Racial Disparity In The Criminal Justice System Essay

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Cole shows that racial disparities in the criminal justice system can result from deliberate racialized laws and actions. For drug offenses, Blacks and Hispanics are convicted, arrested, and imprisoned many times more than Whites; the case is similar for juveniles. Research indicates that although crack users are majority White, a huge percentage (96% as of 1988) of Blacks are charged with violation. In contrast, 80% of Whites were convicted for using powder cocaine. What percentage of powder cocaine users are White vs. Black? Knowing these patterns, federal lawmakers penalized violations of crack cocaine, giving the same penalty for 5 grams of crack to 500 grams of powder ratio in the past. They reduced that to 1:100 ratio, and then recently to a 1:18 ratio (FSA 2010).
The government’s refusal …show more content…
However, disparity appears with the convictions and penalties of crime that are knowingly directed on minorities. Penalties are intensified for minorities, but reduced for Whites. The “get touch” policies are similar to the strike hard campaign Chinese government uses to justify the increased number of racialized detainment, incarceration, and deaths of people in the Uyghur and Tibet Regions it occupies. Likewise, in the U.S., racialization of the war on drugs, arrests and incarceration hugely disadvantages the minority individuals and weakens their communities. The racialization of the systems also influences attitudes and behaviors by officials including police and also the public, making it seem okay to treat minorities unfairly. China employs the racist tactics to secure power and resources out of fear of losing them. But why does the U.S. play tough? Cole explains that all these effects are “disabling” the youth from the start and throughout their lives, depriving the Black community from its potential. Is this the intended result? Are people aware of it? How can people stop
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