Topic:

Racial disparities in the Criminal Justice System

1. Social Problem

Racism has been a prevalent social issue encountered in many areas of the world. The issue is
not solely limited to a single sphere of life rather is seen broadly in the classrooms, workplace,
and even the criminal justice system. people of color are often treated as outclass in the society.
The issue dominates the criminal justice system as well where the discrimination is often
encountered depending on the race of the individual convicted in the crime (Byrne et al., 2020).
Criminal justice system not only encompasses legal individuals such as lawyers, solicitors,
judges etc. rather the system extends to police and law enforcement authorities as well.

In many nations, the police target marginalized people in disproportionately higher numbers for
arrest. A disproportionate number of these groups are vulnerable to harsh criminal sentencing,
including unjust trials and unequal justice (Bhopal, 2017). Victims of discrimination face
humiliating treatment, beatings, sexual abuse, and shootings, with little option for legal remedy.

Laws seemingly devoid of racial or ethnic bias can carry hidden dangers because they rely on
prosecutorial discretion, sentencing practices, or even how they're written. Some people believe
that some racial groups have disproportionately high involvement in crime, and they blame the
racial makeup of these organizations for this situation (Walker & García-Castañon, 2017).

Additional criminal punishments accompanied by forced loss of voting rights for a certain period
of time or for life compound already present systematic inequities by cutting members of
disenfranchised communities off from politics, further marginalizing them from society.

Human Rights Watch opposes the death sentence because of its inherent harshness and how
discriminatory effect is particularly devastating when it's used. Though the sentence is
supposedly only applied for a crime, it's not uncommon for an entirely different factor, which is
more arbitrary, to be the driving force behind who lives and who dies. Even though criminal
justice systems are given every opportunity to provide the innocent a fair trial regardless of their
ethnic or racial affiliation, the system is fundamentally flawed, and so some innocent people are
still being executed primarily on the color of their skin (Stewart et al., 2017). An execution is
permanent, and this means there is no chance to redress any errors of justice.

The concept of discrimination does not end at actions enforced by criminal law. Police authority
can be used to enforce rules such as restricting one's mobility or right to live in a certain place or
the right to equality. Enforcing class inequality and restricting group rights is just one of the
many crimes that state law enforcement can do, outside of the law, to serve the social and
economic class systems that exist (Peffley et al., 2017). Those who are already disadvantaged in
society, such as the poor and minorities, may have their political rights taken away from them if
public institutions, such as the police or local government, disregard their legal rights.

When suffering prejudice, victims can lose the protection of law enforcement and the judiciary in
civil disputes if they dare to defend their rights. When other people are attacking minority
groups, law enforcement will just watch without doing anything, or may even purposefully take
their time responding. Investigations into such crimes may be reluctant, which could have
serious repercussions (Donnelly, 2016). Police frequently fail to document the complaints of
people who belong to marginalized groups (such as people of color and immigrants) and favor
people who discriminate against them. People in minority groups who are seen as criminals or
get the blame for things without proof are unfairly treated by law enforcement officials with
prejudice. Moreover, law enforcement officials too often are unresponsive to the actions of the
majority population, often acting as accomplices or cowards who go along with the majority in
punishing, oppressing, or excluding minority groups (Menefee, 2018).

When bigotry and segregation in the law are deeply ingrained, and the tradition of slavery is
strong, discrimination in the court system and public policy is a major problem (Moore, 2007).
The aforementioned practice has an undercurrent of racism, as well, which is defined by
widespread societal attitudes and governmental and private initiatives.

The court system and enforcement agencies could contribute to or benefit from injustices by
reinforcing discriminatory practices. Through a cycle of recriminations, racial or ethnic
economic, social, and political exclusion and resultant discriminatory behavior by law
enforcement and the legal system destabilizes society and worsens exclusionary divisions.
Individuals belonging to specific groups who are subject to higher discrimination are
disadvantaged because the state presents the visage of police and prosecutors in which their
violent conduct perpetuates and reinforces their subservience (XIE & MCDOWALL, 2010).

A lot of research has been done on the race inequalities in how people be treated in the criminal
justice system. Studies on racial inequality in sentencing show divergent conclusions and a
variety of reasons for observed disparities. Some of them are attributable to legal factors such as
criminal activity, offence severity, and criminal history.

Studies generally conclude that even with evidence that criminal conduct does not reflect all of
the racial disparities in police interaction, arrest, and imprisonment, significant gaps still exist in
the research studies as well. Three coordinated investigations used longitudinal statistical models
to explore if police made arrests based on involvement in misbehavior. Studies were conducted
in Pittsburgh, Rochester and Seattle (Huizinga, 2008). Overall, the study discovered that racial
differences in the percentage of arrest had nearly no difference across locations, as distinctions in
self-reported crime influenced those figures. The police still uncovered the relevant measure that
implicit biases in arrest rates had no significant difference among sites. Researchers involved in
this study share the view that, like many other studies show, racial discrimination could be
possible explanations for the fact that Black youth face much higher rates of arrest and charges,
but they are unable to reach a definitive conclusion because their research has not sufficiently
accounted for an unknown third factor (Akiva Liberman, 2008).

Crime rates are higher in Black neighborhoods so there generally will be a greater police
presence. This also leads to the perception that usually black individuals are involved in illegal
acts thus making them culpable for legal action. The police furthermore engage in making arrests
of black people when an incident occurs. This shows the discrimination against the people of
color in the western majorities (Sampson & Sharkey, 2008).

The attitude displayed by the criminal justice system against the people of color often is guided
by the behavior. The conduct of the individuals in the criminal justice system towards the people
of color is outright discrimination against the race where often a particular race is thought to be
responsible for all the bad in the society while due to the white supremacy as demonstrated by
Williams, (2017) in his article where he says that white people are less convicted in the crimes in
the same society where the conviction rate of black people in crimes is a popular norm.

The racial prejudice against the Black people often lead to their conviction in crimes which they
have not even engaged in. However, the conviction is based on the race of the individual rather
than the actual facts of the incident. Nevertheless, it impacts the lives of the falsely convicted
individuals in many aspects. The people convicted for a crime have less job opportunities. While
most of the firms are keen about the criminal record of an individual before hiring them, the
conviction of a person falsely can lead him to face a dearth of opportunities (Hetey & Eberhardt,
2018). The discrimination based on the race of the individual also traumatize the person. When
the individual is falsely convicted for a crime, he faces severe pressure from his peers, workplace
and even family members a time. In some cases, he often is expelled from his place of work due
to his conviction. This not only put a major stress on the finances of the individual rather
mentally traumatize him as the stigma of being falsely convicted in a crime keeps haunting him.

Theoretical Explanation:

The psychology of the disparity against a race is ingrained in the society since the medieval
times. The British colonization of different areas particularly the subcontinent has led to the
concept of white supremacy in those regions. While white people are considered superior to the
individuals of color as demonstrated by Jeannine, (2017) in her book, the subordination and
discrimination based on the race is also quite prevalent in some majorities such as America,
United Kingdom and other western democracies where the white people are often in the ruling
elite. The discrimination centered on the race can affect the lives of the social group belonging to
the particular race. According to Peterson & Krivo, (2010), African American are more prone to
social categorization in the western society where their lives are implicated through sanctions in
employment, education and daily life merely on the fact that they belong to a race which is
different than the society. (Hurwitz & Peffley, 2010) establishes that while whites and blacks
may face the same discrimination in the justice systems and that the discrimination based on the
race of an individual is a myth having no reality in the criminal justice system. Hurwitz
furthermore regard the legal system to be impartial of the race, ethnicity and other factors that
could impair the court judgement however some scholars such as (N.|Sickmund, 2019) finds that
although the bias against a race is declining in the criminal justice system yet the conviction rates
of a racially marginated group are higher than the people of the same social class. The research is
evidenced on the new findings from the OJJDP’s report where they observe the practice of racial
disparity in the juvenile conviction (Bell, 2017).

The facet of the society where a given race is subjected to face discrimination in regard to its
social needs, can be justified through the social categorization theory which explains the
marginalization of a specific class of the society based on the characteristics of race, ethnicity,
religious affiliation, sexual preference or any other socially isolated norm (Hughes et al., 2020)

Theoretically grounded intervention:

According to the intergroup theory of psychology which believes that the coordination and
contact between the groups would significantly improve the perceptions against the prejudice in
the society. As the theory suggests that different groups which are divided by the race, would
often discriminate against one another however, in cases where they get to work together such as
in the workplace, classroom or as in the given case, where the white representatives of the legal
justice system come in contact with the African race, the development of understanding their
behavior often proves fruitful. While most of the convictions against the race are purely made on
the prejudices against the given race, it shall also be considered that the contact between the
groups i.e., white Americans and black Americans or African Americans would eliminate the
stereotyping of the social class. Another theory that could be applied to the existing issue of
discriminating against a particular race is the social categorization theory where the social
classes in majority categorizes a particular class for a prejudice. In the given instance the theory
can be applied to the criminal justice system where the entire system categorizes the people of
different race in a social category where they would be held accountable for every action, they
engage in.

The issue of prejudice against the people of color is quite prevalent in the society particularly in
the criminal justice system. therefore, in order to reduce the prejudice in the criminal justice
system, (Race, class, and the role of social workers in racial justice | St. Catherine University,
2017) incorporates the opinion of different social workers in an effort to end or reduce the extent
of the racial disparity in all walks of life. The social workers have based their conclusions on the
fact that the social inequality with regards to black members of the society shall be addressed and
resolved in order to promote good will of the black community within the criminal justice
system.
People often believe that officers make decisions about strategy and tactics all on their own.
Decisions made in courts, which is to say, decisions that find their end result in sentencing and
punishment, are indeed under the consideration of those above them, such as the attorney
general's office, and are also occasionally seen by the legislative and judicial branches, along
with the general public. When police are accessible and publicly accountable, the people trust
them, which allows them to work more easily with the public. Citizen regulatory agencies are a
viable option for eliminating a problem that's especially acute in law enforcement agencies: the
“code of silence.” Programs aimed at increasing police and the public's cooperation are being
developed to address modern day policing trends (Sutton et al., 2011). A number of
neighborhoods collaborate with local law enforcement to develop and then evaluate various
tactical and strategic options to deal with various issues (Akiva Liberman, 2008). Those that
push for community-oriented policing want it to be the standard practice, therefore they engage
with police departments and local organizations to create the culture they're hoping for.

Good-quality longitudinal research on prejudice and/or prejudice eradication is quite scarce.

Hayward et al., (2019) researched the ways in which students' experiences with a number of
different out-groups and their corresponding minorities influenced levels of prejudice over a six-
month period. The research discovered that the more contact people had, the less bias they had;
however, it was also shown that bias decreased the amount of contact the participants had. It was
more obvious that contact effects were present when the out-group members appeared to be
representative of their group. We've learned that majority groups have a much more significant
impact on people of color than minorities have on individuals of dominant groups.

Longitudinal data is highly significant, yet it's rare. Even so, limited evidence results from data
being selected from certain cohorts, rather than the whole population. A project called Group-
Focused Enmity in Europe funded a longitudinal study of anti-Semitic attitudes in Germany.
Non-immigrant German individuals were surveyed in this study over the course of 2002 to 2007.
The study also looked at a sample of 521 people over the span of four years. From these results,
a clear correlation was discovered between hostility towards people belonging to a different race
and approval of violence against them. Although one of the questions in the study had a strange
context (“When others use up one's space, they should be shown who is in charge with the use of
violence”), the results were conclusive (Wagner, 2008). Also, a study found that good contact
was linked to lower intergroup prejudice in the years following 2002.

Sutton et al., (2011) studied the possibility of media efforts lowering bias. This review drew from
well-established biopsychosocial research to find best practices for campaigns, but it also
underlined that since these efforts are always situated in a social context, their success might be
difficult to assess. In the review, a plan for determining if a “realist evaluation” is possible is
presented. There is limited proof that media campaigns are successful. There is very little proof,
and that is in part because of flawed scientific methods and lack luster press tactics.
Assessment of Success:

Better insight can be gained on the benefits of media use in assisting the reduction of racial bias,
using the psychology of marketing. Advertising, though, does not do much by itself; to see real,
long-term impact, social change is needed (Monk, 2018). Even positive promotion may be
damaging if utilized alone. Studies have shown that those who say they aren't racist usually do in
fact possess certain biases about race and ethnicity (Seamster & Charron-Chénier, 2017).

As the success of the longitudinal intervention is concerned, Devine et al., (2012) conducted a
12-week longitudinal study which shows that people who had undergone the intervention were
more likely to exhibit nondiscriminatory behavior towards other social classes. The study
furthermore demonstrated that the people who were conscious about the racial discrimination or
those who experienced racial prejudice in the social sphere were greatly impacted by the results
of the longitudinal interventions. Over the course of the trial, those who participated in the
intervention also showed more concern about prejudice and had a better understanding of their
own bias. There were no signs of the above impacts in the comparison group. Results give us
reason to expect that we can lower cases of unnoticed and unintended prejudice, which is the
product of implicit prejudice.

Strengths and Limitations:

It is likely that media messages may not be the most effective. Rather than concluding that
normative pressure is successful, one should focus on the possibility of the research on
intergroup contact and group dynamics, which strongly supports this view. Information and
normative beliefs may exist via at least two general processes. To put it simply, these all include
becoming really convinced, as well as being ready to back what someone is saying or doing.
People are more inclined to be convinced after a general consensus has reached. In other words,
group decision-making stands in for reasoning and individual decision-making. Because of this,
violent groups have successfully planted extremist values and beliefs. But one should be able to
reduce bias using the same tactics of persuasion. Identification with a group increases its
persuasiveness, whereas outclassing it as an out-group reduces its persuasiveness. For instance, if
someone receives a message from someone beyond their own community as an effort to
convince them, individuals are more likely to respond by rejecting the proposed ideas altogether.
To succeed, one must discover some common ground with the people that the intervention
wishes to influence. This is crucial, as it is with most forms of prejudice. The current paper could
not cover all of the studies on intergroup attitude change here, but there are instances of this and
other intervention experiments that show there are many ways through which one may fight
prejudice and strengthen intergroup contact in the society to reduce racial prejudice.
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