Race and Ethnicity of Juvenile Offenders - Research Paper Example

? Race and Ethni of Juvenile Offenders Agustina Rossato of Phoenix In a free county, everyone has equal rights. The constitution provides for fair treatment of citizens regardless of age, sex, size, social status, race, or ethnicity. Adults, as well as youths are sometimes suspected for various offences, arrested, arraigned in court and even imprisoned. Though the constitution states that all are equal, studies prove that factors like race and ethnicity have an effect on how people are treated by law enforcement agents. Race and Ethnicity of Juvenile Offenders The constitution of the United States should protect all citizens equally. This aspect of the constitution is not reflected in the justice system as various discriminations are observed in the justice system. Gender, age, size, social status, race or ethnicity, residence, and wealth status are some of the main factors that result in inequitable treatment of citizens. Adults are treated differently compared to juveniles, which is in line with the constitution since both parties have different needs. On the other hand, adults should be treated equally with other adults and juveniles treated equally with other juveniles. The age of the juvenile and the intention and gravity of the crime are some factors that should be put into consideration when arrests, arraignment in court and acquittal are done by officers. This paper reviews the role of race and ethnicity in discrimination of juveniles by the justice system. It also aims to draw a line that connects arrests and detention rates and suspects’ races. Juveniles are discussed as they are least represented in government agencies. Race and ethnicity is seen to play a role in administration of justice in various states despite a fair constitution. Race and ethnicity Race comprises the physical appearance of a person due to inherited genetic make-up of their parents. If one's parents are Caucasian then the physical characteristics of a Caucasian are passed on to them. On the other hand, ethnicity is about the aspects of culture that one learns in the course of life because of living in a certain environment. This makes one acquire behavioral characteristics, beliefs and perceptions of the people around them. Consequently, one may be genetically and phenotypically a Caucasian but not have the cultural characteristics associated with Caucasians. The behavioral tendencies will, therefore, comprise one’s culture. In addition, race is permanent while one can, subject to change in environmental factors, change their ethnicity. It is, therefore, not advisable to conclude one’s ethnicity based on physical appearance alone, other factors must be considered. The concept of race is also becoming fuzzy as these days many children are born of parents from different races and thus their races become harder and harder to determine. For instance, in the US, there are many African Americans who have a white parent; these people are undoubtedly as white as they are black. In addition, these people are born and brought up in the American environment. This means that despite having a mixed parentage, they have the same ethnicity as White Americans and, therefore, skin color, eye color or hair appearance is no basis for treating them differently (DifferenceBetween.net, 2010). Juvenile population The juvenile population, like other components of the American population, is growing consistently and, therefore, it should be taken care of better than current trends reveal. Adequate protection of these young people from discrimination by the legal system should be enhanced. Racial characteristics of the American juvenile population are continually changing. In 2000, people classified as of mixed race accounted for 1.4 percent of the whole population and 2.5 percent of the juvenile population. More interaction between people from different races will result in an increase in the mixed race class. It is, therefore, quite essential that this new race be protected from discrimination. This classification, however, keeps changing with time as the meaning of the word race is versatile. As time goes by the lines separating various racial characteristics become less obvious. As such, there will be the need for a new classification criterion of people for race (or any such term) to be of any value. Classifying people by their different European countries of origin was stopped as part of adjustments to racial classifications due to changing race structure in Europe. In the same way, the current racial groupings will have to be adjusted before they become non-existent. This will ensure equitable representation and distribution of national resources and basic human rights (Snyder and Sickmund, 1995). Race and law enforcement African Americans are usually associated with crime and violence. When making arrests, the police have a notion that African Americans are usually guilty if suspected. Consequently, a suspected African American juvenile is more likely to be arrested in contrast to leniency or warnings as compared to their white counterparts. Most of these conclusions are made in reference to official records. Underreporting of crimes amongst the African Americans compromises the validity of official records in reflecting crimes committed by them or them. In addition, more African Americans are arrested for homicides than whites because these arrests are made following common misconceptions against the former (Hawkins, Laub, Lauritsen and Cothern, 2000). In correctional facilities, the numbers of African Americans are almost the same as those of whites despite the smaller national population of former. This clearly shows gross over representation. Residence and discrimination In Oklahoma, among those living in urban counties, there are higher arrest rates of African American youths than white youths. In addition, informal detention is less prevalent for first offending white youths with African Americans being more likely to file a petition. This is mainly because African Americans live in less favorable neighborhoods where drug abuse is rampant and youths end up engaging in criminal activities. When living in drug-infested environments, youths become exposed to drugs. This is mainly due to sheer curiosity or peer pressure. Poverty is another factor affecting African American youths in these regions. This makes them turn to drugs for refuge. This clearly leads them to crime for them to support their addictions or their poor families. Children are forced to enter into criminal lifestyles at an early age to ensure that the family has a sustainable future irrespective of incarceration or death of their parents. Many of the arrested children come from families where the father died from crime related deaths. As such, most young boys pick up the bad habits to sustain their families, obviously under the watchful eyes of their mothers and relatives. On the other hand, African American youths living in urban areas are more likely to be arrested and held on probation. They are also highly likely to be detained informally. While racial disparity is seen in the front end of the urban juvenile population, both ends of the urban population have heavy racial disparities with regard to law enforcement. Researches have shown that even in the same environment, different living conditions are significant determinants of juvenile behavior. In the country sides, race related issues were observed in both the front and the back ends of the population. Variations were observed in the arrests, petitions, acquittal and custody depending whether one is Hispanic, White, or African American (Charish, Davis and Damphousse, 2004). Generalization of Oklahoma findings is not viable since Oklahoma is relatively small compared to the geographical and demographic coverage of the entire nation. As such the sample size does not have all the characteristics of the entire population. Secondly, there could be underlying factors that cannot be identified in a study and which are unique to this region. In addition, most of the factors, for example, family and individual variations are hard to determine and quantify. For generalization of these findings, there is the need to put other variables into consideration. For instance, a family’s history of crime or other factors common with people of the same region or neighborhood are quite essential to consider (Charish, Davis and Damphousse 2004). Finally, since race-related crimes trend to depend on location, then these Oklahoma findings are specific to Oklahoma and should not be interpreted directly to represent all other states. Research contradiction While some researchers have found out that race plays a leading role when it comes to administration of justice, others have concluded that juveniles from all races are treated similarly with few exceptions. Depending on the type of data used, both sides of the divide are right which begs for attention to the more correct of these two findings. The method of data collection is a key factor since data from the legal system does not take into account unreported cases. For instance, African Americans are less likely to report crimes committed among themselves. This means that they are more likely to be incriminated in cases between them and people from other races. Another method has been devised whereby victims and offenders are questioned on offences not reported to authorities. This method does not put into account homicides and that is why both methods must be used together (Pope and Snyder, 2003). However, there is no way to determine the truth on racial bias as it is an individual issue and studies cannot be done on everybody. Overall, studies give only estimates of how matters are but cannot define a situation totally and with sheer certainty. Conclusion Race should not be confused with ethnicity as someone’s race is always hereditary while ethnicity is acquired through interaction with the environment. This means that environment determines one’s behavior which means that discrimination based on one’s racial origin is unjustified. The primary reason is that all learnt behaviors are common to individuals living in the same environment. Instead of victimizing people, effort should be put towards identifying and solving the underlying factors that result in negative overrepresentation of the minority in the justice system. Researchers should use different data sources to make their studies conclusive. Using both official and non-official data can help to give an overview of the situation in real terms. The government should request correctional officers to collect more data when cases are reported. This will give official data sources more statistical significance. To reduce crime, all juveniles should be given equitable education opportunities by the government for them to have same employment opportunities in the end. It is also crucial to note that schooling and employed individuals, irrespective of race, are less likely to be engaged in criminal activities. This way, when these juveniles become parents, their children will be living in better conditions and will be less likely to adopt behaviors that would lead them to crime. References Charish, C., Davis, S., & Damphousse, K. (2004, July 8). Race/ethnicity and gender effects on juvenile justice system processing. Norman. DifferenceBetween.Net (2010). Difference between ethnicity and race. http://www.differencebetween.net/science/nature/difference-between-ethnicity-and-race/ Hawkins, D., Laub, J., Lauritsen, J., & Cothern, J. (2000, June). Race, ethnicity, and serious and violent juvenile offending. Washington, DC. Office of the Juvenile Justice and Deliquency Prevention. Moore, L. (2008). Race, ethnicity, and gender in the juvenile justice system: Are offenders treated equally before the law? Florida, USA. Pope, C., & Snyder, H. (2003, June). Race as a factor in juvenile arrests. Washington, DC. Office of the Juvenile Justice and Deliquency Prevention. Snyder, H., & Sickmund, M. (1995, August) .Juvenile offenders & victims: A national report. Washington, DC. Office of the Juvenile Justice and Deliquency Prevention. Read More