Posted: September 5th, 2022
The Color of Injustice: Racial and Ethical Disparities in Sentencing and Incarceration
he name of the paper is The Color of Injustice: Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Sentencing and Incarceration.
The Color of Injustice: Racial and Ethical Disparities in Sentencing and Incarceration
Racial and ethical disparities in sentencing and incarceration have long been a topic of discussion regarding the criminal justice system. The color of injustice has been demonstrated despite the existence of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees that no State shall make or enforce any law which abridges the privileges or immunities of its citizens, nor will any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of the law nor will it deny to any person the equal protection of the law (History, 2020). With the rate of incarceration continuing to increase in the United States, the number of African Americans and Latinos is considered to be high compared to Whites. The racial disparities within the criminal justice system continue to exist. The purpose of the research presented is that it shows racial disparity that has since existed and continues to exist in the criminal justice system. The research was based on the three questions which involve identifying evidence that racial and ethnic disparities exist between African Americans and Whites in terms of sentencing; identify whether Whites are given a larger reduction in sentences than African Americans at the state and federal level when dealing with drug offenses; and ways that reduction in sentencing disparities can be achieved. The research also highlights some of the reasons for racial disparities in sentencing and incarceration at the Federal and State level. The Significant of the study justifies the need for more effective approaches to ensuring that all people, regardless of race or ethnic background, are treated both fairly and impartially within the criminal justice system. Therefore, the study can be used to supports the already existing greater demand for policies and reforms within the criminal justice system.
Various reasons were identified by the study as the leading actions resulting in the racial disparities in sentencing and incarceration at the Federal and State level. One of the reasons is that incarceration has become the most widely used form of punishment for offenses in the United States, which has led to mass incarceration. The research identified that mass incarceration operates as a tightly networked system of laws, policies, customs, and institutions that operate collectively to ensure the subordinate status of a group defined largely by race (Alexander, 2010). High incarceration occurs due to long sentences, with most African Americans being more likely to receive a longer sentence at the federal level than Whites.
The other reason that was identified to have contributed to racial disparities in sentencing and incarceration at the Federal and State level is the war on drugs. Since the idea of the war on drugs was first implemented by President Richard Nixon and pushed by President Ronald Reagan, has led to long prison sentences and prison overcrowding at a disproportionate rate, with many of its residents being African Americans. According to the study, African Americans make up 29 percent of the U.S. population but make up 57 percent of the U.S. prison population. Bias seems to exist when federal prosecutors are twice as likely to charge an African American with an offense that carries a mandatory minimum sentence than a White person who committed the same offense. A study showed that between 2008 and 2009, in federal sentencing, the average sentence for African American males was 90 months, whereas the federal sentencing for Whites was 55 months (Rehavi & Starr, 2014). Another reason associated with the racial disparities in sentencing and incarceration at the Federal and State level is the first conduct with police. The research identified that the police mainly target low-income neighborhoods, consisting mainly of people with color. The study indicates that African Americans are likely to be stopped, questioned, and frisked compared to Whites (Demuth & Steffensmeier, 2004). Upon being stopped, it was also determined that African American males were more likely to be searched, handcuffed and arrested than Whites. However, the study indicated that racial disparity in the judicial justice system mainly begins during the bail hearing, when the decision has to be made whether to grant or deny bail. A situation that bail is granted is usually set high, many, due to socioeconomic factors, simply cannot afford to pay, so they are held in pretrial confinement, compared to Whites, whose bails are often much lower and simply bail out of jail. The pattern then repeats during the prosecution process and even in incarceration.
The study analyzed drug offenses since the United States enacted aggressive criminal justice policies in the 1980’s on preventing drug abuse. The study shows how drug offenses and aggressive policies have impacted African Americans. The policies implemented with the aim of the war on drugs are associated with statistics that were found during the study indicating that African Americans are incarcerated in prison for drug offenses at a rate of 62.7 percent compared to 36.7 for Whites, although there are more Whites drug users than African American drug users (Tonry, 1995). Due to the racial disparities in incarceration, African Americans are sent to prison 13.4 times greater than that of Whites, with prison today consisting of 13.4 times African Americans compared to Whites.
The study also conducted a legal analysis which aimed at answering the research paper questions regarding the racial and ethnic disparities during sentencing and incarceration. The analysis of evidence that racial and ethnic disparities do exist between African Americans and Whites when it comes to sentencing is provided in the study by highlighting some of the cases’ results that did not comply with the 14th Amendment. In McCleskey v. Kemp, the evidence is based on the cruel and unusual punishment and negligence the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection that was seen in the case after Warren McCleskey, an African American man, was convicted and sentenced to death for murdering a White police officer in Georgia during the robbery of a furniture store (Justia, 2020). The study of McCleskey found that African American defendants who kill white victims are more likely to receive death sentences. The Court ruled against McClesked not coy arguing there was no constitutional error in a system where African Americans and Whites were treated unequally.
The Court also ruled that unless McCleskey could submit evidence proving that a specific person acted in a racially discriminative way and purpose, his death sentence, as well as the racial disparities within Georgia’s capital punishment system, would stand. More evidence of racial and ethnic disparities in a sentencing goes back to mandatory minimum sentencing and Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which has disproportionately affected African Americans. The study highlights court decisions in cases such as Harmelin v. Michigan and Booker v. the U.S. were cruel and unusual sentence under the Eighth Amendment had not adhered to as the judges had followed the federal sentencing system that implements harsh sentences to thousands of low-level offense state and federal defendants.
The study also analyzed the question on whether Whites are given a larger reduction in sentences than African Americans at the state and federal level, with the findings jury selection, which has long been a subject of racial discrimination, has played a significant role in sentence reduction for whites. The study provides an example of Batson v. Kentucky, where during the trial of James Batson, an African American from Kentucky, the prosecutor used his peremptory challenges to exclude four African Americans from the jury pool, which resulted in him having an all-White jury (Library of Congress, 1985). Furthermore, it was found there have been numerous accounts where Whites have been given a larger reduction in sentences than African Americans for similar cases, such as in the case of Chase Legleitner and Lamar Lloyd, with both having a record of a misdemeanor were charged with robbery with a deadly weapon before the same judge. However, Legleitner, who was White, received two years in prison White Lloyd, an African American, received a 26 -year sentence, despite both committing the same crime. The study established that African American offenders are sentenced and incarcerated twenty percent higher than White offenders with African American drug traffickers receiving a 10 percent longer sentence compared to White drug traffickers who committed the same crime. The study points out that many African Americans are incarcerated not just because of their crimes, but also because of racial and ethnic beliefs, policies, and practices that are disproportionate towards African Americans.
Therefore, to reduce sentencing disparities, there must be criminal justice reform of sentencing policies and practices which has affected African Americans at disproportionate rates. Other suggestions to counter sentencing disparities include acknowledging that racial disparities exist and encourage communication between all actors within the decision making to ensure there are no disparities. Strategies that handle disparities problem in every stage of the criminal justice system must be created and fully implemented. The systematic change should also occur through electing and nominating leaders who are willing to address the problems with racial, ethnic and sentencing disparities at every stage of the criminal justice system.
References
Alexander, M. (2010). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.
Demuth, S., & Steffensmeier, D. (2004). Ethnicity Effects on Sentence Outcomes in Large Urban Courts: Comparisons Among White, Black, and Hispanic Defendants. Social Science Quarterly, 85(4):994-1011. doi: 10.1111/j.0038-4941.2004.00255.x
Justia. (2020). McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U.S. 279 (1987). Retrieved from https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/481/279/
Library of Congress. (1985). U.S. Reports: Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986). Retrieved from https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/usrep/usrep476/usrep476079/usrep476079.pdf
History. (2020). 14th Amendment. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/fourteenth-amendment#:~:text=The%2014th%20Amendment%20to%20the,to%20abolish%20slavery%20and%20establish
Rehavi, M.M., & Starr, S.B. (2014). Racial Disparity in Federal Criminal Sentences. Journal of Political Economy, 122 (6): 1320-54.
Tonry, M. (1995). Malign neglect–race, crime, and punishment in America. New York: Oxford University Press.
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