Law Research Paper: Diversity Changes

Diversity Changes
Name
Institution
Diversity Changes
The criminal justice system in the United States is faced with many challenges with the major one being the issue of racial disparity or racism. While most of the U.S laws always seek to promote justice and equality for all people, the case is different in the criminal justice system where racism is still rampant. Ideally, most of the individuals incarcerated within this system happen to be African Americans with the set policies and programs favoring white Americans and people from other races. Considering this fact, the Sentencing Project was developed and this program is working to create diversity in the criminal justice system by ending racism. The Sentencing Project was established in the year 1986 and has been in effect since then. The policy is in effect in the criminal justice system of the United States where it seeks to ensure fairness and effectiveness in the sentencing policy. It also focuses on addressing racial practices that are unjust and also advocates for other alternatives that can be used instead of incarceration. The project also looks into the causes of racial disparities, the consequences of the same and the possible solutions to this problem.
The Sentencing Project is designed to address all the major areas of the U.S criminal justice system that deal with the arresting, convicting and sentencing individuals. Accordingly, it is noted that within this system, racial disparity is rampant and racial minorities and particularly the black Americans are often treated unfairly as compared to the white Americans. For these racial minorities, the chances of being arrested, convicted and facing very stiff sentences are usually higher than those of the white Americans. The case is worse for black American males whose likelihood to be incarcerated is six times than those of the white males (Report of the Sentencing Project, 2013). This implies that every single African American male is likely to be incarcerated at least one time during his lifetime. Given this unfairness, the Sentencing Project therefore aims to promote reforms in the criminal justice system by pushing for reforms in the area of sentencing policy, advocating for alternatives that can be used in place of incarceration and addressing any racial discrimination practices in the system that tend to harm some racial groups while favoring others.
There is no doubt that the Sentencing Project also impacts juvenile justice in some significant ways. Concerning this, it is noted that the juvenile justice system in the United States faces the same challenge of racial disparity just like the adult criminal justice system and in this, the African American youth are more disadvantag...