Research Proposal on Racism in the Criminal Justice System

Research question: what are the causes of racism in the criminal justice system?

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

This question is important in the criminal justice system because it helps define the core problem that is facing the criminal justice system as a whole. It is also important because it provides justice to people who have experienced injustice or lack of justice because of racism in the system.

In developing a means to address the research question, I will conduct preliminary research on the chosen topic. This will help narrow down the topic by checking what other researchers have already found out about the same topic. Next would be the consideration of the audience that will be interested in the research. In the topic criminal justice system, the audience includes people who work in the criminal justice system and people who have fallen victim to the racism. After I will evaluate the question to determine whether it would be a question that can facilitate a good researcher in the chosen topic.

The research will address the different hypothesis. These include:

• Racism has led to millions of unjust incarcerations among the black community.
• Racism has in the criminal justice system has caused the recent rise in police killings.
• Racism is responsible for a big number of deaths through death sentences in court.
• Racism gives members of the black community unfair trails in the court of law.

After the research, I would expect to find that members of the African American community are less likely to secure jobs once they have been convicted when compared to the others ("Report to the United Nations on Racial Disparities in the U.S. Criminal Justice System," 2018). This is because it is in fact, it is harder for an African American citizen who does not have a criminal record to get a job as opposed to other races. In order to solve such problems, the criminal justice system should provide a way that can ensure that released convicts from the African American community are able to secure jobs despite their criminal records. After the research, I also expect that African Americans are most likely to end up in jail than any other race in the united states. This is because the population in American prisons is filled with black people. Despite white people having a higher population outside the prison, in prison, there appear to be less than the African Americans.

The racial bias in the criminal justice system might be motivated by the fact that a member of the African American community is more likely to be involved in crimes when compared to their white counterparts. But the system is also seen to have racial tendencies as most law enforcers use the negative African American reputation to make arrests and charge people of crimes they might not have committed. It would be fair if the justice system took steps to ensure that the law enforcers and judges are educated on how to avoid racism at work. Racism in the criminal justice system can be traced in all branches of the system. These include the law enforcement, the court system and finally the institutions that detain convicted criminals. Structural racism in the justice systems occurs in many forms; the paper will highlight ways in which hidden racial bias can be identified and addressed.

References

Bowman, S. (2014). Colour behind bars. Santa Barbara: Praeger, an imprint of ABC-CLIO LLC.

Report to the United Nations on Racial Disparities in the U.S. Criminal Justice System. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/un-report-on-racial-disparities/

Rocque, M. (2011). Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System and Perceptions of Legitimacy. Race And Justice, 1(3), 292-315. doi: 10.1177/2153368711409758

Butler, P. (1995). Racially based jury nullification: Black power in the criminal justice system. Yale LJ, 105, 677.