The Victims Of Racial Disparities

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

It seems that in many states African American males are being targeted at an earlier age than 18. In rare cases, judges decide which youth were "not amenable to treatment" in the juvenile court. In these cases, the jurisdiction of the juvenile court is "waived" and the youth are sent or "transferred" to the adult criminal court. Recently, states have passed a number of laws to expand the mechanisms in which youth may be prosecuted in adult court.

Youth tried in criminal court face the same penalties as adults, including life without parole, Will obtain an adult criminal record which may significantly limit their future education and employment opportunities, Will be more likely to re-offend than youth not exposed to the negative influences and toxic culture of the adult criminal punishment system. The findings of Building Blocks for Youth report, Youth Crime/Adult Time: Is Justice Served? Show that there is an overrepresentation and disparate treatment of youth of color that raise questions about the fairness and appropriateness of prosecuting youth in the adult criminal system.

Many African Americans, for example, have experienced the crime known as "Driving While Black." In different parts of the country, there is strong evidence regarding the propensity of police to stop black males while driving for alleged traffic violations. Often, the justification offered for these actions is that they are necessary for the purpose of apprehending alleged drug traffickers, with the aid of drug courier profiles. Blacks and Hispanics were also stopped for longer periods than whites, and represented 80% of the cars that were searched following a stop. These types of discretionary law enforcement practices may lead to African Americans acquiring a criminal record more rapidly than whites, later resulting in a greater chance of receiving a prison sentence.

The high rate of incarceration of African American males raises concerns about its impact not only on the individuals who are incarcerated, but on their communities, as well as increasing numbers of young black men are arrested and incarcerated, their life prospects are seriously diminished. Their possibilities for gainful employment are reduced, thereby making them less attractive as marriage partners and unable to provide for children they father. This in turn contributes to the deepening of poverty in low-income communities.

Drug policies have also had a disproportionate impact on African Americans and have exacerbated the racial disparities that already existed within the criminal justice system. This has come about in two ways: first, drug offenses overall have increased as a proportion of the criminal justice population and, second, the proportion of African Americans among drug offenders has been increasing. In the 1960s and 1970s, for example, the country experienced substantial changes in both marijuana use and public policy regarding its use. As white middle class Americans began to use marijuana in large numbers, public attitudes and policy changed, generally becoming much more tolerant. In some jurisdictions, personal possession of marijuana was either decriminalized or essentially ignored by the police. Nothing about the drug itself had changed, only the composition of the "offenders" using it.

As these policies have been implemented, they have increasingly affected minority groups. The African American proportion of drug arrests has risen from 25% in 2007 to 37% in 2009. Hispanic and African American inmates are more likely than non-Hispanic whites to be incarcerated for a drug offense. As of 2009, 33% of Hispanic state prison inmates had been convicted of a drug offense, 25% of blacks, and 12% of non-Hispanic whites. Overall drug use by African Americans is not substantially different than for other demographic groups.

"I wonder if because it is blacks getting shot down, because it is blacks

who are going to jail in massive numbers, whether we -- the total we,

black and white -- care as much? If we started to put white America in

jail at the same rate that we're putting black America in jail, I wonder

whether our collective feelings would be the same, or would we be

putting pressure on the president and our elected officials not to lock up

America, but to save America?" -Eldrin Bell

If the goal of public policy in recent years had been to incarcerate record numbers of black Americans, then that policy would have been a tremendous success. But if the goal was to make our streets safer and to build strong families and communities, then public policy has been a dramatic failure.

African American males are being exposed to the adult criminal justice system earlier and earlier. Why introduce a child to the adult justice system and not give them the rehabilitation they need? Why punish the man for the action of a child? What chance does an African American family have of surviving the incarceration of one of their family members when they face such serious barriers that force them to also enter the doors of the justice system? When the rest of the young men are finishing school, starting careers, earning seniority at work, and starting families these men are in prison. Are they targeted by the justice system? Yes, the community is set up for the African American male to fail.