Sentencing Disparity between White and Black People

There is a significant difference between Black people and their White counterparts in sentencing decisions in the U.S. Sentences given to Blacks are about 20 percent longer compared to those given to White people with similar criminal offenses. Race plays an integral part in decisions concerning homicide cases that should end up in life sentences. The issue has been driven by a stereotype created against Blacks, who are considered as being more prone towards engaging in drug-related offenses. Such racial discriminations are a result of the Blacks is getting desperate treatment in the judiciary system. The judiciary serves as a means to ensure that law is enforced and by doing so, it should provide equal judgment measures without discriminating against races. The challenge for the criminal justice system within the United States has been on trying to create a balance between sentencing for Blacks and Whites, who have been accused of the same drug offenses.

The decades-long drug war has ravaged Black communities living within the United States, which has remained as one of the critical challenges that the communities face. Most of the young people living within Black communities find themselves experiencing stereotypes touching on areas of their involvement in drug offenses. The criminal justice system has been on the forefront towards contributing to the issue considering that it often finds itself accused of favoring Whites charged with a wide array of drug offenses. This research paper seeks to give a general discussion on the sentencing disparity between White and Black people for drug offenses with the notion being that Whites often receive lenient sentences when compared to their Black counterparts accused of similar crimes.

Racial discrimination and disparity exists within the criminal justice system within the United States. The effect can be seen the fact that the sentencing approaches guidelines taken when dealing with Blacks are not the same as those used when dealing with Whites; thus, resulting in a severe disparity in the sentences. When it comes to drug offenses, racial discrimination is highly pronounced in sentencing as seen in judicial proceedings (Burch, 2015). Majority of the people arrested in America for drug offenses are the Black (Browning, Miller & Spruance, 2018). They also serve a much more jail sentence for drug offenses as compared to Whites who committed violent offenses. Such racial disparities came in place as Black people were arrested more frequently with drug-related crimes as compared to Whites. They spend more time behind bars for drug offenses that are committed without violence as compared to the Whites who get sentenced for a shorter period for violent drug offenses.

The increased cases of imprisonment regarding drug allegations have mostly impacted the Black community. In 2011, Black people were imprisoned at a much higher level than White people. Until now, Blacks account for almost half of prisoners that are sentenced for more than one year for offenses that are related to drugs. According to research and policy analysis, racial bias has been explored in the criminal justice system which includes the police practices, rates of arrest, convictions and length of sentence. All these are biased against Black people. There is a difference in sentence proceedings and case processing between the two races. This makes Blacks more disadvantaged when they get arrested for different criminal activities including drug offenses.

Chen & Nomura (2015) build on the understanding that an apparent lack of racial balance within the criminal justice system has been noted as a pivotal contributor to the situation at hand considering that most of the judges and magistrates tend to operate on stereotypes. The stereotypes often result in a situation where Blacks are seen as being at a higher possibility of engaging in drug-related offenses when compared to their White counterparts. Estes (2015) argues that the issue is reflective of the fact that Blacks often receive sentences that are twice as harsh as those given to their White counterparts. That is evident within different states within the United States, which often creates a challenge for Blacks in their bid towards enhancing the possibility of equality in the sentencing guidelines.

Foster (2018) takes note of the fact that the adoption of different propositions has been of great value towards seeking to reduce the existing racial disparities among Hispanics rather than Blacks. The propositions have failed to create an avenue for racial equality taking into account that they often favor some of the other minority communities over Blacks when dealing with drug-related offenses (Nicosia, MacDonald, & Arkes, 2013). The challenge is driven by the fact that most of the officials within the criminal justice system often hold negative views concerning the possibility of Blacks engaging in drug-related offenses when compared to their White counterparts. The negative views serve as a driver towards creating a perception against Black offenders considering that most of the Black drug-related offenders often find themselves receiving harsher sentences (Hester & Hartman, 2017).

Rehavi & Starr (2014) establish the fact that most of the sentences given to Blacks are approximately 10 percent longer when compared to those given to Whites for similar crimes as part of the United States criminal justice system. The issue has been driven by the fact that a significant number of Blacks often find themselves experiencing racial discrimination as a result of their race and ethnicity. The ultimate result is that the judicial officers fail in their bid to building equality in the sentencing guidelines for persons involved in specific types of crimes. Rosenberg, Groves, & Blankenship (2017) argue that the reentry of Blacks is way higher when compared to other communities within the United States, especially when dealing with persons that have been convicted of drug-related offenses. That serves as a clear framework through which to support the generalized shift suggesting that racial disparity is evident within the criminal justice system.

In a study on arrests for use and possession of drugs, especially marijuana, Yang (2015) took note of the fact that approximately 73.2 percent of the offenders charged were Blacks with only 22.8 percent being Whites, which points to an apparent disparity in the sentencing approaches. The challenge has been on the fact that race is used as a primary factor that determines whether an individual is likely to engage in criminal activities relating to drug use or possession. Matt (n.d.) builds on the perception that Blacks are often considered as being more prone towards engaging in activities allowing them to focus on the selling of drugs. In other words, this means that Blacks are perceived as being more of drug dealers when compared to any other racial community living within the United States.

Unfortunately, Black people are still serving unfair sentencing even after the Congress and Sentencing commission came up with sentencing adjustments. They have not benefited in any way even after the sentencing adjustments were made. The adjustments determined that drug offenders were sentenced to unfairly. In 2014, the sentencing commission in the U.S aimed at enhancing fairness. This discrimination in drug sentencing comes as a result of many Blacks abusing drugs compared to Whites. Blacks have high chances of drug sales and possession charges (Mitchell & Caudy, 2017). From this perception, judges and magistrates often seek to consider the race of the drug-related offender to determine his or her sentence. However, factors like unemployment and poverty alleviations among Black people need to be addressed to prevent them from committing such offenses.

There is an urgent need for racial justice. The need is driven by the fact that a significant number of Blacks are suffering due to harsh prison sentences that do not relate to those offered to the Whites and other communities. If the needs of the offenders get addressed, then they will be less exposed to crimes associated with drugs. In other words, this means that there would be a likely outcome in which Blacks would avoid engaging in drug-related criminal activities including usage and possession of drugs. Judicial discrimination in cases concerning drug offenses comes about because Blacks are exposed to such crimes as compared to Whites. Cases such as lack of employment opportunities to the Black people come as a result of discrimination in the employment sector. This leads to a rise in poverty levels, exposing Blacks to drug crimes more than Whites.

In recent times, one of the most significant challenges that the United States criminal justice system has faced revolves around racial disparity among offenders in prison facilities throughout the United States. Worrall (2017) points to a report by the Department of Corrections, which pointed to the fact that indeed there exists racial disparities in the composition of prison facilities within the United States attributed to a higher number of Black prisoners. In the report, what is evident is that the main issue revolves around the fact that most of the Blacks experience significant challenges in their bid to find lenient sentences compared to prisoners from other communities including Whites and Hispanics.

The main issue of consideration in trying to understand the existing racial disparities is the fact that a significant number of those that have been sentenced lack information that would justify them experiencing racial discrimination (The Hamilton Project, 2016). Civil rights advocates have been on the forefront in trying to call for equality in the manner in which officials within the criminal justice system handle offenders. According to a majority of the civil rights movements, the occurrence of racial disparities within the criminal justice system has been driven by lack of reforms in the system to help in establishing new guidelines for performance (Ingraham, 2017). In other words, this means that most of the judicial officials fail to consider the implications of their unfair sentencing from a societal perspective as well as fail to consider how this is impacting on the perception created against Black prisoners.

The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), in a 2013 report, indicated that African Americans account for 37 percent of the total number of prisoners compared to 22 percent Hispanics and 32 percent White Americans within different prisons in different parts of the United States (Stringer & Holland, 2016). That is symbolic of the fact that a significant number of Blacks in the prisons are often viewed as being violent and dangerous even though some of their crimes are not violent crimes. The outcome of this disparity is that it becomes much harder for the criminal justice system to change in terms of the building of a standard through which to create an avenue for equality. The Human Rights Watch (n.d.) argues that equality is a far-fetched idea that does not exist within the criminal justice system considering that judges and magistrates often seek to consider one’s race and ethnicity as a determinant of the sentencing.

The numbers expose a grim situation facing offenders, especially those accused of drug-related charges, as the high number of those handed long sentences are Blacks with Whites receiving sentences that do not correspond to the Blacks (Nellis, 2016). Worrall (2017) points to the fact that on average, Blacks often receive sentences that are two months longer when compared to their White counterparts. That suggests a clear challenge existing within the criminal justice system in the country. Additionally, it also points to the need for having to establish clear frameworks that would seek to change the way offenders are handled as a way of building on the possibilities of equality in sentencing (Mooney et al., 2018). Equality in sentencing would mean that offenders, with similar crimes, are sentenced in a manner that is similar considering that they have been engaged in the same manner of crimes.

From the analysis of the issue, as has been presented, it is clear that the main contributing factor to racial disparities in sentencing as part of the criminal justice system is lack of effective policies and practices that would define the value of equality. The criminal justice system has experienced the need for reforms for a long time attributed to the need for having to introduce new policies and practices to boost positive performance (Zimmerman, 2014). The evident lack of adoption of such reform measures has created a scenario where it has become hard for judicial officials to work towards building on equality. Additionally, this has also resulted in a clear violation of existing legal structures with the aim being towards sentencing Blacks more harshly when compared to individuals from other communities.

Another key contributor to the issue at hand has been lack of accountability for the judicial officials including judges and magistrates to have to highlight the value of promoting equality in their practice. The criminal justice system does not have existing legal structures that would hold judges and magistrates accountable for their sentencing of criminal offenders; thus, paving the way for instances where some of the judges and magistrates often favor White Americans over their Black counterparts in the same crimes (Matt, n.d.). The main challenge is working towards instituting practical approaches through which to create a justified avenue that seeks to define the importance of promoting equality as a critical aspect of consideration in reducing cases of racial discrimination of Blacks convicted of different criminal activities including drug-related offenses.

Based on the findings, it is clear that there is an urgent need to improve, which highlights the importance of having to consider several key recommendations. The first recommendation would involve having to ensure that the criminal justice system goes through thorough reforms aimed at eliminating the possibility of disparities is resulting from race and ethnicity. The reforms will seek to ensure that the criminal justice officials go through training and development programs would enhance their capacities to build on equality as one of the critical factors that must be included as part of the system. The reforms will also target the adoption of proactive measures to identify and eliminate some of the individuals that do not believe in the value of equality as part of the justice system.

The second recommendation would focus on the idea of having to embark on a process of making changes to the policies and practices governing the concept of sentencing as part of the criminal justice system. In this approach, what would be expected is that the policies and practices defining sentencing would be changed in a bid to promoting equality for any individual involved in criminal activity. Additionally, this would also mean that the judges and magistrates understand the value of making use of the existing sentencing guidelines to serve as a critical structure through which to achieve the best possible outcomes. One of the essential issues noted is that some of the judges and magistrates often ignore the sentencing guidelines offered, which results in a situation where there exists a higher possibility of racial disparity when dealing with persons from different ethnic backgrounds.

To finish with, it is critical to reducing racial disparity in the system of criminal justice to enhance fairness in judgment. Unless the justice system becomes just and fair, people will no longer have trust and confidence in it. The race has always played a role in the outcome of the sentencing. The decades-long drug war has ravaged Black communities living within the United States, which has remained as one of the critical challenges that the communities face. Such racial disparities came in place as Black people were arrested more frequently with drug-related crimes as compared to Whites. The efforts aimed at reducing racial inequality in drug-related crimes should also put into consideration the charging practices for prosecutors, how investigation procedures are carried out, and they should provide alternatives for sentencing options.

Until now, Blacks account for almost half of prisoners that are sentenced for more than one year for offenses that are related to drugs. That is evident within different states within the United States, which often creates a challenge for Blacks in their bid towards enhancing the possibility of equality in the sentencing guidelines. The issue has been driven by the fact that a significant number of Blacks often find themselves experiencing racial discrimination as a result of their race and ethnicity. There is an urgent need for racial justice. Civil rights advocates have been on the forefront in trying to call for equality in the manner in which officials within the criminal justice system handle offenders. That suggests a clear challenge existing within the criminal justice system in the country. An apparent lack of adoption of such reform measures has created a scenario where it has become hard for judicial officials to work towards building on equality.

References

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