The Effects Criminal Justice System and Systematic Racism
The term Systematic Racism is often wrongly used and interpreted. Systematic Racism is often used as an accusation that everyone in the system is racist. When in fact, Systematic Racism means that we have systems and institutions that produce racially disparate outcomes, regardless of the intentions of the people who within them. When we take a look through history, the Criminal Justice System in this Country was built and established during the Jim Crow Era, an era that nobody can deny was filled with outright hatred and discrimination, especially against Blacks. This Modern Criminal Justice System has helped preserve racial order and keep Black People in their place and for some periods of time that has been its primary functions. The evidence of racial bias in our criminal justice system isn't hidden, its in plain sight and it's convincing if not alone overwhelming.
After the death of George Floyd, studies done in Minneapolis have found that while Black People make up 19 percent of the population and 9 percent of its police, they were on the receiving end of 58 percent of the city's police use-of-force incidents. A study done in 2017 in North Carolina found that 4.5 million traffic stops done by 100 of the largest police departments in the state that Blacks and Latinos were more likely to be searched than whites(5.4 percent, 4.1 percent, and 3.1 percent) even though searches of White Motorists were more likely than the others to turn up illegal contraband(Whites:32 percent, Blacks: 29 percent, Latinos: 19 percent). In Charleston. SC studies found that 61 percent of Use-of-Force were against Black People, but the study did find that the level of force used did not significantly vary by race. Black People also filed 63 percent of the complaints against police. The problem with trying to dismiss Racial Profiling concerns and other discriminatory practices used by our Criminal Justice System., by noting that higher rates at which some minority groups commit certain crimes is that it overlooks the fact that huge percentages of Black and Latino people pulled over and stopped on the street and generally harassed despite the fact that they have done nothing wrong.
In Charlottesville, the city council found significant disparities in the city's and county's criminal justice systems. In the City, Black Men were 8.5 percent of the city's populations, but made up over more then half of the arrests. Black men made up 4.4 percent of the County's population, but compromised 37.6 percent of the arrests. The Charleston Post and Courier looked at incidents in which police stopped motorists but didn't issue a citation, called "pretext stops, After adjusting for population, the Paper found that Blacks in nearly every part of the state were significantly more likely to be subject of such stops.
Researchers have complied and analyzed data from more than 100 million traffic stops In United States and have found one consistent thing: Police were more likely to pull over Black Drivers. They also found that Black and Latino drivers are more likely to be searched for contraband even though White Drivers are more likely to be found with Contraband.
Studies done on Urban Men in various cities have found that participants who reported more police contact also reported more trauma and anxiety symptoms, associations tied to how many stops are reported, the intrusiveness of the encounters, and their perceptions of police fairness, and that overall, the burden of police contact in each of these cities falls predominantly on Young Black and Latino Males. Solitary Confinement is often used on Black Prisoners' more then White Prisoners, with the discrepancy being even greater amongst Woman. Black Women made up 24 percent of the female prison population but 41 percent of those who had been held in isolation.
We even see the effects that Criminal Justice system has on our schools. In 2011, Texas found that a Black student had a 31 percent greater chance of being disciplined than an identical white or Hispanic student. A study of suspensions in Chicago Schools done 2013 and 2014 found that Black Male Students were 5 times more likely to be suspended then White or Asian Students. Black Female Students were 7 times more likely then White or Asian Students to be suspended. Even when adjusting for factors such as academic level or social disadvantages, Black Students were still 5 times as likely to be suspended, while for Black females it grew to be 13 percent. This eliminates the opportunity for the Kids to receive a proper education and constantly puts them behind the other kids, who have proven to be no smarter then Black Kids but are afforded a better and more Equal opportunity to take full advantage of it.
Data released in 2016 from the US department of Education, found that Black Students were nearly four times more likely to be suspended than White students.
1 in 23 Black Adults in the United States are on Parole or Probation versus 1 in 81 white adults. And while Blacks make up 13 percent of the U.S populations, they make up 30 percent of those on probation or parole.
The Sentencing Project estimates that Mass Incarceration combined with Felon Disenfranchisement Laws have led to severe underrepresentation of Black Americans in the voting electorate. 1 in 13 African Americans of voting Age is disenfranchised, a rate more than four times greater than that of non' African Americans. Over 7.4 percent of the Adult African American population is disenfranchised compared to 1.8 percent of the non- African American population. Four states, Florida , Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, where more than 1 in 5 African Americans are disenfranchised, representing a significant reason that Black Interest generally are underrepresented in Electoral Politics.