Studies have constantly proved that in the USA correctional systems, people of color are over-represented compared to the majority of whites. The over-representation of colored people in jails has spewed over to the number of colored juvenile inmates. Research has consistently shown that at any time, the detention rate of the minorities is at least three times of the detained youths (McCarter, 2009). For the past few decades, scholars have engaged in academic discourse to examine this issue with most of them associating the racial discrepancies to legal, extra-legal, social, economic, and political aspects. The debate has also examined the possibility of marginalization and negative racial concepts within the judicial system. When integrated, the debate validly indicates that the higher detention of colored youths is systematic with other aspects of minority marginalization and lack of racial equity in America.
Literature Review
The over-representation, which translates to justice discrimination in the American juvenile cases, is also evident in how the cases are tried. Research by McCarter (2009) showed that black-Americans were almost as twice likely to be arrested between the age of 10 and 17 than the white people. There were approximately 45 arrests in white, 46 arrests in Native whites, and 99 black-Americans per every one thousand people. This showed that, despite the blacks being the minority, they still had a higher possibility of ending up in prison.
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The study further analyzed the judicial system attitude towards the colored juvenile to determine whether the over-representation lied on the social cues, or a biased justice system. There were corresponding to the theoretical projections that racial profiling and marginalizing affected the rate of colored juveniles that end up a prison. For instance, out of all white youths arrested, the government oversaw the prosecution of eighty-five percent while there are ninety-five percent prosecutions of African-Americans. A similar trend is evident for Hispanics. The Whites thus enjoy lower arrests per one thousand persons, and still, have a lower prosecution rate. By default, the operations of the justice system are likely to see minority races over-represented in prisons.
Other studies, such as McCarter (2009) related the trend to the racial conditioning that characterizes the social interactions of Americans. Statistically, African-Americans and other minority races have higher incarceration rates than whites. With time, the law enforcement officers have developed a racial condition that presents an African-American as highly likely to commit a felony when compared to the whites. Therefore, during social interactions, or during a dispute, minority races are more likely to be arrested. Leiber and Peck (2012) proved that the challenge is more of social conditioning than racism by conducting a study across police officers from different races. The trend indicated that even African-American police officers are also likely to arrest an African-American than the white majority. The trend affects all major departments of justice system putting the minority groups at a default disadvantage.
Leiber and Peck (2012) correlated social inequality and the statistical possibility of committing a crime among African Americans with their social and economic status. The study suggested that minority races are historically disadvantaged in both social and economic spheres when compared to whites. The inequality dates back to the post-slavery era that allowed for the racial gaps. Therefore, minority races have always struggled to change their social status. Social status is likely to determine the prevalence of crime. This concludes the projection that African-Americans have higher incarceration rates. While this is true, it is a systematic predisposition of the minority races based on the inequality levels.
From a social perceptive, the study indicated that incarceration determinants among juvenile criminals can be derived from the historical injustices. For instance, the extralegal issues that seemed to determine the number of students in juvenile included the level of education, number of grades repeated, and the neighborhood. In most cases, African-Americans do not get a good education as whites due to the reduced opportunities and poor income. Therefore, even without seeing the issue as mere marginalization, it could be a secondary trend from the inherent racial differences.
In their study, Davis and Sorensen (2013) analyzed the prison over-representation of the minority as a general issue of inequality is disproportional placement of races. The study showed that the whites have a higher placement index than the blacks. The placement index considered both the position, salary earned, as well as the possibility of getting the position. Using all these aspects, the researcher concluded that even in the normative society, an African-American male is likely to be discriminated in the distribution of services. The discrimination is again based on social conditioning and the general social perception. In the end, young African-Americans find themselves in an already unsupportive environment with legal hostilities. It is the desperation that has made constant the high crime index among African-Americans. The trend further cements the social conditioning. After procedurally convicting most of the African-Americans even in juveniles, the justice system officers approve their initial bias that African-Americans are more likely to engage in a felony. This shows a continuous and progressive social conditioning.
Following the racial differences in employment and placement, communication barriers also become a determinant factor in colored minority over-representation in juvenile prisons. According to Herbst and Walker (2001), the communication cues adopted by minorities differ from the communication expected by the police officers and other state officers. The word structure, tone, and body language for minorities, especially African-Americans provoke the police officers leading to further probing of the suspect. Mostly, these people end up arrested and prosecuted while innocent. Subsequent the wide-spread social conditioning about the minorities, it is possible to end in prison while innocent. Racial tension also reinforces the communication challenges faced by the law enforcement officer when it comes to people of color. When confronted by the officers, people of color respond in defensively due to their marginalization injustice system. The notion that justice is sparingly applied when it comes to people of color worsens the relationship between them and officials leading to higher arrest indexes.
Additionally, the racial over-representation of colored people in the juvenile correction system arises from the community and parenting patterns adopted by the colored people. Unlike the white who have a cohesive relationship with their teenagers, colored people are marginalized to afford much time with their families. The working patterns and the household income between whites and minorities demand that the minorities work longer hours and on occasions take more than one job. The increasing number of broken families among colored people, especially African-Americans further reinforces parental failure in bringing up law-abiding teenagers. From a sociological imagination, colored people are just marginalized and have responded to their economic and social status. Therefore, a solution should focus on all spheres of equality that allows colored people to dedicate time to their family lives, culture, religion, and social circles.
Proposed Solutions to Achieve Equality
It is obvious that the USA justice systems need reforms to ensure justice across all races. Although this case is specific to juveniles, contemporary studies have confirmed that the challenge affects all people of color despite their age brackets. The proposed changes should attempt to change the structure of the judicial system as well as recognize the inherent marginalization faced by people of color.
To begin with, the justice system and the stakeholders should embark on an institutional education about the racial over-representation in juvenile and all prisons in general. Although this debate has been ranging in American race justice spheres, there has been no deliberate attempt by the government to educate the parties involved and come up with solutions. The main reason for the lack of government education in this area is the complexity of the field. Such an education would be highly controversial in terms of racial equality and might even spark other forms of racial differences. The solution must thus focus on, not only education, but a structured, well-balanced, and neutral education policy.
The education policy should first seek to understand the subjective attitudes of justice system civil servants across the races. This study should confirm or disapprove the current literature on the over-representation of colored people in prisons. After understanding the attitudes shared by the employees of the justice system on the issues, the stakeholders should then move to test training model that tries to change the social conditioning about crime index, and the negative racial attitudes. The education model should also have public involvement where the public learn how their biased response to police officers of a different race inhibits communication. By engaging the public, the model might create social collaboration between the people of color and police officers.
The USA justice system should also review juvenile cases as subjective cases. Currently, the courts use statutory clauses to prosecute youths. These clauses do not reflect the racial aspects that might make one race more vulnerable to arrests than the other. The colored people have their social interaction structures that do not fit to the mainstream American culture. As a public norm, most of these norms are acceptable and actually accepted. Therefore, using the mainstream social perception of morality and legality, minority groups become more predisposed to committing these felonies even during regular social interaction. Even without major amendments to the juvenile prosecution laws, the justice system should invest in flexibility to accommodate the dynamic cultures of the different races subject to the law.
Conclusion
The over-representation of colored people in American prisons, including juvenile institutions is a representation of the widespread inequality, social conditioning, and marginalization in most spheres of American life. The racial systems in American have followed historical patterns of inequalities to marginalize minority groups. These areas include the economic, social, political, and cultural positions when interacting with other races. The upheld system makes colored people more predisposed to committing a crime where the justice system has subscribed to the social conditioning associating colored people and high crime index. Social, legal education and situation-subjective rulings can help achieve racial balance injustice system.
References
Davis, J., & Sorensen, J. R. (2013). Disproportionate juvenile minority confinement: A state-
level assessment of racial threat. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice , 11 (4), 296-312.
Herbst, L., & Walker, S. (2001). Language barriers in the delivery of police services: A study of
police and Hispanic interactions in a midwestern city. Journal of Criminal Justice , 29 (4), 329-340.
Leiber, M. J., & Peck, J. H. (2012). Race in juvenile justice and sentencing policy: An overview
of research and policy recommendations. Law & Ineq. , 31 , 331.
McCarter, S. A. (2009). Legal and extralegal factors affecting minority overrepresentation in
Virginia’s juvenile justice system: A mixed-method study. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal , 26 (6), 533.
