Criminal Justice: Impact of Race on Crime

Criminal Justice
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Criminal Justice
Impact of Race on Crime
Race remains a critical aspect of the criminal justice system in the USA. Researchers also pay substantial reference to race and ethnicity in criminology studies, highlighting the impact these factors have on how justice is executed for victims and offenders. Newport News, VA has a diverse community of about 181,606 people where 81,214 are White representing44.7%, 71,568 Black representing 39.4%, 15,229 Hispanic representing 8.39% and 5,341 Asians representing 2.94% of the population (Datausa.io, 2016). In this context, there is an overrepresentation of some minorities among those people who are arrested and imprisoned for criminal acts in the USA. This is associated with discrimination in the criminal justice system and increased rates of offending among racial minorities who feel that they are oppressed. Notably, researchers imply that black people have disproportionately fallen victim in the context of racial discrimination in the USA criminal system (Phillips & Bowling, 2010). Additionally, the conviction of innocent people is no exception in the context of racial discrimination. According to Rosich (2007), there have been substantial reforms in the criminal justice system over the past fifty years, which has been influenced by civil rights movements and the focus of the due process that has made discrimination based on race unconstitutional. Nevertheless, this has not substantially changed the perceptions people hold concerning race and crime. This is evident in the law enforcement policies and practices that are associated with extreme police violence against some races and tension that exist between the minority communities and the police. On the same note, the National Registry of Exonerations shows that out of 1,900 defendants that were released because they were wrongfully convicted in 2016, 47% of them were African Americans (Gross, Possley, & Stephens, 2017). Considering that African Americans make up 13% of the populations, people from this minority group are three times more likely to be wrongly convicted. Gross, Possley, and Stephens (2017) review of the data show that most of the people who are innocent and wrongfully convicted of crimes in the USA are African Americans.
The reviews conducted by Lawrence (2011) show that race and crime are intrinsically linked, which implies that the stereotyping and perceptions that exist among the people are difficult to address. In this context, there is confinement among the people and law enforcement that males from darker-skinned communities are a danger to the society, while for the white males, their criminality is individualized. This implies that males from Latino and black communities, even those who have never been convicted of crimes before have to persistently prove that they have no criminal intentions and they are worthy in the community for them to achieve social inclusion. Roberts and McMahon (2008) show that economic and social factors influence the perception associated with race and crime in London. The sentiments expressed by the authors reflect the situation that exists in the US, with most black and brown males who are most likely to be convicted o...