Phydeaux
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Marc2b
quote:
Is the Criminal Justice System Racist?
In 1997, criminologists Robert Sampson and Janet Lauritsen reviewed the massive literature on charging and sentencing. They concluded that “large racial differences in criminal offending,” not racism, explained why more blacks were in prison proportionately than whites and for longer terms.
A 1987 analysis of Georgia felony convictions, for example, found that blacks frequently received disproportionately lenient punishment.
A 1990 study of 11,000 California cases found that slight racial disparities in sentence length resulted from blacks’ prior records and other legally relevant variables.
A 1994 Justice Department survey of felony cases from the country’s 75 largest urban areas discovered that blacks actually had a lower chance of prosecution following a felony than whites did and that they were less likely to be found guilty at trial. Following conviction, blacks were more likely to receive prison sentences, however—an outcome that reflected the gravity of their offenses as well as their criminal records.
Another criminologist—easily as liberal as Sampson—reached the same conclusion in 1995: “Racial differences in patterns of offending, not racial bias by police and other officials, are the principal reason that such greater proportions of blacks than whites are arrested, prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned,” Michael Tonry wrote in Malign Neglect...
The media’s favorite criminologist, Alfred Blumstein, found in 1993 that blacks were significantly underrepresented in prison for homicide compared with their presence in arrest.
But, of course...
This consensus hasn’t made the slightest dent in the ongoing search for systemic racism.
The source you have cited, Heather McDonald, is suspect as her data is less than complete, taking some of her information out of context and ignoring other studies which contradict her desired conclusions. To be sure, it can be difficult to check some of her “facts” because she doesn't name most of the authors she relies on. The essay by Sampson and Lauritsen is one of the few in which she does and takes their conclusions out of context. Pointedly, McDonald does not quote the next paragraph in their study:
"However, research on the decision to imprison suggests that race matters in certain contexts. Controlling for crime type and prior record, black defendants in some jurisdictions are more likely to receive a prison sentence than are white defendants. Research on the juvenile justice system also offers evidence of racial influences on detention and placement, although this disparity is more widespread than context specific. Perhaps because the juvenile justice system is more informal, discrimination operates more freely. Moreover, in both the adult and juvenile systems, indirect racial discrimination is plausible. For example, prior record is the major control variable in processing studies and is usually interpreted as a “legally relevant” variable. But to the extent that prior record is contaminated by racial discrimination, indirect race effects may be at work."
They go on to say:
“These ideas are consistent with a study in Washington State, where nonwhites were sentenced to imprisonment at higher rates in counties with large minority populations (Bridges, Crutchfield, and Simpson 1987). Follow-up interviews with justice officials and community leaders revealed a consistent public concern with minority threat and “dangerousness.” With crime conceptualized as a minority problem, leaders openly admitted using race as a code for certain patterns of dress and styles of life (e.g., being “in the hustle”) thought to signify criminality. It was decision makers’ perceptions of minority problems as concentrated ecologically that seemed to reinforce the use of race as a screen for criminal attribution”
A more recent report from Washington State (pdf link) has found that not much has changed:
"This report focuses on the disproportionate representation of minorities in Washington’s criminal justice system. While some justice officials have asserted that African Americans are overrepresented in the prison population because they commit a disproportionate number of crimes, others point to the disparate treatment of racial and ethnic minorities. After reviewing research on stages of the justice system, the report concludes that much of the disproportionality in Washington’s justice system is due to facially neutral policies that have racially disparate effects. Specifically, the task force found that similarly situated minority juveniles face harsher sentencing outcomes and disparate treatment by probation officers, defendants of color are less likely than white defendants to receive sentences that fall below the sentencing guidelines, Black drug defendants are 62% more likely to be sentenced to prison than white drug defendants, the Washington State Patrol subjects minorities to more searches although the rate at which searches result in seizures is lower for minority drivers, and Latinos receive greater financial obligation sanctions than their white counterparts. Thus, policies that, on the surface, appear to be racially neutral have resulted in disparate treatment of minorities over time. In addition, the task force asserted that racial bias in decision making plays a role in the judgment of actors at various stages in the criminal justice system."
I suspect that McDonald also quotes Michael Tonry out of context since Tonry is the author of a book (written since McDonald’s article) titled "punishing race."
The Publisher’s summary of Tony’s conclusions is as follows: “Tonry confronts issues of racial disparities in the criminal justice system, documenting that blacks are still much more likely than whites to be stopped by police, arrested, prosecuted, convicted, and incarcerated. Tonry demonstrates that such patterns are not a result of racial differences in crime or drug use, but rather a result of drug and crime control policies that disproportionately impact African Americans.”
I could go on but I think the point is made, Heather McDonald is not a reliable source.
Here is a more recent, more reliable source:
"The Independent and Joint Effects of Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and Age on Sentencing Outcomes in U.S. Federal Courts," by Jill Doerner and Stephen Demuth, published in "Justice Quarterly" in 2010.
And another:
"Examining the Impact of Race and Ethnicity on the Sentencing of Juveniles in Adult Court," by Kareem and Freiburger, published in "Criminal Justice and Policy Review":
I could go on but I doubt that any of this will convince you. You seem unwilling to to truly look at matters in an unbiased light.
If none of the above convinces you, ask yourself the following question:
If you were arrested for a crime you did not commit, say armed robbery or murder, as you are about to go into the American Justice System… would you rather be white or a minority?
NOTE: there is a certain special someone who helped me research (I am a lousy googleologist) some of the information to refute the utter nonsense that studies show that racism in our justice system is non-existent or only consists of isolated incidents. This person does not want to be named on this web site and I will respect that... but their contribution should be noted.
I invite any white person who thinks that racism does not impact our justice system or that white racism is on an equal footing with black racism to ask themselves the same question I asked above. If you should get caught up in the American Justice System, which would you rather be... white or black?
I had the occassion to look into allegations of discrimination in the legal system, and generally I support fixing bias when possible.
But I also think that the largest cause leading to bias is the actions of blacks themeselves. We do not have criminal bias against koreans, or filipinos, or latvians, or colombians or....
To what extent do you suppose that judges, juries, cops and prosecuters get jaded? Time after time they are arresting black thugs, time after time sending them to jail. If that were case for any minority I think it would lead to bias in the court system.
Europe has a similar problem - not with blacks - but with gypsies. Persecuted, and biased against. Not black.
Where is the million man march not for non-violent protest - but for a rejection of crime? For a rejection of gangsa culture, of rap?
Where's the million man march for education and staying in school and not having sex.
There was an interesting study that said - if a black man got his high school diploma, got married, and didnt have a child out of wedlock then the rate of poverty for those individuals was 6.7%. Lower than the general white population, in fact.
So sure - racism bites. And we should fix injustice where we can. But turning a blind eye to such a simple prescription to reducing black poverty is counterproductive.
And the actions of sharpton, jackson, the NAACP appauls me when they don't demand action within their communities along these lines.
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