Racial Ineqaulity in the Prison System

Racial Inequality in the Prison System

Racial inequality refers to the discrimination based on race in opportunity for socioeconomic advancement or access to goods and services. With this definition being known, is racial inequality, segregation, really something we want lurking in our prison system. In 2010, all black men were six times as likely as all white men to be incarcerated in federal, state and local jails, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center study (This is the most recent document recorded). This fact goes to show that even after the government “claims to have ended” segregation it still lives in places like the prison system. Racial inequality in our prison system has been an ongoing situation for years, even though there has been laws and bills passed against this matter it is still a problem, some things that play a large part in this are: racial disparity, incarceration statistics, and racist court officials.

Racial inequality has been around since the first jail eastern state penitentiary was made in 1787 and opened in 1829 to hold nothing but African-American slaves and criminals. This began the trend of Mass incarcerations; this is a term used by sociologists to explain a massive incarceration increase in the U.S. There is things like for-profit prisons or “Private Prisons” which hold Prisoners incarcerated by third party corporations; these prisons hold mostly African–American males. A psychiatrist evaluated one of these prisons and stated that that the African-American inmates were severely underfed and looked “almost emaciated.” There has been $80 billion as of 2010 spent on the mass incarceration of people of color. Despite being only 13 percent of the overall U.S. population, 40 percent of those who are incarcerated are black. Latinos represent 16 percent of the overall population but 19 percent of those who are incarcerated. On the other hand, whites make up 64 percent of the overall population but account for only 39 percent of those who are incarcerated.

Police arrest black Americans for drug crimes at twice the rate of whites, according to federal data, despite the fact that whites use drugs at comparable rates and sell drugs at comparable or even higher rates. A 2014 study in New York City showed that blacks were more likely than whites or non-black minorities to be in jail while they await trial. Black convicts have their probation revoked more often than whites and other minorities, according to a recent study of probation outcomes in Iowa, New York, Oregon, and Texas. A 2012 working paper found “robust evidence” that black male federal defendants were given longer sentences than comparable whites were. Black men’s sentences were, on average, 10 percent longer than those of their white peers were. This is partly explained by the fact that prosecutors are about twice as likely to file charges against blacks that carry mandatory minimum sentences than against whites.

The police stop blacks and Latinos at rates that are much higher than whites are. In New York City, where people of color make up about half of the population, 80% of the NYPD stops were of blacks and Latinos. When whites were stopped, only 8% were frisked. When blacks and Latinos are stopped, 85% were frisked according to information provided by the NYPD. The same is true most other places as well. In a California study, the ACLU found blacks are three times more likely to be stopped than whites are. The American Bar Association, reviewed the US public defender system in 2004. They concluded, “All too often, defendants plead guilty, even if they are innocent, without really understanding their legal rights or what is occurring...The fundamental right to a lawyer that America assumes applies to everyone accused of criminal conduct effectively does not exist in practice for countless people across the US.” The US Bureau of Justice Statistics concludes that the chance of a black male born in 2001 of going to jail is 32% or 1 in three. Latino males have a 17% chance and white males have a 6% chance.

• In addition to all other routine information collected at traffic and pedestrian stops, institute concrete measures to monitor and record race and ethnicity information as well. This will aid in determining the presence and extent of racial profiling.
• At each point were disparity exists, initiate a process with police department managers, line staff, and representatives from minority communities to examine policies, guidelines, and practices that could be contributing factors.
• Advocate for expansion of alternatives to arrest in instances where arrest I inappropriate but often used, such as status offences for juveniles, or encounters with mentally ill or homeless people.
• Ensure that people promoted into supervisory and managerial positions are culturally competent and educated about issues related to race and race relations.

Racial inequality in our prison system has been a big problem since 1952. Every year 1 in 4 African-Americans are unfairly convicted and incarcerated of crimes. There has been attempts to end this situation, like the sentencing projects, but there has also been attempts to make this situation worse like unlawful police stops. This proves that this situation has to stop. There is other ways to end this situation, maybe police officers need a special training course on how to deal with

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