The Historical Distribution Of Social Resources In America Influencing the African Americans Offending Rates - Essay Example

Running head: African Americans How Might The Historical Distribution Of Social Resources In America Influence African Americans Offending Rates? Insert Name Insert Grade Course Insert Tutor’s Name 24 March 2012 How Might The Historical Distribution Of Social Resources In America Influence African Americans Offending Rates? Civil Rights Movement African Americans make up the single largest racial minority group in the United States of America, who are not indigenous Americans; most are descendants of Africa who were enslaved and ended up in America. They were misused, abused, and oppressed until the rose up against their white masters through the civil rights movement. “The civil rights movement struck down legal barriers but failed to dismantle racial barriers. It ended the "violence of segregation” but not the “violence of poverty"” (Litwack 109). Despite the law outlawing black discrimination in America, the white majority continued to discriminate them in various ways. Their economic situation did not change and majority still live in slums. White racial superiority is still prevalent and by large has not changed despite advancement in equality. This has persistently made people of African American origin to lag behind socially, educationally, in health care, and economically with drastic impacts in their way of life. Mostly, their frustrations are expressed in crime and attitude that further worsens their already disadvantaged situation. There is a notable improvement of African Americans quality of life as evidenced by successful blacks in sports, entertainment, business and many other walks in life but almost 50% of prisoners in America are blacks. There is a very big underlying problem and this is manifested by involvement in crime. The post slavery trauma is still ingrained in the lives of African Americans and this is expressed by their bitter disposition and violent tendencies. The society and environment around them probably makes them feel they are under constant attack and they develop defense mechanism in their attitudes. They have to fend for themselves. The large numbers of black offenders indicate that the government has failed to provide equal economic opportunities for blacks and hence poverty levels are still high in black neighborhoods and to survive they resort to crime and illegal activities. Housing Discrimination Housing discrimination against African Americans started after abolition of slavery as a government policy through the Jim Crow laws. These laws denied African Americans equitable housing opportunities in areas occupied by whites. A trend that is still prevalent today. “By all accounts discrimination in housing remains a major problem in the United States”, (Schill and Friedman 75). Despite federal government laws outlawing segregation of African Americans, it is still rampant through various exclusionary and non exclusionary tactics and it has succeeded in segregating black populations in poor overpopulated neighborhoods. These neighborhoods are faced with a myriad of social and infrastructural problems leading to poor service delivery and social disorganization. With poor education systems, dropout rates are very high and not many students graduate from colleges. This leads to rampant unemployment due to lack of academic qualifications and discriminatory employment practices based on residential areas. The wealth gap between poor neighborhoods and rich neighborhoods will continue to increase in relation to the quality of amenities and opportunities available to the residents hence the blacks continue to get poorer and poorer while the white neighborhoods get richer and richer. The challenges facing residents of this predominantly Africa Americans residences will result in breakdown of social order and eventually social disorganization leading to an increase in crime levels as a means of survival. When there are no houses for blacks, there are no jobs for blacks because they cannot relocate easily to where they can get employed. Lack of adequate accommodations makes people to live in crowded conditions where there is no privacy or order. Competition for the little facilities available and food will make the inhabitants resort to other illegal means to get their daily food. These poor conditions psychologically affect the black populace making them loose restraint and develop vices that make them end up in the justice department correction services. Education Challenges African Americans have made steady but slow gains in education attainment; the black-white gap percentage in high school percentage is closing at national levels, the rate at which white’s complete college is twice that of blacks. More African American women attend and complete college than men. Despite the abolition of segregation practices, historically black colleges and universities are still present. These colleges were situated in black neighborhoods and hence are predominantly attended by African Americans. Because of overpopulation in these institutions, the quality of education is very low and most black students drop out of school before graduating due to many challenges. Poverty and the lack of a positive environment lead to low grades, early teenage pregnancies, drug abuse, and criminal activity making the majority of black students drop out of school. With no education or low education standards, the African Americans do not get meaningful jobs. The social challenges facing black students hinder their completion of education to tertiary level. This predisposes them to frustration and discrimination as they cannot get good jobs. Ultimately they rebel against the system and resort to crime to make ends meet. Skewed job market opportunities will make more blacks unemployed and still dependent on the federal government for social support. Lack of a foreseeable employment in future will lower their self esteem and they will turn to crime and other illegal activities to make up for the inadequacies. Employment Challenges Historically, blacks in America hold the low cadre jobs because of poor education Standards and employment discrimination. After the American civil war, many blacks moved up the ranks in employment and had better wages but today they are still more likely to hold jobs they don’t desire; a fact that leads to lack of job satisfaction leading to underperformance, stress, and depression. Even with equal education status, African Americans predominantly earn lower wages than whites. Blacks in rural areas earn lower wages and this reflects the limited job opportunities available for them (Lyson 11). Being discriminated at the job market will increase depression and negative attitudes towards life. Being denied a source of livelihood will increase poverty and predispose the African Americans to crime as an alternative. Lack of jobs sends bad signals to the blacks in the school system and they lack motivation to pursue education seriously and instead focus on quick money projects Judicial Discrimination From the institution of slavery, African Americans have suffered discrimination through a pattern of exclusion and segregation both formally and informally in the shape of legislation and court decisions that historically endorsed overt racial discrimination (Banks 53). The Jim Crows laws legally endorsed African American discrimination and they were denied the right to elect their representatives or sign legal contracts making them inferior to whites. Extralegal treatment in the form of physical assault through lynching where police were present and lack of prosecution of the white perpetrators in the post slavery period has made the African Americans distrust the judicial system and lack confidence in its ability to offer neutral judgment (Smith 75). They have continued to suffer severe trauma through unequal representation and social stereo typing by white judicial officers, which continually traumatize the African Americans who go through the judicial system. This trauma has persisted through social changes and has resulted in high rates of suicide, alcohol and substance abuse, and increased criminal activities as a response. Crime is concentrated in poor urban areas where most African Americans live and when arrested and taken to correction facilities, the attitude that the system is unfair to the blacks makes the system unable to rehabilitate them. With poor economic status and low education standards, the odds are that even when out of jail, they will continue to commit more and more crimes as a rebellious attitude to a system that oppresses and discriminates against them. Police Brutality Police operations and patrols increased in the 1960s and they could virtually arrests any black person anywhere on impulse. Wrongful arrests, harassment, beatings, and unlawful confinement sometimes resulted in deaths. Excessive use of force against African Americans has made the police less and less popular and this has generated an attitude of rebellion towards the police. The American police are more likely to make an arrest and use excessive force in racially mixed or minority neighborhoods (Smith 314). A case study of New York and Memphis concluded that police shot disproportionately more blacks when they were fleeing, indicating that the police use of deadly force is racially biased against blacks (Fyfe 722). The effects of police brutality sow seeds of mistrust between the black public and the police. They become more hostile to police and view them as enemies, police collaboration with black neighborhoods cannot be done and crime levels remain high. Criminals are shielded from the police by black communities because of public empathy. Instead of reducing crime, police brutality has made crime levels remain high in black neighborhoods and use of violence against the police in retaliation more common. Health Care African Americans lack adequate medical cover and access to good health care due to their poor economic status and high unemployment levels. They have a higher prevalence of chronic health problems due to low quality diets and bad lifestyles. The HIV/Aids pandemic has affected the African American community the most and this has widespread ramifications in their economic status. Poor health compounds the quality of life as it drains away available resources and hence the other members of the family suffer as a result. They compromise education opportunities, employment opportunities, and eventually the young ones have to fend for themselves. With limited education qualifications and a system that discriminates against employment, the easiest way to get money is through crime, illegal activities, and prostitution all which irreversibly steep African Americans into crime. The rise prevalence of high crime rates among African Americans can also be explained by social structure theories which try to relate behavior to social, economic, and environmental factors. The social disorganization theory attributes rise of crime to break down of communal institutions and communal relationships that traditionally encouraged cooperative relationships among people. These relationships traditionally had mechanisms of regulating behavior in the society with success. With the gains of civil war, the African Americans have experienced rapid growth and change in their social economic status which was actively opposed by majority whites and led to discrimination against housing, education, and other social amenities. This led to African Americans being segregated to poor neighborhoods that are overpopulated and lack social amenities. High levels of poverty and lack of social amenities lead to the breakdown of social institutions that include family, education, and local governments leading to a systematic shift of behavior to criminality. Lack of good social controls and institutions have led to the development of the culture of rebellion, crime, delinquency, and drug abuse which eventuality makes majority of African Americans living in poor neighborhoods view crime culture as normal. The African Americans family institution has changed dramatically over time with more African American children being raised by single parent’s especially single mothers. 68 percent of all births to African American women are to single mothers (U.S census report, 2001). Without the support of the children fathers, single mothers eventually find themselves living below the poverty line due to unemployment and financial demands of bringing up their kids. The harsh environments of unemployment, low income, and discrimination in most aspects of life psychologically affect their children and they develop antisocial behavior at an early age. Child delinquency will gradually lead to criminal behavior. The criminal behavior in children will be manifested in various forms such as burglary, robbery, vandalism, drug use and in extreme cases violence (Farrington 64). Lack of a positive environment will make most children become criminals and hence the rate of African Americans committing crime increases continually. Lack of an efficient local government authority within the neighborhoods leaves the blacks to their own devices with more people forced to become criminals to fit in and for protection against rival gangs in the black communities. Lack of good role models in black neighborhoods also contributes to the development of a subculture of crime with the support of most African Americans in the ghettos. The government and all stakeholders should understand the plight of the black Americans in the ghettos and come up with ways of providing adequate and quality social services in black neighborhoods to adequately address this problem. Works Cited Banks. Racial Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System. Sage Pub. Web. 23 Mar. 2012. . Farrington, David. Implications of Biological Findings for Criminological Research. New York: Cambridge University Press. 1987. Print Fyfe, James. “Blind Justice: Police shootings in Memphis.” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 73 (1982): 707–22. Litwack, Leon. How Free? The Long Death of Jim Crow. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press. 2009. Print Lyson, Thomas. “Real Incomes of Rural Black and Hispanic Workers Fell Further Behind In the 1980s" Rural Development Perspectives, Vol. 7, (1991) Issue 2, pp. 7-11. Schill, Michael, and Samantha Friedman. “The Fair Housing Amendment Act of 1988: the First Decade Cityscape:” A Journal of Policy Development and Research, Vol 44.1999 Smith, Barney.” Historical Injustice, Contemporary Inequalities: African Americans and Criminal Justice." Investigating the difference: Human and Cultural relations in Criminal justice. Northern Arizona University. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000. Print Smith, Douglas. “The Neighborhood Context of Police Behavior.” Pp. 313–341 in Crime and Justice: A Review of Research: Vol. 8 Communities and Crime, edited by A. Reiss and M. Tonry. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986. Print Read More