Differential Treatment: The Criminal Justice System

Differential Treatment
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Differential Treatment
There are a number of ways through which the criminal justice system may provide differential treatment to offenders belonging to ethnic and racial minority groups. First, the criminal justice system may provide differential treatment through arrests. There are racial discrepancies in the arrests of black and white people. As informed by Fite, Wynn, & Pardini (2009), young black people are up to three times more likely to be arrested compared to white youth. Second, the criminal justice system may provide differential treatments through incarceration. Evidence suggests that blacks have a higher chance of going to prison than the whites. Specifically, while the chance of black male facing incarceration is 29%, that of white males is only 4% (DeLisi & Regoli, 2005). The ratio is approximately similar in black females versus white females. Third, criminal justice system provides differential treatment through criminal victimization. As noted by DeLisi & Regoli (2005), the number of blacks who are victims of crime is more than the number of whites. Blacks are more likely to be victims of homicide and handgun victimizations. The authors also note that significant race differentials occur in the chance of becoming a crime victim. More blacks are worried about being murdered or facing serious assaults than the whites. Therefore, the criminal justice system may provide differential treatment through arrests, incarceration, and criminal victimization to offenders belonging to ethnic or racial minorities.
The differential treatment of ethnic and racial offenders impacts their lives significantly. Once an individual has been involved with the criminal justice system, there are high chances that he or she may lose the privileges and rights that are often taken for granted (Green, 2012)...