One of the major controversies in today’s society with regards to our correctional systems is the racial makeup within the United States prison population. Non-Hispanic whites have been and are still currently the majority and dominate culture in society- despite states like California, Hawaii, New Mexico, Texas, and the District of Columbia where the white population makes up less than 50%
This overrepresentation has been under mass scrutiny over the past few decades. As a whole the African American communities in our country have over came a lot and were thought to prosper after the civil rights movements where they gained “equality”. However, we are seeing quite the opposite due to the mass incarceration of that ethnic group. In 2006 the U.S. Census reported that of the 2 million inmates incarcerated in U.S. prisons 67% were non-white, of the 2 million people behind bars, around 41% are African American (AP3 News Team, 2010) . This is an astounding number considering their ethnicity only makes up one tenth of the U.S. population. Yet, what are the factors that contribute to these overrepresentations of blacks in prison?
We have seen many theories on why people of diverse backgrounds are being targeted. Many scholars have contributed the high rates of incarceration for African Americans and minorities to overall social structure of our society. The constant living in poor neighborhoods with little to no income due to the lack of education and poor social and cultural capital have been the focal issues and contributory factors of the minority incarceration rates– Social capital referring to networking (having families or friends who can offer jobs or act as a referral), cultural capital referring ones education, knowledge, or skills that one has obtained (Walker, Spohn, & DeLone, p. 83) .
It is a known fact that most poverty stricken areas are generally populated by minorities. We have also seen these poverty stricken areas which happen to be flooded with crime being targeted by police and patrolled more often than middle class neighborhoods. Yet, this is just the start of the overall issues pertaining to African Americans flooding our criminal justice system. One of the biggest issues with processing our suspects is that the prosecutor has the discretion whether to charge the defendant, what to charge them with, and what type of plea bargain one will get the chance to receive. The issue comes into play because these prosecutors determine whether to charge and how to charge depending on not only the crime arrested for, but if the defendant has any prior criminal record. Statistics have shown over the past few decades that most minorities living in poverty areas have some type of criminal record. So it can be determined that most of these defendants will receive more charges and harsher sentencing due to their priors. The next big problem that poor minorities face is that most of them can’t afford a private attorney, let alone post bail.
One fact that remains today is that most of the defendants that are unable to post bail and who don’t get released on their own recognance are more likely to be convicted of that crime. In a 2000 study done by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that 77% of those individuals that were detained prior to trial were convicted, whereas 45% of those released prior to trail were convicted (Walker, Spohn, & DeLone, p. 182) . This is shows that there is huge benefits to being released prior to trial; one can gather witnesses, work hand in hand with the defense attorney, keep his job (if he/she has one), and gather evidence to help ones case.
It is obvious that the closer you look at the justice system the more obscured and unequal it becomes. So what can be done to lower the number of African Americans that are sent to prison every year? Does it mean that our criminal justice and legal system need to be reformed? Or is it the structure of society that comes into play? There are many theories and studies done to determine the problem, but the fact remains that we have a problem that we have failed to fix. We are in desperate need to lower our prison population and find a better way to punish and rehabilitate or people and society.
(One thing to keep in mind is that I have not even really touched on the war on drugs, or even any of the individual discriminatory factors that might come into play within the criminal justice system!)
References
AP3 News Team. (2010, October 4). 67% of Prison Population Is Nonwhite: Time for a Real Debate on Race and Crime. Retrieved April 15, 2011, from http://american3p.org/establishment-news/67-of-prison-population-is-nonwhite-time-for-a-real-debate-on-race-and-crime/
Associated Press. (2005, August 11). Texas White Anglos Become Minority. Retrieved April 15, 2010, from Fox News: U.S. & World: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,165395,00.html
U.S. Census Bureau. (2010, November 4). State and County QuickFacts. Retrieved April 16, 2011, from U.S. Census Bureau: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html
Walker, S., Spohn, C., & DeLone, M. (2007). The Color of Justice: . Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.
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