Research Paper on African Americans and the Criminal Justice System

Introduction

According to Burch (2015), the US criminal justice system's main goal is the provision of justice for all citizens regardless of the social class, ethnic origin, sex, age, and race. However, concerns over the same justice system over biasness are raised based on various disturbing forms. The history of the US is densely dominated with controversy over discrimination claims. Similarly, discrimination in the legal system based on race is a concern in American society. Therefore, an extensive review of the experiences of African Americans with the legal system is presented in this paper.

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Questions over the rigging of the criminal justice system in the US cloud many concerns parties, especially minority activists. The high number of African Americans in the US prison system as well as reported incarceration. Juvenile is also included in the generalization of the suspicion of danger threat hinted by the police and the correctional facilities. The prisons and correction facilities are largely dominated by African Americans, which pose the question of the validity of the criminal justice system (Browning, Miller & Spruance, 2018). According to Nittle (2019), the imprisonment level of black Americans is six times higher than that of the non-blacks. In this light, stiffer sentences are also subjected to African Americans with high numbers of death penalties recorded among the black population. As cited by Nittle (2019), Harris County in Texas, black defendants were three times more likely to be sentenced to death as opposed to their white compatriots.

Whites and blacks suffer the same rate of homicides; however, about 80% of those executed murdered whites (Nittle, 2019). The acquitting of George Zimmerman in 2013 rose a lot of questions after the murder of Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman trailed Martin in a gated community and shot him on suspicion of posing a threat. However, Martin was not involved in wrongdoing, which questioned the integrity of criminal justice in the provision of justice for all. Similarly, in another account, during the April 1992 Los Angeles riots, Reginald Denny, a white truck driver was dragged out of his truck and attacked by a couple of black men (Costly, 2019). This was followed by the arrest of five men of African American decency who were later charged with several crimes including attempted murder. Three of the suspects were also ordered to stand for trial for the attack of Denny. However, the case became the main focus in the feeling dissatisfaction with the treatment of the African American community by the criminal justice system. Regardless of the capture of the guilty individuals in the attack, many people insisted on the guiltiness of the arrested individuals which meant that the three suspects would never get justice in a judicial system which is mainly dominated by the white prosecutors, jurors as well as judges (Costly, 2019). However, based on the objectives of the criminal justice system, any individual faced with criminal charges is aligned for fair trial and justice.

According to Nittle (2019), many blacks in various cities in the US are at risk of getting arrested along with their lives. This points at a racist criminal justice system. On a similar account, criminologist Robert Staples cited the composition of the criminal justice system to be dominated mainly by the whites to protect the interests of the whites and keep the blacks on the low. However, in William Wilbanks' view, the discrepancies in the arrests and imprisonment of African Americans and the whites were due to other factors rather than race limitations. According to Costly (2019), the differences in the number of whites and blacks in prisons and correction facilities are linked to poverty and not a race. Therefore, the high numbers of street crimes, assault, and robberies are connected to people from poor backgrounds. Thus, the poverty level in black Americans is the critical factor in the increased rate in detention and imprisonment.

The black youths are also at higher risks of incarceration as opposed to their white counterparts. According to the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, blacks presented in juvenile courts are most likely to undergo incarceration as well as end in adult prisons compared to white youths. The school to prison pipeline as outlined by Browning et al. (2018) indicate how the criminal justice system ushers young African Americans in the society. According to Costly (2019), in 1992, the number of African Americans in prison was higher than those in schools. This highlights the risk of black youths in American society. With regards to police treatment, African Americans regardless of age, undergo racial profiling and therefore are suspects of any criminal activities within their vicinity (Desmond, Papachristos & Kirk, 2016).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the criminal justice system in the US is mostly affected by discrimination regardless of diverse efforts to offer justice for all in society. The milestones in achieving equality in the society are intertwined in the limited compositional structure of the justice-according bodies. The dominance of the legal system by whites is perceived as a significant obstacle in achieving justice for all. In this light, the composition of the jury is deemed as a critical factor in the sentencing of offenders with the black Americans standing at a higher risk due to the suspicion and racial profiling which they are subjected to frequently. This points at the deviations in attaining full justice in American society.

References

Browning, S. L., Miller, R. R., & Spruance, L. M. (2018). Criminal incarceration dividing the ties that bind: Black men and their families. In Impacts of incarceration on the African American family (pp. 87-102). Routledge.

Burch, T. (2015). Skin color and the criminal justice system: Beyond blackwhite disparities in sentencing. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 12(3), 395-420. doi.org/10.1111/jels.12077

Costly, A. (2019). BRIA 9 1 c Does the Criminal Justice System Discriminate Against African-Americans? Retrieved from https://www.crf-usa.org/bill-of-rights-in-action/bria-9-1-c-does-the-criminal-justice-system-discriminate-against-african-americans

Desmond, M., Papachristos, A. V., & Kirk, D. S. (2016). Police violence and citizen crime reporting in the black community. American Sociological Review, 81(5), 857-876. doi.org/10.1177/0003122416663494

Nittle, Nadra Kareem. (2019, July 3). African American Men and the Criminal Justice System. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/african-american-men-criminal-justice-system-2834814