Racial Discrimation in the Criminal Justice System Research Paper

Racial Discrimation in the Criminal Justice System - Research Paper Example Even though minimized to bare levels presently, America has been a class society defined by seclusion of the minorities over the centuries. While facially neutral, the criminal law in the United States is enforced in a massively and pervasively biased manner that has often left the minorities fighting for total-inclusion, and the 21 century is not any different. Surprisingly, the degree with which such discrimination permeates the criminal justice system has defied remedy and lingers on in an era of advanced civilization. No wonder, therefore, that crime and punishment formed the basis of rich and powerful manifestations of the racial divide characterized by chain-gang style penal practices and prosecutorial and judicial bigotry in the early history of the United States. While many scholars and politicians may deny a factual racial disparity statistics, the reality is in the open and only those interested would dare see the truth behind the numbers. A study by the American Bar Association (2007) – in a research - quoted one of the most concise accounts of the law enforcers attitude toward black offenders. A research participant declared: "All three of my boys smoked pot [growing up]. I knew it. But I also knew if one was caught he would never go to prison. But if any of my neighbors got caught," adding that his neighbors were black, "they would go to prison for 10, 12 years" (p.71). Although overt racial discrimination may have diminished to the bare minimum, perceptive fairness of the entire criminal justice system is still a myth in reality in the United States. Minorities remain overrepresented at all stages of the criminal justice process both as offenders and as victims. Nothing services this claim than the statistical evidence of a racially skewed justice system tilted in favor of the white population as depicted in racial