Effects of Criminal Justice System on Racial Minority Groups
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United States criminal justice system is the largest in the world. The United States criminal justice system leads in the world with a high rate of incarceration. The interaction between minority status or race is a salient aspect of racial problems in the United States. Minority groups, mainly African Americans and Latinos, are unfairly targeted by the police and face harsh prison sentences than their white counterparts (Lofstrom and Raphael 2016). There is a large disproportionate representation of minorities, especially Latinos and Blacks. There are clear observable differences in the involvement of different racial groups with the criminal justice system. The difference is stark on color, especially the Black and non-Hispanic Whites.
The criminal justice system affects the minority groups differently than the other population as a whole. First, minority groups, particularly the Black and Latinos, have high rates of incarceration. People of color, particularly the Latinos and Blacks, are overrepresented in the United States prison. Black people and Latinos make up 60 percent of people behind bars in the United States. Recent research shows that minority groups, majorly the Latinos and Black, are overrepresented in the detention and imprisonment. For instance, over 50 percent of the prison population are ethnic minorities. A high number of minority ethnic group overrepresentations are attributed to legislation and law enforcement that have a disparity influence on racial or ethnic minorities, economic and social disempowerment (Asad and Clair 2018). From the high rate of overrepresentation in prison and detention facilities by minority ethnic groups, it is evident that the criminal justice system affects minority groups.
Another way the criminal justice system affects the minority group is long sentencing. Blacks and Latinos face discrimination in judicial proceedings and sentencing. An individual from Black and Latino racial and ethnic groups is given longer prison sentencing than their non-minority counterparts, although the severity of the crime is similar. It occurs as a result of discrimination. In the criminal justice system, discrimination occurs as direct and indirect. Direct discrimination occurs when the judge or jury under the influence imposes a harsher sentence on a minority racial, ethnic group (Clair and Winter 2016). It can also be a result of failure or negligence of the criminal justice system to provide interpretation when the accused minority group member does not understand the language using during the trial. It makes it harder for the accused to defend himself or herself. In this case, the criminal justice system affects the minority group by giving the accused longer sentencing than other populations as a whole.
Another way the criminal justice system affects the minority group is denying them access to justice as offenders, witnesses, and victims. For a legal criminal justice system to be fair and humane, legal aid is an essential element. Forms of legal aides are legal advice, legal education, assistance and representation, and legal information access. Legal aid services need to be provided at no cost to victims, witnesses, and offenders (LaFree, 2018). Access to legal aid is important to ensure the protection of minority rights. In many cases, Blacks and Latinos as minority racial, ethnic groups are denied access to legal aides by the criminal justice system. It affects them since they cannot defend themselves appropriately during the trial.
Another way the criminal justice system affects the minority racial, ethnic group is severe arrests. Minority groups, particularly Blacks and Latinos, are three times more likely to be arrested than other non-minority groups. After arrest, minority ethnic groups are likely to receive prison sentences compared to Whites counterparts (Wildeman and Wang 2017). Black men are more likely to be placed in a high-security prison for the same category of offenses. Through this, the minority racial, ethnic groups are affected by the criminal justice system through regular arrests.
Another way the criminal justice system affects the minority racial, ethnic groups is discriminatory policies. The adoption of criminal justice policies and practices that appear race-neutral affects minority racial groups. This policy leads to a big difference when treatment is concerned with regard to color. Policies such as differences in treatment for cocaine, crack offenses, policies targeting crime committed in a school zone, which majorly targets urban areas and previous criminal records (Burch, 2015). These policies affect the racial, ethnic minority groups, particularly Blacks and Latinos. Although perceived neutral, these policies target racial minority groups, hence exposing Blacks and Latinos to more arrests.
Another way the criminal justice system affects the minority ethnic groups, particularly the Black and Latinos, is unequal policing. In many cases, the race is perceived as a determining factor of police allocation. Police are allocated beyond and above the crime rates. The presence of police in the selected neighborhoods leads to high exposure to police. It leads to a high rate of contact with police, which includes arrests and use of force by police (Messing et al. 2015). The use of force by police and high rates of arrests affects the minority ethnic group’s health, economic well-being, and mental health.
Another way the criminal justice system affects the minority groups, particularly the Blacks and Latinos, is imposing the death penalty on them. People of the Black ethnic minority group represent the high number of people condemned to death in the United States. Blacks account for more than 40% of the county’s death row mates, and capital punishment is used inappropriately against the racial, ethnic minority groups. Through this, minority groups, particularly the Blacks and Latinos, are sentenced to death as a result of the criminal justice system.
There are similarities in how both Latinos and Blacks are affected. First, both blacks and Latinos as minority racial, ethnic group forms the highest population in prisons. Another similarity is that both the Latinos and Black faces big chances of going to prison in their lifetime due to their color and racial ethnicity. Both Black and Latinos face a high sentence in prison. For instance, between 2007 and 2011, black people received 19.5 percent sentence longer than the other white counterparts (Fortuna et al. 2020). When traffic stops are concerned, people of color, particularly Black and Latino, are more likely to be searched than Whites. Research shows that Black and Latinos are three times more likely to be searched than whites.
In conclusion, the research has shown the gaps that exist in the criminal justice system. Minority racial, ethnic groups, particularly the Blacks and Latinos, are affected by the criminal justice system’s decision and policies. The effects include; high rate of incarceration, whereby a large number of Blacks and Latinos form a high percentage of prisoners. Another effect is harsh sentences to minority ethnic groups.
References
Lofstrom, M., & Raphael, S. (2016). Crime, the criminal justice system, and socioeconomic inequality. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 30(2), 103-26.
Asad, A. L., & Clair, M. (2018). Racialized legal status as a social determinant of health. Social Science & Medicine, 199, 19-28.
Clair, M., & Winter, A. S. (2016). How judges think about racial disparities: Situational decision‐making in the criminal justice system. Criminology, 54(2), 332-359.
LaFree, G. (2018). Losing legitimacy: Street crime and the decline of social institutions in America. Routledge.
Wildeman, C., & Wang, E. A. (2017). Mass incarceration, public health, and widening inequality in the USA. The Lancet, 389(10077), 1464-1474.
Burch, T. (2015). Skin color and the criminal justice system: Beyond black‐white disparities in sentencing. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 12(3), 395-420.
Messing, J. T., Becerra, D., Ward-Lasher, A., & Androff, D. K. (2015). Latinas’ perceptions of law enforcement: Fear of deportation, crime reporting, and trust in the system. Affilia, 30(3), 328-340.
Fortuna, L. R., Tolou-Shams, M., Robles-Ramamurthy, B., & Porche, M. V. (2020). Inequity and the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color in the United States: The need for a trauma-informed social justice response. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy.