Race and Sentencing. Social Sciences Assignment

Race and Sentencing
Student’s Name
Institution
 Abstract
The United States criminal justice system that is made of the police, courts, and correctional units faces numerous challenges and is often under criticism. Racial biasness is rampant not only with law enforcement officers but also during and after trials in court. Scholars have made reasonable arguments with facts on the racial biasness in the criminal justice system. People of color are more susceptible to unequal treatments at every instance of criminal justice process. Other factors influencing the effectiveness of the criminal justice system with regards to race are the oppressive policies set by the state and federal governments. Besides incarceration, there are other forms of punishments that are less harsh in which felons can be subjected to: parole, rehabilitation, house arrest, community service. Perhaps they should be subjected to these forms of punishment in the case where criminal offences are of lower magnitude regardless of race. Collateral consequences after finishing sentence are unavoidable and are more prevalent to people of color. Reforms in the criminal justice system are necessary to reduce the impacts of racial disparity.  Race and Sentencing
Introduction
The process of getting access to justice in the United States is not as easy as it sounds. The United States justice system is as complex as any other national enterprise in the country. The major components of the US Justice System include the law enforcement agencies, the court, and the correctional units (McElreath et al., 2017). These component falls under the various arms of the federal government; the police and correctional units falling under the executive whereas the courts falling under the judicial arm of government. The legislature as well plays an important role in defining crimes, determining sentence, and sentencing duration as well as excising control on the funding of these important components. The police department initiates the process of obtaining justice. They are responsible for maintaining law and order, arresting criminal offenders, and also take part in gathering the required evidence necessary to convict suspects in the court of law. The courts, on the other hand, has a role in determining the validity of the criminal conviction and also making a judgment of conviction by involving a jury. Those found guilty are then forwarded to the various correctional facilities depending on the nature of the crime committed. The most common form of punishment for criminal offenders in America is incarceration. However, there are numerous alternatives to incarceration; probation, parole, house arrests among others (Clear et al., 2018).There are numerous issues surrounding the justice system in the United States. These issues are spread across the various components of the criminal justice system. The most obvious suspects derailing the efficiency of the justice system are race and the disparity between the poor and the rich. The United States is made up of people of different races, whites being the majority while the blacks and the Latinos make the minority. According to Latzer, (2018), race has a significant influence on a person's tendency to commi...