- SOC FPX 2000 Assessment 3 Social Activism and Data Analysis.
Social Activism and Data Analysis
Institutional racism simply refers to justice system policies, procedures, and attitudes that negatively affect people or communities because of race, color, or any other feature. The subject for my evaluation is institutionalized racism in the American criminal justice system.
I will seek to understand why blacks and other ethnic minority groups are overrepresented in the criminal justice system, examine how racism is systemically manifested in the justice system, and analyze three pieces of legislation that have been enacted to address this gap. Activity against racism in the criminal justice system can thus help create a society that would be conducive to a much fairer justice system.
Central Tenet of Institutional Inequality
This is why all citizens should be given dignity and respect by the American criminal justice system, as the system is fair and does not discriminate. However, researchers argue that racism is systematically rife, especially for black people. As mentioned by Durante (2020), the current imprisonment rate for African American individuals is 4.81 times what is observed for the White population.
As it is evident, the overrepresentation of people of color in the criminal justice system is brought about by the policies and procedures of the criminal justice system that have a negative effect on communities of color. Blacks are still sentenced more punitively than Whites while controlling for factors such as prior record, offense type and seriousness, and social class (Smith et al., 2021). Regarding drug use, it has been revealed that there is parity of use between white and black people; however, black people are more likely to be incarcerated for drug offenses (Vo, 2020).
Data Analysis to Make Social Inferences
Further, we will list some adequate sociological conclusions that could be made based on the works, which adhere to the essence of the investigated problem—structural injustice in the sphere of criminal justice. It can be argued, in a sociological vein, that racist laws and practices are to blame for the fact that Black people are put behind bars. A study done on the arrest rate indicates that black people are arrested, convicted, and imprisoned at a higher rate as compared to white people.
For instance, in researching the examined period, Eriksson (2019) identified that the imprisonment rates of black males significantly exceeded those of white men. This research contributes to directly proving that racism in the laws and practices of the criminal justice system helps to preserve and develop structures for different and discriminatory treatment of ethnic minorities and other marginalized groups.
SOC FPX 2000 Assessment 3 Social Activism and Data Analysis
Sociological inference: Police violence against the Black is caused by racism and prejudice of the Black people. Studies reveal that Black communities are more likely to be at the receiving end of police brutality resulting in injuries or death since officers are more likely to use force on Black people than on White people.
This only goes to further prove my proposition that institutional racism and prejudice in the police keep these inequalities intact. For instance, Edwards et al. (2019) found out that police pinned high-risk neighborhoods where black people are more likely to be targeted, subsequently raising the likelihood of injury and fatality in those areas.
Factors Contributing to Racial Disparities
Several reasons have led to the existence of racism and ethnic disparities in criminal justice. In what follows, some of the main factors that may give rise to such differences are described. Currently, it has been established that most of the racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system are a result of implicit bias. Based on research, the ‘‘racial or ethnic’’ status of people may lead to prejudice and stereotyping, and therefore they are treated differently.
There was one study suggesting that people with subtle racism against Blacks tended to be quicker to mistakenly identify the objects that Blacks were holding as weapons than the objects that White people were holding. This was Lünborg et al. (2018). Following their argument, technology was seen. During this period, According to Lundberg et al. (2018), this regard, during this period.
These loopholes only worsen the racial and cultural differentiation of the criminal justice system, coupled with poor accessibility of legal assistance. Lack of financial capital to be able to hire the services of legal professionals was linked with dire consequences, especially for low-income subjects of the law who are also predominantly people of color, as discovered by studies. Zane et al. (2020) analyzed defendants with private lawyers for comparison to those with public defenders and found that the former received less severe penalties.
This is as per research, which reveals that disparities within the criminal justice system being responded to by race and ethnicity are worsened by economic status. Policing in its various forms has targeted and impacted marginalized populations in their ability to earn a wage and increase and improve their socioeconomic status; they remain marginalized, and overwhelmingly low-income people of color will experience arrest, conviction, and incarceration. For instance, in a study done by Van (2022), they found that racial disparities in arrest rates were best explained by poverty differences.
Policies Linked to Racial Disparities Within the Criminal Justice System
As for the governmental factors, it is possible to define several policies that can be linked or related to the racial disparities in the area of criminal justice. These laws were founded on historical and systemic racism, and they caused people of color to be treated unfairly by the criminal justice system. The crusade against drug use and crime associated with it, referred to as the War on Drugs, has entrenched disproportionally high representation of ethnic minorities in prisons.
The impact that drug laws and policies have on communities of color has been established in research as having higher drug arrests, convictions, and incarceration when compared to white people. For example, even though the rates of drug use are similar, Camplain et al. (2020) confirmed that Black people are more often arrested on drug-related offenses compared to White ones.
Mandatory minimum punishment is another public policy that has aggravated the racial and ethnic disparities dominant in the criminal justice system. In this case, such laws that restrict the role of judges and set minimum periods for given crimes’ punishment adversely impact people of color and make them stay more years in prison than whites.
Studies present the raw data, which proves that minority people are overburdened with MMS policies, and now people overburdened are arrested and given longer years in jails. For example, even though Smith et al. (2021) established that differential treatment by prison officers is severe, black offenders received longer prison terms than their white counterparts even after considering the degree of conduct.
SOC FPX 2000 Assessment 3 Social Activism and Data Analysis
Most individuals are convinced that racially profiled police that involve targeting an individual or a group based on race or ethnicity affects people of color more often. As research shows, profiling has led to negative attitudes by the police towards minorities, more arrests, and longer periods of detention. For instance, a Pierson et al. (2020) study found that police officers detained, frisked, and arrested more Black individuals than White individuals.
Impacts of Discrimination on Minorities
The result has been that minorities have always been at the receiving end due to the racism that is inherent in the judicial system. Some of the examples of such discrimination in the social system include the kinds of discrimination that are faced by some groups of persons in society, such as blacks, Hispanics, or any other classification of persons that may be perceived by other persons as being different.
The use of ethnographic operational approaches is considered to result in minorities’ criminalization and overrepresentation in criminal justice systems as the outcome of the institutionalization of discrimination in the judicial system. Durante (2020) states that Black people are incarcerated more than White people. As a result of this disproportionate representation, ex-offenders have many challenges upon their return to society, such as:
- There will be less demand for recruiting and hiring of employees.
- Discrimination in mortgages.
- Some of the low levels of social approval include.
Institutionalized inequality has affected the overall quality of life of minority groups in a very negative manner. Another study found that racial and social justice disparities cause considerable psychological stress on the victims and put them at a higher risk of suffering from cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or mental health complications (Williams et al., 2019). This stress also has social and economic implications because it may limit people’s and communities’ opportunities to get jobs or complete their education.
Worryingly, there is an element of racism that prevails throughout the criminal justice system, affecting society. Sometimes the credibility of the police and the legal system is at stake when people endure such prejudice as this one; this weakens the chances of community policing and efforts to curb crime. When it comes to coping with such scenarios, other consequences like societal unrest and protest may also occur after high-profile police brutality or any other form of institutional discrimination has been exposed.
Strategies for reducing institutional discrimination
To solve the problem, it will require a collaborative effort that can address various dimensions of institutional racism in the legal system. To fix this issue, policies must be changed, funding must be directed towards non-incarceration options, and efforts must be made to increase the representation of ethnic minorities in the judicial system. For there to be changes for the better in how the judicial system handles issues to do with racially and ethnically diverse individuals, then there has to be the transformation of laws that act to perpetuate race and ethnicity disparities.
Examples of what may fall under this category include racial profiling, an overhaul of the reformation of sentencing, and the lessened use of mandatory minima. Craigie and Zapryanova (2021) explain that Black, Hispanic, and other people of color are more likely to be incarcerated and meet unfavorable terms as compared to their white counterparts in the United States due to mandatory minimums. This paper finds that mandatory minimum sentence laws are less effective in reducing differences as compared to those policies where the judge’s discretion is given.
SOC FPX 2000 Assessment 3 Social Activism and Data Analysis
Diversion, restorative justice, community monitoring, and other non-incarcerative funding methods are other ways that reduce institutionalized inequity. These measures, when in place, are likely to reduce the offending rates amongst the minority since imprisonment affects these groups most since they are the ones arrested more often. For example, a community-based imprisonment program has been described to be related to fewer new convicts and reduced length of imprisonment times by Wolff et al. (2019).
Another strategy that can be employed to reduce institutionalized prejudice is to increase the representation of those who have been previously excluded in the judicial system of the country. It could involve the appointment of people of different colors and ethnic backgrounds or undertaking training of judicial system workers to be culturally sensitive, among others. Feigenberg and Glaser (2021) found that there was a reduction in the racial disparities in traffic stops and arrests following the use of implicit bias training for police officers.
Conclusion
This evaluation examines the categories of the scenarios concerning the fact that the problem of racism is systemic in criminal justice systems and further subcategories that explore factors that create racial or ethnic disparities and how such disparities impact minorities. In the last part, I presented some policy strategies for institutional discrimination reduction, including diversity and inclusion policies, investment in non-incarceration, and policy. Read more about our sample SOC FPX 2000 Assessment 5 Comparing Politics-Law-Policy and Power for complete information about this class.
References
Champlain, R., Camplain, C., Trotter, R. T., Pro, G., Sabo, S., Eaves, E., Peoples, M., & Baldwin, J. A. (2020). Racial/ethnic differences in drug- and alcohol-related arrest outcomes in a southwest county from 2009 to 2018. American Journal of Public Health, 110(S1).
https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2019.305409
Craigie, T.-A., & Zapryanova, M. (2021). Mandatory minimum reforms, sentencing, and racial-ethnic disparities. The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 0(0).
https://doi.org/10.1515/bejeap-2020-0215
Durante, K. A. (2020). Racial and ethnic disparities in prison admissions across counties. Race and Justice, 10(2), 176–202.
https://doi.org/10.1177/2153368717738038
Edwards, F., Lee, H., & Esposito, M. (2019). Risk of being killed by police use of force in the United States by age, race-ethnicity, and sex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(34), 16793–16798.
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1821204116
Eriksson, K. (2019). Moving North and into jail? The great migration and black incarceration. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 159, 526–538.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2018.04.024
Feigenberg, B., & Glaser, J. (2021). Implicit bias training for police. Urban Labs Crime Lab Retrieved February 27, 2023, from
Lundberg, G. J. W., Neel, R., Lassetter, B., & Todd, A. R. (2018). Racial bias in implicit danger associations generalizes to older male targets. PLOS ONE, 13(6).
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197398
Pierson, E., Simoiu, C., Overgoor, J., Corbett-Davies, S., Jenson, D., Shoemaker, A., Ramachandran, V., Barghouty, P., Phillips, C., Shroff, R., & Goel, S. (2020). A large-scale analysis of racial disparities in police stops across the United States. Nature Human Behaviour, 4(4), 1–10.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-0858-1
Smith, C. M., Goldrosen, N., Ciocanel, M.-V., Santorella, R., Topaz, C. M., & Sen, S. (2021). Racial disparities in criminal sentencing vary considerably across federal judges.
https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/j2gbn
Van, G. (2022). An empirical analysis of the socioeconomic status of Blacks on police treatment and arrests: A Granger causality approach. Munich Personal RePEc Archive. Retrieved February 27, 2023, from
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/112214/
Vo, H. (2020). Being white is a get-out-of-jail-free card: An analysis on racial disparities of drug convictions in the United States. SSRN Electronic Journal.
https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3575257
Williams, D. R., Lawrence, J. A., Davis, B. A., & Vu, C. (2019). Understanding how discrimination can affect health. Health Services Research, 54(S2).
https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6773.13222
Wolff, K. T., Baber, L. M., Dozier, C. A., & Cordeiro, R. (2019). Assessing the efficacy of alternatives to incarceration within seven federal districts. Justice Evaluation Journal.
https://doi.org/10.1080/24751979.2019.1654354
Zane, S. N., Singer, S. I., & Welsh, B. C. (2020). The right to a good defense: Investigating the influence of attorney type across urban counties for juveniles in criminal court. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 32(2).