Criminal

Justice
System as
it pertains
to racism
By: Valeria Carlos
Sociology 1
Criminal Justice System
Overview
Lynchings and chain-gang style penal practices,
particularly took place in the southern criminal
justice systems.

African Americans were lynched rather than having a

trial.

Over three thousand African Americans were lynched.

African Americans accounted for 405 of the 455 of

executions for rape between 1930 and 1972.

The police participated and encouraged hostility in race

riots in minority communities.
http://www.asanet.org/sites/default/files/savvy/images/press/docs/pdf/ASARaceCrime.
pdf
Sentencing bias
African Americans are incarcerated at six times
the rate of whites.

African Americans receive 60 percent longer

sentences for same crimes Caucasians
commit.

"Prosecutors are about twice as likely to impose

mandatory minimums on African American
defendants as on Caucasian defendants"
(Rehavi).
It depends on ones race whether they will have
a longer or short sentence.
https://newsone.com/1859475/black-people-receive-60-longer-sentences-for-
same-crimes/
Racial Disparity

https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2016/08/15/cjrace/
Bias in Drug Laws
On figure 1, it shows that white Americans are using
drugs the most from a very young age and older
age.

Since the 1980s, federal penalties for crack were 100

times harsher than those for powder cocaine, with
African Americans disproportionately sentenced
to much lengthier terms.

The drug wars racist enforcement fall more heavily

on people and communities of color.

African Americans are sent to prison for drug charges

that have greater rates than whites.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2009/06/19/race-drugs-and-law-enforcement-united-states#_
B._Incarceration
13th Documentary: a closer
look

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW9otKaflV4
Mass Incarceration on African
Americans is Modern Slavery
African Americans are getting unfair jail time sentences, due to the color of their skin.

Caucasians are committing many crimes, yet they aren't given the appropriate amount
of jail time because they have privilege.

Racism, drug laws, mandatory sentencing, and of course, privatization of prisons all
play a part.

African Americans have a greater chance of being pulled over, getting arrested and
getting the death penalty.

The 13th Amendment was to abolish slavery, yet African Americans are being punished
for crime. Slavery has not disappeared from the United States.

http://occasionalplanet.org/2015/12/01/u-s-companies-make-a-killing-off-prison-slave-labor/
O.J. Simpson Case
O.J. Simpson (African American) was convicted of killing his ex wife and her friend Ron
Goldman.

During the whole investigation, a police officer named Mark Fuhrman (White male) was
suspected of planting evidence to prove that O.J. Simpson was guilty.

Mark Fuhrman would use vulgar racist language to describe African Americans.

A recorded conversation between Mark Fuhrman and another police officer proved that
they disliked minorities and that they were very racist.

Mark said, N-gger drivin a Porsche that doesnt look like hes got a $300 suit on, you
always stop him.

Mark would always believe that minorities were unable of having luxurious items because
he assumed that the minority had stole the item or has been selling narcotics.
 O.J. Simpson Case
Its worth pointing out that Fuhrman, according to his own
first-person account, would use torture to overcome a
suspects refusal to answer potentially incriminating
questions. One method to which he referred was the 77th
lie detector test.

Mark never believed the words that would come out of a

minorities mouth because he said that every single one of
them were liars and that they should not be trusted.

In October 1996,
Fuhrman was indicted on felony perjury charges. Facing a
potential four-year prison term, he accepted a deal in wh
ich he was given three years of probation in exchange for
a no-contest plea.
In his detailed discussion, it proved that he would use abuse
of force while he was a police officer and a detective.
 Two campus sex crimes: Brock
Turners Case
Brock Turner Turner received six Cory Batey
months of jail time,
Cory Batey was
but was released in
charged with
three months for
aggravated rape
raping an
and got fifteen
unconscious women.
He was allowed to years in prison.
He will not have
have a cellphone
a parole officer,
while in prison and he
while he is in
got his own jail cell.
Turners judge said a prison.
Will have a
lengthier penalty
record when he
would have a severe
gets out of
impact on Turner.
Will not have a prison.
record when he gets
out of prison.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-brock-turner-release-jail-20160829-snap-story.html
Inmate Slave Labor
Many prisoners are forced to work and they earn .25 to
$1.15 per hour.
The money they earn buys them their necessities, such as
deodorant, toothpaste, etc.
Most of the time, prisoners do not get to keep the money
they earn once they are out of prison.
Many companies such as McDonalds, Whole Foods, Wal-
Mart, Victorias Secret and other companies make use
of prison labor.
Davidson fingers the U.S. government as the guilty party
in this modern day reincarnation of slavery. UNICOR,
a corporation created in 1934 and owned by the federal
government, oversees penal labor, and sets the
condition and wage standards for working inmates.
The capitalist system just focuses on making money, they
do not care about the people who are forced to work.
http://occasionalplanet.org/2015/12/01/u-s-companies-make-a-killing-off-prison-slave-labor/
 Functionalist and Conflict
Analysis
People who commit crimes should only go A conflict perspective or analysis is
to prison for a limited of time. However, someone who likes to control others and is
others are receiving more jail time than superficial.
others. In this case this relates more towards
Caucasians. They feel as though they have
We need criminal and civil justice reform,
privileges over some groups.
but no changes have been made. Many caucasians believe they are superior
People wake up and go on with their day and and they make others feel inferior.
ignore the problems that surround them. Race-based conflict theory posits that the
criminal justice system is skewed in favor
Systems of deviance create norms and tell of members of the socially-dominant white
members of a given society on how to race, while biased against members of
behave by laying out patterns of Hispanic, black, or indigenous racial and
acceptable and unacceptable behavior. ethnic groups.
http://legalbeagle.com/5572456-conflict-theory-criminal-justice.html
https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-sociology-textbook/deviance-social-control-and-
crime-7/the-functionalist-perspective-on-deviance-62/the-functionalist-perspective-on-deviance-374-
Works Cited
Rosich, Katherine J. Race, Ethnicity, and the Criminal Justice System. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association. 2007.
http://www.asanet.org/sites/default/files/savvy/images/press/docs/pdf/ASARaceCrime.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW9otKaflV4

Hartney, Christopher, and Linh Vuong. Created Equal Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the US Criminal Justice System. Created Equal Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the US Criminal Justice
System, Mar. 2009, www.nccdglobal.org/sites/default/files/publication_pdf/created-equal.pdf.

Burrows, Sara. How Prison Labor Is the New American Slavery and Most of Us Unknowingly Support It. Return to Now, 19 Jan. 2017, returntonow.net/2016/06/13/prison-labor-is-the-new-
american-slavery/. Accessed 2 Apr. 2017.

Hamilton, Matt. Brock Turner to Be Released from Jail after Serving Half of Six-Month Sentence in Stanford Sexual Assault Case. Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 30 Aug. 2016,
www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-brock-turner-release-jail-20160829-snap-story.html. Accessed 1 Apr. 2017.

Blacks Receive 60% Longer Sentences For Same Crimes. News One, 10 May 2012, newsone.com/1859475/black-people-receive-60-longer-sentences-for-same-crimes/. Accessed 2 Apr. 2017.

Gauding, Madonna. U.S. Companies Make a Killing off Prison Labor. Occasional Planet, 1 Dec. 2015, occasionalplanet.org/2015/12/01/u-s-companies-make-a-killing-off-prison-slave-labor/.
Accessed 1 Apr. 2017.

Race and the Drug War. Drug Policy Alliance, www.drugpolicy.org/race-and-drug-war. Accessed 2 Apr. 2017.

Race, Drugs, and Law Enforcement in the United States. Human Rights Watch, 14 July 2010, www.hrw.org/news/2009/06/19/race-drugs-and-law-enforcement-united-states#_B._Incarceration.
Accessed 2 Apr. 2017.

Grigg, William N. The Free Thought Project. Meet the Racist Convicted Felon 'Police Expert' Fox News Calls on to Apologize for Violent Cops. Alternet, 3 Nov. 2015,
www.alternet.org/media/meet-racist-convicted-felon-police-expert-fox-news-calls-apologize-violent-cops. Accessed 2 Apr. 2017.

Boundless. The Functionalist Perspective on Deviance - Boundless Open Textbook.Boundless, Boundless, 26 May 2016, www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-sociology-
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Hill, Cindy. Conflict Theory in Criminal Justice. Legal Beagle, legalbeagle.com/5572456-conflict-theory-criminal-justice.html. Accessed 2 Apr. 2017.