For a long time in the twentieth century, offenses and punishment for crimes have brought forth some of the most influential symbols of gender, racial and ethnic divide in the United States. Going with history, lynching, as well as judicial bigotry, took the better part of penal practices in most criminal justice agencies (Neubauer & Fradella, 2018). In most parts of the United States, racial and ethnic minorities used to be tried in white courtrooms by white juries. Laws of sentencing criminals were discriminative and subjected the minors to harsh sanctions. The police also played a major role in propagating racial violence by actively taking part in it, encouraging or refusing to restrain the white mobs.
With the changing times and in the twenty-first century, however, the Supreme Courts in the United States have tried to incorporate civil rights groups’ ideologies and other reform movements and made most of the discriminative laws against minorities as unconstitutional. The defendants of minority groups are no longer denied bail, punished unlawfully or indiscriminately charged without being accorded any legal representation (Neubauer & Fradella, 2018). Policies focusing on law enforcement put great emphasis on accountability, transparency and professionalism. Despite the many reforms made in the criminal justice system, discrimination against the minority groups persist in few incidences. Tensions still exist between the minority groups and the police. Extreme violence by the police against the minority groups is still common.
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To help in dealing with the perennial issue of discrimination against the minority groups, civil rights movement, as well as other reform based groups, have pushed for inclusion of the minority groups into criminal justice and law enforcement agencies. Several efforts and initiatives have been inculcated into the laws to help deal with the problem of discrimination. The department of justice and commissions fostering for equal employment opportunities lead in technical assistance, data analysis and robust enforcement to help address the question of diversity and equal opportunities for employment in the criminal justice agencies. The efforts by the government and the civil rights groups to incorporate the minority groups in criminal justice agencies have to an extent bore fruits though not extensively. The minority groups including women and the African Americans have found opportunities with these agencies. The initiative towards equal employment opportunities has greatly focused on how to deal with practices around critical aspects such as hiring, recruitment as well as retention. The initiative has also done a broad examination of different cultures and diversity barriers and as a result, fostered for incorporation of the minor groups with clear records into different positions in the justice agencies.
Despite the efforts made so far in improving equality in employment opportunities within the criminal justice agencies, much discrimination is still evident in these agencies. The number of the minorities including the women, black Americans as well as those considered to be of lesser ethnic cultures are still few and given minor positions (Dover et al., 2014). Even the ones who are already accommodated in the system continue to suffer strained relationship and mistrust with the superior groups. The existing problem of mistrust amongst the different racial groups also deter the minors like the black Americans and women from applying for positions in these agencies a factor that has contributed to their fewer numbers. The operational practices, as well as reputation of the criminal justice agencies, continue to dissuade applicants from the minority groups from pursuing careers in criminal justice
The minority groups and most especially women who have interests in pursuing careers in criminal justice continue to suffer lack of information and proper communication in case of opportunities within the criminal justice agencies. Criminal justice agencies rely on additional criteria of selection which in away discriminate minority groups and especially women and kicks them out of the applicants’ pool. Other requirements like restrictions on residency usually limit the minority groups from applying and getting chances within the criminal justice agencies. The length cost as well as the general complexity of the whole process of application acts as a deterring factor to those who cannot afford or handle the complexity of the whole process. The people most affected by this are the minority groups.
Diversity can be described as the differences amongst people. Primary dimension diversity is a way people categorize themselves and others using their local status. The dimensions here are things like age, sexual orientation, ethnic background, racial background, gender as well as physical abilities (Dover et al., 2014). Secondary dimensions, on the other hand, refer to the differences that people acquire and sometimes get rid of them over time. They include marital status, language and communication, eating habits, food preference as well as a sense of space. Racism on the hand refers to antagonism, discrimination or prejudice that is directed against people from the belief that one’s race is superior.
Organizational managers can help in controlling discrimination through creating a comprehensive anti-discrimination policy and vision statement. Such a statement would help pass a clear message to all the employees against any form of discrimination and peaceful coexistence amongst people of different cultures. They can also initiate a proactive monitoring program which would help identify in case there are discrimination practices and tame them as they come. The supervisors can also help in conducting mandatory training for all members of the staff in which they can share information and teach themselves the importance of tolerance amongst themselves.
Lastly, culture can be defined as the beliefs, ideas, social behavior as well as the customs of a particular society or people. Ethnocentrism refers to the belief that one’s culture or ethnic background is more superior. Conflict resolution and leadership usually go hand in hand. Organizational leaders should put in place ways of resolving conflicts in case they arise. One of the ways of dealing with conflict is to put in place proper communication channel where workers can air their views in case of dissatisfaction in their workplace (McKay & Avery, 2015). Another way of dealing with conflict is to set an accepted code of conduct to be followed by all the workers in the organization. The code of conduct should discourage any discriminative behaviors amongst the workers. Another way of dealing with conflict is to identify areas where conflict can arise from and seal all the loopholes. The leaders should be proactive and seek out potential areas that can bring conflict and prevent them.
References
Dover, T. L., Major, B., & Kaiser, C. R. (2014). Diversity initiatives, status, and system-justifying beliefs: When and how diversity efforts de-legitimize discrimination claims. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations , 17 (4), 485-493.
McKay, P. F., & Avery, D. R. (2015). Diversity climate in organizations: Current wisdom and domains of uncertainty. In Research in personnel and human resources management (pp. 191-233). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Neubauer, D. W., & Fradella, H. F. (2018). America's courts and the criminal justice system . Cengage Learning.
