Racial Disparities and Inequalities in the U.S. Criminal Justice System

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Racial Disparities and Inequalities in the U.S. Criminal Justice System
Introduction
The paper extensively revolves around U.S. Criminal Justice System and the racial inequalities in the country. Racial and ethnic disparities in the U.S. are a broader topic requiring extensive analysis and intervention to address the issue. Racial disparities and inequity have been rising with the growing rate of ethnic and racial diversity. The United States of America is the world's most ethnically and racially diversified democracy. Disparate treatment of people of color across the broad continuum of the legal system in the United States is a fundamental part of this marginalization. The public's distrust of the criminal justice system is exacerbated by racial and ethnic imbalance. In the criminal justice system, many people are deeply aware of racial inequity problems. The critical concept that the paper explores is inegalitarianism in the United States. Based on the fact that the federal system in the U.S. is well diversified, the national and federal systems in various capacities portray racial and ethnic disparities ranging from policing, parole, pretrial and sentencing of individuals. Social factors such as poverty, unemployment, and segregation are seen as aspects that catalyze the racial difference patterns by increasing victimization on African Americans and the minority groups. Racial divide symbols in America often come from crime and punishment. The minority groups, especially African Americans, are the group that faces a high rate of discrimination in the justice system, U.S. history being the deep root of this problem. Racial disparities and inequalities significantly apply the concept of inegalitarianism in both literature and practice. The paper focuses on analyzing racial disparities and imbalances in the U.S. criminal justice system based on the concept of federalism and inegalitarianism.
Literature Review
Racial disparity is an issue that has been in existence as articulated by various U.S. history articles and researchers. Over the years, the problem has raised concerns locally and internationally, making international law agencies and organizations established to enhance judicial systems in various jurisdictions. According to Travis et al., the U.S legal system has a racial and ethnic disparity problem compared to the broader population (2014). Researchers have discussed two leading causes for racial inequalities: disparate effects and uneven treatment (Nellis). It has been suggested that a more significant proportion of African Americans and Hispanics are selected into the criminal justice system relative to the population's racial background because of their higher rates of criminal behavior. According to research, their criminal behavior is often attributed to racial differences in financial or cultural resources or because they are more vulnerable to the associated sanctions. Scholar Beckett argues that racial disparities are caused by the treatment of Blacks and Latinos unfairly by law enforcement officials, such as police officers, prosecutors, and probation officers, according to the unequal treatment rationale.
Blacks and Latin Americans continue to be subjected to harsher treatment than their white counterparts, according to new research that uses more sophisticated methods and data sets. Differences in criminal offence or non-biased legal or policy issues that have a disparate impact on minorities have been shown to increase racial disparities, says Spohn. According to Tonry's follow-up investigation, the police stop Blacks more often on illegitimate grounds than any other race. Scholars say police target racially diversified drugs trade rather than the White market due to racial prejudice about the composition of drug traffickers. Researchers have found that, after an arrest and before a trial, people of color in metropolitan state courts and county jails across the United States are more likely to be denied bail and imprisoned (Hinton et al., p.7). Pretrial findings have been validated by several other research, while others have explicit evidence of prosecutors' choices to reject arresting charges being influenced by legal reasons. Various studies conducted by the researchers provide sufficient evidence about the rate and level of inegalitarianism concerning judicial services where people of color are involved. The researchers reveal that the social and economic differences in the U.S. are a result of the racial and ethnic disparities on black and Latin Americans. Nellis (2021), in her publication, reveals that the rate of incarceration for Black Americans in prisons is five times more than that of White Americans. The white culture is more dominant, thus suppressing the other groups, elevating racial disparity and inequality.
Content Analysis
Inegalitarianism greatly applies to racial disparities in the legal system. The lack of access to fair trial grounds for Black Americans creates the inequalities gap in the justice system. For example, when a white judge rules in favor of a white defendant and vice versa, their positions tend to be based on racial grounds and the views that the two parties in a case are not equal. People of color suffer more at the hands of the legal system than their white counterparts. Most cases in the judicial system that have led to harsh punishment and long-term imprisonments are associated with Black...