Both property crime and violent crime in the U.S. are concentrated in poor, urban areas. And because African-Americans are disproportionately poor and heavily concentrated in the nation's inner cities, black communities have a notably higher crime rate than that of other communities. Poverty, alienation and despair in the black lower class have led to the rise of a number of professional street and criminal networks. Although the incidence of violent crime is dropping among blacks,[ ("Greenhaven Press" 16-43, 65-73)] more than one million African American men are currently in jail or prison. (Macallair) remains the leading cause of death among black men between the ages of 15 and 34.
Many local law enforcement and justice agencies have little diversity within their organizations(Macallair)Cultural differences between non-black police officers and African Americans is sufficiently large that misunderstandings and misreading of behavioral cues can lead to conflict and physical violence(Macallair)Also, many blacks view the criminal justice system as a bureaucracy which oppresses African Americans, and especially poor African Americans, who are unable to afford the competent legal assistance. (Macallair)
Since the 1960s however, more have been hired by law enforcement agencies due to lawsuits such as and due to a rise in militancy from groups such as the who constantly fought with disproportionately white police departments. The hiring of Black officers however has not stopped the rates of . In several American cities, police departments have instead more justification for brutalizing as the use of officers neutralizes any racial issues. Some cities that have majority Black police forces such as and have even been notorious for leading the nation in homicide rates of Black citizens. (Meir and Geis 272) In short, the racial issues that persist with police departments exist all over America regardless of the department's demographics.
In 1995, one-third of African American men between the ages of 20 and 29 were under some form of control (in , on or ). Some statistics report that African Americans are at least seven times more likely to murder, be and/or than white Americans. Studies suggest that the association of or identity with crime rates is a potentially misleading and paradigm, with and status being more accurate correlates to criminal behavior. (Hahn 37-43)From 1976 until 2004, despite their comprising approximately 12% of the population, African-Americans comprised the majority (52%) of criminal offenders arrested and convicted of homicide (murder and manslaughter), and a large proportion (46.9%) of homicide victims. Rates of and other violence among African Americans are no greater than those of similarly situated (i.e., economically disadvantaged) whites or any other in the United States.
There are other factors which contribute to the overrepresentation of African Americans caught up in the criminal justice system. African Americans are frequently the targets of and negative societal stereotyping. (Bureau of Justice Statistics)Historians agree that black and coping strategies are rooted in America's history of and . Additionally, once apprehended and charged with a crime, African-Americans are several times more likely than whites to receive substandard legal representation and harsher sentences for petty crimes, including longer periods of incarceration. (Bureau of Justice Statistics)Blacks also receive the death penalty far more frequently than whites for similar crimes, particularly when the victim is white. Further, sentencing laws, which generally mandate harsher sentences for certain types of drug offenses and for street crime, as opposed to other types of criminal offenses, place the black poor at a disadvantage when compared to whites.
Bibliography
F. Meir, Robert, and Gilbert Geis. Criminal Jusitice and Moral Issues . 1st ed. Los Angeles: Roxbury Publishing Company, 2006. (Meir and Geis 272)
In “Criminal Justice and Moral Issues,” it addresses to questions: What kinds of people does the law create? What kinds of problems can the law solve? Using the questions as guidelines the authors explore the role and function of law relating to six major issues that often divide Americans today: prostitution, drug use, homosexuality, abortion, pornography and gambling. Meis and Geis gives sophisticated and in depth discussions of these issues, then reviews the conflicting opinions about the proper role of criminal law in dealing with them.
H. Hahn, Paul. Emerging Criminal Justice. 1st ed. London and New Delhi: SAGE Publications, 1998. (Hahn 37-43)
Emerging Criminal Justice presents a new model for crime control that replaces the “war on crime” and other failed models. It invites students, academics, and researchers and policy makers to take a good look at the entire criminal justice system as a whole and consider a new paradigm for understanding and correcting the system and most of it elements. It gives there pillars to making or improving the criminal justice for the future and helps share ideas about it.
Greehaven, Press. "Criminal justice."Criminal Justice- Opposing Viewpoints. 2nd edition. 1998. ("Greenhaven Press" 16-43, 65-73)
Opposing Viewpoints on criminal justice not only providing access to a wide diversity of opinions, but also stimulating readers to do further research for group discussion and individual interest. It includes complete articles and speeches, long book excerpts about the criminal justice system and its viewpoints.
Macallair, Daniel . "The Punishing Decade: Prison and Jail Estimates at the Millennium." CENTER ON JUVENILE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE. Jan 21 1999. Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice. 15 Apr 2008 <http://www.cjcj.org/pubs/punishing/punishing.html>. (Macallair)
As the century draws to a close, we can safely predict that America will end the 1990s by having put more people behind bars than in any other decade in our history. Throughout most of the century prior to 1980, the incarceration rate, and the raw number of people behind bars, has risen and fallen with wars, depressions, economic booms and busts, as well as with the rise and fall of the crime rate. But as the following charts illustrate, the last thirty years, and particularly, the last decade have witnessed the kind of huge jumps in prison
Bureau of, Justice Statistics. "1 0f 4." Bureau of Justice Statistics Homicide trends in the U.S.. July 11, 2007. U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs. 15 Apr 2008 <http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/race.htm>. (Bureau of Justice Statistics)
This site gave charts and graphs on everything within the Criminal Justice. Its gives people the ups and downs of the criminal justice system. It compares and contrasts between sexual orientation, races and every other aspect of the criminal justice system.
