The United States is one of the nations with huge population across the globe. It boasts of about 5% of the total world population. However, it is appalling that about 25% of the prison population is also in the same country. The United States has over 2 million people either in the jails or prisons. Interestingly, about 40% of the population in the prisons and jails are African Americans ( Neubauer & Fradella, 2015) . Other races also follow closely with the white being the least. This happens despite the fact that African Americans makes just about 13% of the total America population. In fact, according to Lawrence (2011), for every 1000 African Americans, about 50 are behind bars in the country. He adds that out of possible three young black men, one of them will probably be incarcerated in their lifetime. This is a disparity that is very hard to believe to most Americans, unfortunately, it is the truth and undeniable. To some people in the country, this is a disheartening phenomenon while to others it is just the reality that people have to come to terms with. The question that most people as is why the disparity. This paper looks how the United States laws have shaped the way that various racial groups have experienced the Criminal Justice System.
A great deal of the 20 th century has been marred with some insight of serious racial divide in the United States especially when it comes to crime and punishment. Neubauer et al. (2015) say that i n the 1900s chain gang style penal practices, judicial bigotry, prosecutorial, and lynching were rampant. This was more common in the southern criminal justice system. This was not different from other parts of the United States. The minorities in the country were tried in white courtrooms by white judges. An example of such cases was the 1931-32 Scottsboro trial. African Americans accounted for 31% of the total population in the prisons yet they were only 11% of the total American population ( Cole, Smith, & DeJong, 2018). In fact, U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics (2000) (Cited by Cole et al., 2018). indicates that out of the 455 rape cases between 1930 and 1970, 405 African Americans were executed. Essentially, the sentencing laws were very discriminatory especially for the blacks who happened to had victimized the whites. Apart from the justice system, the police departments were also instrumental in racial violence. The police participated actively in racial discrimination by either encouraging it or by not restraining violence (O’Brien & Gail, 1989: Cited by Delgado, & Stefancic, 2017).
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It is important to note that over the past five decades, the United States Supreme court and legislation have pushed for "due process" kind of procedure. This has been because of the cries and the movements by the civil right groups who have claimed that discrimination based on race is unconstitutional in the United States. In fact, the laws have recently been followed such that the minority defendants are able to be awarded bails. The minorities are no longer charged indiscriminately, disproportionately, nor without legal presentation. The recent law enforcement policies have advocated for accountability and professionalism without discrimination. Despite the progress on the criminal justice system, more blame has been directed toward the police system which is still involved in racial discrimination. Consequently, it has led to the tensions we see today in the United States between the minorities and the police.
There are various laws that have been signed to help in reducing the level of discrimination based on race in the United States. Chemerinsky (2016) indicate that one such law is the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This law continues to play a role in the protection of Americans against racial discrimination The Act has various provisions that prevent any form of discrimination – race, color, age, sex, sexuality, originality, and religion. One of the provisions, Title VIII , advocates for Equal Employment Opportunities despite the race. Another is the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA). This Act has played a serious role in granting all applicants equal opportunity in obtaining credit without racial or any other form of discrimination. ECOA has played a role in prohibiting creditors from discrimination against any creditor. The United States Code Title 42, Chapter 21-Civil Rights is another law that has helped prevent racial discrimination in the country. This law prevents discrimination based on race, gender, nationality, religion, age, and disability on a wider setting – education, federal services, employment, accommodations, housing, among many other ( Chemerinsky, 2016) . It includes the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1964 about institutionalized persons Act. Other laws that have helped in reducing racial discrimination in the country include Fair Housing Act (FHA), Voting Rights Act of 1965, and Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.
Despite these steps that have been taken by the government to diminish discrimination in the United States Criminal justice system, 21 st century has been grappled by an otherwise perception ( Neubauer et al., 2015) . Most of the minorities are grappled with the perceptions and reality of unfairness in the justice system. There is a belief that race and ethnic plays an important role incarceration by the criminal justice system in the country making the minorities somewhat skeptical. Today, the minorities are overrepresented in victimization, offending, and delinquency ( Cole et al., 2018) . They are also overrepresented at all the stages of the criminal justice process – arrest, pretrial detention, capital punishment, and confinement. However, it is important to note that various laws have actually been implemented to prevent any form of discrimination based on race in the United States. It is no longer like in the old age where race determined everything in a person’s life in the United States.
References
Chemerinsky, E. (2016). Constitutional law . Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.
Cole, G. F., Smith, C. E., & DeJong, C. (2018). The American system of criminal justice . Cengage Learning.
Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2017). Critical race theory: An introduction . NYU Press.
Neubauer, D. W., & Fradella, H. F. (2015). America's courts and the criminal justice system . Cengage Learning.
