice and fairness (Kluwer, 2007).
Lastly, the Equal Protection Clause demands that the state or local administration must provide equal protection to all citizens within its jurisdiction (Kluwer, 2007). This particular clause also campaigns against racial discrimination. Now referring to the situations where law enforcement officers are concentrated in regions with minority or poor people; this violates the law stipulated in the Equal Protection Clause.
On the other hand, the fifth Amendment assures every American citizen the right to fair trial, the right to be tried in court through the appropriate process, and the right to be compensated property that have been detained by the administration (Kluwer, 2007).
By deploying large number of law enforcement officers to areas with minority groups, community members become vulnerable to unfair treatment by police officers considering that they are constantly in contact with law enforcement officers.
Blacks are more vulnerable compared to whites
People of color, especially the youths are in a number of cases sent to prison even over minor offences, which can be dealt with by placing such offenders on probation (Mauer, 2006). However, when white young men commit similar crimes as those committed by blacks, they are likely to be given a less severe punishment.
Whenever they commit minor offenses, whites are put on probation while blacks are sent to prison. A good example in this case is when a young man of African-American origin is arrested and taken to custody just because he looks like a suspect in the manner he is dressed and because he is walking in a rich neighborhood.
Experts have found substantial evidence to support that because of racial imbalance, African -Americans have higher chances of serving a prison sentence in their lifetime as compared to whites. According to Mauer (2006), white Americans have lower chances of being incarcerated followed by people of Hispanic origin and lastly, African-American who have the highest chances (The Sentencing Project, 2004).
In the criminal justice system, whenever there is a case involving blacks and whites, people of color stand high chances of being prosecuted as compared to the whites (Mauer, 2006).
Thus, there are high rates of conviction for African-Americans as compared to whites even when they are accused of similar offences. This clearly shows that discrimination is still a big concern in the criminal justice system. As a result of this, many African-Americans have been imprisoned compared to whites.
Lastly, there is a great difference in terms of the amount of money required to bail blacks compared to whites. Once white and black men are charged in court with a similar offence, these people pay different amount of money as a bail.
Study shows that the amount of money paid as bail by blacks is about 18 percentage high as compared to that paid by whites who have been charged with a similar offence (Guerino, Paige and Sabol, 2010).
The main factor that causes a wider disparity in terms of how minority groups are treated as compared whites is the fact that the judicial system is economic (Merida, 2007). Generally, average number of white people in the US today earns more than Africa-Americans (Mauer, 2006).
Because of economical power, whites can afford good lawyers and are therefore represented well in the legal field. However, African-Americans are below the poverty line considering that their average income is very low compared to whites. Due to poor economical status, blacks cannot afford better legal representation and this explains why blacks are incarcerated more than whites are.
On the other hand, more whites qualify to be selected as juries compared to blacks. Due to poor economical status, most blacks do not attend the best and performing schools in the US. As a result, only a few qualify for jury selection. On the other hand, a good number of whites attend the best schools and hence qualify for jury selection. Because of this, there is disparity in terms of jury racial composition (Mauer, 2006).
Research has shown that juries formed from all-whites jury pool always convict people of color more compared to whites’ defendants (The Sentencing Project, 2004). In fact, there are considerably small numbers of black juries in the American criminal justice system and this explains why black offenders are treated unfairly.
Blacks are labeled as felonies
Due to the high rates at which blacks are incarcerated, they are mostly labeled as felonies (Prisoners Statistics, 2011). As such, the relationship between police and blacks is poor and there is always tension between these two entities. Labeling blacks as felonies or hardcore criminals deprives them many financial opportunities.
Most blacks’ imprisonment also has much to do with cases of high unemployment rates (The Sentencing Project, 2004). Being in a situation where it is very hard to get a good or a stable job makes most African-Americans to commit crimes. With limited life skills, blacks do not have opportunities to find good jobs.
Because of this, most black men are forced to go into crime in order to acquire basic needs. Study shows that a big number of black American men aged between 24 and 30 are likely to commit crime (Merida, 2007). They always involve themselves in street fights, drug trafficking, gang fights, and deadly weapons like guns (Mauer, 2006).
Sociologists and other researchers have also proved that only a small number of African-American are employed in careers that are stable and well paying (White-collar jobs). Because blacks lack opportunities to work or find stable jobs, most of them only work as manual labors doing heavy blue-collar jobs that pay poorly (Prisoners Statistics, 2011).
This and many other factors have greatly contributed to discrimination of black Americans by a bigger population of white people. Out of frustration, most African-American especial youths have resorted to crime for survival.
For a very long time now, the incarceration rates of blacks especially those aged between 24 and 30 years has substantially gone up (Prisoners Statistics, 2011). On the contrary, the number of white Americans, people of the Hispanic origins, and Latinos been incarcerated have remained low compared to blacks.
Another report proved that in the year 2003, there were more than eight hundred thousand (800 000) people of color in the US correctional centers compared to a much lower number of below seven hundred thousand whites (700 000). This and other reports clearly prove that there is inequality in the US criminal justice (Prisoners Statistics, 2011).
Considering how blacks are treated and perceived (and being labeled felonies), most young African-Americans do not even attend schools. This is because they are not accepted in most schools. To them, going to school is not an option. Such poor conditions also dictate how blacks raise up their children.
Being brought up in an environment where chaos and violence are rampant, robbery is a common phenomenon, and drug abuse is the order of the day makes the children to harden and become criminals; this is the negative environmental influence (Mauer, 2006).
Because of the poor and negative environmental influence, most blacks do not get better education. In the US, any individual who has a high school or college certificate is hopeful of good life in the society. However, lack of education means poor jobs and lack of information (uninformed society). This also translates to poor economical status causing community members to depend on crime for survival.
Furthermore, blacks do not only lack access to better education, but also the rate of school dropouts among African-American youths is very high. School dropouts are idle and this contributes to high crime rates. This therefore means that an African-American has high chances of being imprisoned in lifetime.
Conclusion
In summary, statistics clearly show that many African-Americans are arrested and incarcerated in the US today. Considering that African-Americans are constantly arrested and imprisoned, their families have faced stigmatization in the society. In addition, the family structure of most colored people has been destroyed since substantial numbers of both men and women are removed from the society.
The main causal factor to this issue is existence of racial inequalities in the criminal justice system. In fact, a great number of law enforcement officers use race as a primary factor in deciding whether to enforce law on an individual, especially blacks. In most cases, blacks are more likely to be stopped, questioned, and arrested by law enforcement officers based on racial profiling in the US.
In addition, people of color especially youths are in a number of cases sent to prison even over minor or small offences, which can be dealt with by placing such offenders on probation.
Another major problem resulting in a wider disparity in terms of how minority groups like blacks are treated as compared to whites is the fact that the judicial system is economic. African-Americans are below the poverty line considering that their average income is very low compared to whites.
Due to poor economical power, blacks cannot afford better legal representation and this contributes to reasons why many blacks are incarcerated more than whites do. Moreover, there is inequality in representation of African-Americans in the criminal justice system.
For social change and justice in the American society, the criminal justice system should make necessary reforms to eliminate any inequality, prejudice, and discrimination against any race or ethnicity. The government should also amend the existing laws to accommodate all citizens and promote social justice (The Sentencing Project, 2004).
Reference List
Guerino, P., Paige. H. M., & Sabol, W. J. (2010). Prisoners in 2010, Bureau of Justice Statistics. Web.
Kluwer, W. (2007). Criminal Procedure: Keyed to Courses Using Saltzburg and Capra’s American Criminal Procedure. New York: Aspen Publishers.
Mauer, M. (2006). Race to Incarcerate. (2nd Edn.). New York: The New Press.
Merida, K. (2007). Being a Black Man: At the Corner of Progress and Peril. Washington: Washington Post Company.
Prisoners Statistics. (2011). Correctional Population in the United States, 2011. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Web.
The Sentencing Project. (2004). Reducing racial disparity in the Criminal Justice System. A Manual for Practitioners and Policymakers 1(1)1-74.