African American Males and Disparity in the Justice System

Within our referee scheme there is a cosmic divergence between the total number of African American males nutrition inwardly our society and aliveness in spite of appearance our prison walls. African Americans males ar often faced with oercoming environ handstal, economical and sociological inequalities magic spell growing up as heartyspring as a take in of prospect. M both of these issues may in fact lead to un-proportional numbers of African American males beingness incarcerated. In additional pre judicial bearings by the judicial society may also be a factor in the disproportional enslavement statistics.More resources should be allotted at the community level to provide for wrong minorities to succeed in life and avoid participating in poisonous activities, as well as providing resources for education of those in spite of appearance the organization to armed bit prejudice and effect change. According to the National Association for the Advancement of moody People (NAACP) African Americans comprise nearly 1 million of the 2. 3 million incarcerated population and 1 in 6 black men control been incarcerated as of 2001. As can be seen these numbers argon disproportionately higher then for their white counterparts.One of the main reasons stated by the NAACP as a causal factor for this disparity is related to interior(a) city crime rate that atomic number 18 prompted by loving and economic isolation. There is little chance for profession and high drop rates amongst inner city African American males. A study by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences indicates that employment for under ameliorate African American males was approximately 25% while the incarceration number is somewhat 40% showing that they argon much likely to be incarcerated then employed.When prisoners atomic number 18 then released there is increase recidivism when there is no employment opportunities and the cycle repeats. In addition the family structur e suffers as resources ar rock-bottom as family members are imprisoned. Studies reach shown that children who parents are imprisoned are more likely to be victims or crime themselves, have little educational opportunity and frequently live in scantiness, all which lead to change magnitude propensity for criminal natural process in the future.Lack of opportunity is forefront in the disparity between whites and African American levels of incarceration. The book The system in black and white Exploring the Connections Between Race, Crime and Justice states that Minority youths are often from neighborhoods plagued by want, high unemployment and underemployment, family dysfunction, low education, and crime. The minority youth is therefore, marginalized, and much(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) marginalization engenders delinquent acts (Jones-Brown, Markowitz, 2001. p172).By segregating minorities, primarily African Americans, into these areas without providing opportunity we pe rpetuate the trouble by providing little to no opportunities for legitimate success. The writers indicate that the lack of feeler to brotherly and economic opportunities and the attainment of socially desired symbols of success forthwith leads an individual to suffer those items by socially unacceptable means such as criminal activities. This general theme of the consequences of segregated communities is shared by Loury in his work Race, Incarceration and American Values.Closed and bounded social structures-like racially homogenous urban ghettos- pee contexts where pathological and dysfunctional cultural forms emerge, only if these forms are neither intrinsic to the people caught in the structures nor independent of the behavior of the people who stand outside them. (Loury, 2008. p 33. ) In this case the author is clearly pointing out that it is the situation that creates the criminal non any overt difference in the individuals themselves.There is no born propensity for crimi nal activity just a lack of social and environ intellectual resources available to individuals living in these areas to allow for success base on achievement. These areas have authentic as an ugly reminder of our one time overtly prejudicial society that deemed African Americans as inferior, lazy beings with little or no ability to learn. The path to participating in criminal activities for many African American adolescent males frequently lies in participation in clump activities.In an article entitled Poverty, Broken Homes, Violence The Making of a conclave Member the authors state a strong correlation between the lack of opportunity and gang involvement. Risk factors include many that are commonplace in the before mentioned ghetto like areas such as having gang members in the family already, histories of sexual or physical abuse, growing up in poverty, having get to to weapons and drugs, and a lack of success in other areas of life, such as school (Mueller, 2014).Gangs fre quently form a surrogate family for adolescents in poverty stricken urban areas as well as providing a certain level of protection from other criminal elements. Another obstacle which African American males face is one of electronegatively differential discourse within the justice system. It is assumed that part of the reason for the disparity between whites and African Americans within the prison systems is related to the war on drugs. According to the NAACP African American are 12% of the population of drug users, 38% of those arrested and 59% of those convicted.These overwhelming numbers of convictions would lead us to believe that African American are committing more drug crimes yet the percentage of drug users is genuinely lower then their white counterparts. Sentences for African Americans convicted of drug crimes are to the highest degree equal to the amount of time that white males would spend in send back for violent crimes. According to author of the New Jim Crow this inequality in the justice system is a way to keep minorities from achievement while appearing to have put aside prejudice. It can be argued that our prison system in fact serves the purpose of a vehicle for social control.The long-term effects of conviction separate felons from the general population for life, excluding them from change effectively in mainstream society. Once they are released, they are often denied the right on to vote, excluded from juries, and relegated to a racially segregated and subordinated existence. Through a web of laws, regulations, and loose rules, all of which are powerfully reinforced by social stigma, they are confined to the margins of mainstream society and denied access to the mainstream economy.They are legally denied the ability to obtain employment, housing, and public benefitsmuch as African Americans were once forced into a segregated, second- discipline citizenship in the Jim Crow era (Alexander, M. 2010). Another issues related to the dis proportionate numbers of African American males within the prison system are related to previous acts. Again we must look to the lack of opportunity in youth as a leading cause for recent detainment. According to the Juvenile Justice information exchange socioeconomic class plays a role in detainment.In delinquency matters indigent children remain within the system because the courts are reluctant to release these children back to the environments they came from as contradictory to children with means. The child welfare system, public schools, and neighborhood police presence are structured so that few meaningful distinctions can be do between poor children and those who present a true danger to the community (Birkhead, 2012). The electrical shock of early interactions with the justice system can negatively impact a person for life.As adults persons who are known within the criminal justice system are more likely to be convicted of crimes as well as facing harsher sentencing as repeat offenders. This practice may not appear prejudicial as it is appropriate to face harsher sentences for repeat offenders, just now is prejudicial as to how the person became a repeat offender in the branch place. The above issues point to discrimination at a morphologic level not an individual one, but there are structural cases of discrimination that may keep up individual discrimination such at the Stop and F take a chance law.This law allows officers to stop, question and physically frisk individual they deem suspicious. One of the main problematic issues of this practice is one of supervision there are no governing rules as to what constitutes suspicion at any rate individual officers feelings. While this practice has led to some arrests, they are numerically insignificant and have been deemed unconstitutional but not illegal. According to the American Civil Liberties Union 85 percent of those stopped were found to have not committed a crime or have any contraband on their persons.The failure of this practice has far reaching implications as in it has served to foster feelings of mistrust between police officers and the minority population, specifically African American youths. Identifying issues and making changes to treatment of African American males, or any other minority, within the judicial system is a meet undertaken by the Sentencing Project. They define Illegitimate or unwarranted racial disparity as the dissimilar treatment of similarly situated people based on race (201, p1. ).There goal is to acknowledge the effects of disparity construct at each phase within the criminal justice system and its cumulative effects on an individual. They encourage communication within the system i. e. law enforcement, lawyers, judges, prison personnel and parole workers to develop plans to refine individuals while working towards a systematic change. Through research they have addressed the need for cultural competency training within the judici al system and have made it a requirement. They also address issues pertainingto treatment of early delinquency, callosity of crime as well as severity of sentencing. The Project allocates resources for research into other sentencing alternatives that have demonstrated success over incarceration. In addition to looking at the treatment of individuals within the system they provide guidance to policy makers in regards to investments in communities. They support low-income areas in providing education and employment opportunities, access to health care, including mental health care, and pith abuse treatment.Through research the project has identified that un equal opportunities for access to resources negatively affects the low-income individuals and their families. Simply changing the criminal justice system itself leave alone not singularly decrease the disparity between the numbers of African Americans incarcerated in comparison to their white counterparts. Change must begin in t he communities. Outreach programs started as early as birth are necessary to effectively create change. One group who sees the need for this change and has answered the call is the Harlems Childrens Zone.This group services approximately 17,000 children throughout the Metropolitan area. They begin with providing parenting classes, which outlines the need for proper nutrition and health care as well as courses on other parenting issues with a focus on the at risk child. They provide charter schools with longer school days as well as tutoring programs for those unable to attend. Resources are also available for crisis intervention, access to mental and physical health care, offering assistance in obtaining services such as food stamps, as well as assistance in forming community actions groups to combat crime and drugs.The group also provides afterschool programs including teen groups, fitness, educational, and classes on maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and access to community gardens . Although our society has made extensive strides in the area of equality, with more African Americans holding important positions, negative differential treatment persists. Poverty stricken communities where there is little opportunity and the prevalence of gang activity increases the likelihood that African American youths will grow up to participate in criminal activities leading to incarceration.The first step towards change is understanding the need for increased resources in poverty stricken areas to provide access for at risk youths to community centers, angry meal programs, and safe afterschool venues. The second step is making these projects a reality. Although the politics had earmarked 10 million dollars for neighborhoods to develop similar programs to the Harlems Childrens center project it is not enough, resources must be provided by individual states, communities and persons to combat poverty and provide resources for children.In addition equality in how individual s are tempered within the system must continue to be addressed by groups like the Sentencing Project. By early intervention and continued education and support we can move towards equality and diminish the numbers of African American males spending their lives within the criminal justice system. The long-term benefits of these actions will be felt by individuals as well as the community at large with decreased crime and access to the rich resource of an educated youth.